Beet Pulp Fiction… and the Facts

I’ve been told beet pulp could choke my horse to death – is this true?

Unfortunately, this is one of those old horsemen’s myths that refuses to die, even after many studies around the world have debunked this fallacy. Here’s the scoop on feeding beet pulp:

Beet pulp is a popular additive to the horse’s diet, most often in an attempt to put weight on a “hard keeper.” Oddly, however, there is a prevailing misunderstanding about when or why this feed ingredient might be useful.

Beet pulp is a by-product from the manufacture of table sugar and, contrary to popular belief, is actually quite low in calories having barely more digestible energy than typical hay. It is also usually quite low in protein, with ranges of around two to six percent, and very low in vitamin A. It is, however, an excellent source of fermentable fibre and can be very useful for supporting optimal hindgut health. If you are feeding significant amounts of beet pulp (i.e. 20-25 percent of the total fermentable carbohydrate fraction) you need to ensure that the diet is balanced to account for the lower protein, vitamin A, and other micronutrients that may be missing or unbalanced in a diet based on beet pulp.

Beet pulp can be a very useful feed for horses needing an increase in fermentable fibre. Some examples may be horses that do not have sufficient access to hay, or horses that are not able to chew hay properly, such as old horses, or horses with dental problems. It can also be very useful, in conjunction with a good probiotic supplement, in horses undergoing antibiotic treatment, as it can stabilize the microbial population in the hindgut. Beet pulp feeding results in a low post-prandial insulin spike, making it a very useful feed for horses with insulin resistance.

Including beet pulp in the diet of horses to a level of 25 percent significantly reduces digestibility of crude fat and non-structural carbohydrate, and increases activity of an enzyme that breaks down fat