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About pelletized feed. We were over in Kremmling at the vet clinic today when a hunter pulled in with a sick horse. Turns out he fed the horse dry pelletized beet pulp yesterday. Horse ate some, then couldn't eat or drink. Close to 24 hours by the time they got down the trail, loaded up, and got in to town. Holy crap but that horse looked sick! Head hanging, snot and saliva running out its nose, droopy eyes, and fever. The vet quickly diagnosed pellets stuck in and blocking the esophagus. I had the privilege of helping the vet...she put a large tube through the nose down in and we pumped water in repeatedly. Washed out a bunch of beet pulp and eventually got her opened up. Now there is concern for aspiration pneumonia. Horse is on antibiotics and anti inflammatories.

This mare is apparently the boss of the herd....couple horses and 3 mules. Maybe she tried to get a bunch of pellets in a hurry, who knows.

Dang! I occasionally give my llamas alfalfa pellets....have to be careful about that!

Side note: this mare was barefoot with chunks out of the edges of the hooves. I sure don't know much about horses, but I can't remember seeing any backcountry horses without shoes. The vet says there are people around here that go that way. I'm curious about that.

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IF we feed pellets they are mixed with corn oil.... and/or softened with water first.

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Side note: this mare was barefoot with chunks out of the edges of the hooves. I sure don't know much about horses, but I can't remember seeing any backcountry horses without shoes. The vet says there are people around here that go that way. I'm curious about that.


There's plenty of horses that would be better off bare footed than the trimming/shoeing they get. Mustangs go barefoot everywhere.


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Check the teeth. Horses will choke on pellets if teeth are in bad shape.

I feed a lot of pellets and do not soak them. Horses always have plenty of water though. Teeth are checked and /or floated annually.

Where are you?

A lot depends on the horse and terrain as to if barefoot is OK. Sounds ike they get trimmed twice a year whether they need it or not.


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The vet did note that the teeth were way overdue for floating and strongly recommended floating when the guy got home. RE horse shoes, we are along the continental divide in northwest Colorado.

Again, I am not trying to be critical of this guy...I don't know enough about horses to be critical. Just trying to learn. This particular part of 24 Hour Campfire has provided a wealth of information.

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In terms of swelling up, beet pulp is worse than alfalfa pellets/cubes. Feeding either in a herd situation can make it worse as the dominate horse will always consume more than they need or can process safely.
With cubes, a fast eater can suffer a choking problem and a few people put bigger rocks in the feed pan so the horse has to work around them to get enough to eat.

A lot of these problems come about because the owner switches to those feeds during hunting season with out letting the horse get accustom to them slowly.In addition, usually in a hunting camp and the fact that the horse loses a lot more water in the form of sweat, they don't get enough to drink. In some cases, people can feed pellets cubes with no problems, but you will most likely never have a problem if you soak them first. It doesn't hurt anything , but sure helps.

As for shoeing, you shoe for protection, traction or to correct a conformation or medical/injury problems. It is not correct to compare our mostly pasture pets with mustangs as the mustangs don't carry the extra weight of a rider, and the weaker footed ones got bred out a long time ago. I have seen some fat wild mustangs that have never had their teeth floated, but they don't get to eat the processed feed or grain that we feed our stock, so their teeth wear more naturally, but they sure don't live to be 25 -30 years old like our horses/mules do.

Some horses and particularly mules can go without shoes their whole life. I have a 16-18 year old mule I got from Jeanne Horne this year(J Bar H Outfitter) that has never had shoes on it. However, the other one I got from her, I shoed with toes/heels/borium as I wanted to have the traction on ice and rocks

There are some that profess if you trim them right ( natural trimming) you never have to shoe them, but put those same nags on the decomposed granite that we have around here and you will have some bloody feet in less than 10 miles.

Too bad about that mare though. Horses are like kids, there are no prerequisites that a person is required to have.

Last edited by saddlesore; 10/14/14.

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I just re-read and saw that the mare was fed beet pulp pellets and agree w/ Vince on them requiring more water to hydrate than some form of hay pelleted feed..

I've fed beet pulp to horses that were down on weight for one reason or another, but only as a supplement, not as 'feed'.

Gotta wonder:
horse's hydration level to start?
water available?
teeth? (we know that now)
herd-feeding or individual?
primary feed or supplement?

Not really looking for answers riverdog, just "thinking out loud" here.

It's these little details that matter, IMO.



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Had the same happen with beet pulp pellets. They had access to all the water they wanted and free feed hay, but still managed to get a blockage. Vet was a ways away and had me load her up in a trailer and drive like hell down a bumpy road for awhile. Blockage was gone, but she got treated with antibiotics to make sure no pneumonia.

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Hey Dan you in town?


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lost my wifes big paint to colic from pellets at hunting camp one year. 7 miles in, led him out to the trailer at 2:00 in the morning and hauled him to the vet in Craig. He didn't make it, and we missed opening day trying to save him......ol' Spanky was a hell of a horse.

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Beat pulp is by far the worst for swelling, and is not overly high on the nutritional scale. There are pellets designed to be fed dry. If you are going to feed pellets(we only feed COB and graze on the trail where we go)do an expansion test prior to using them better to have them swell in a bucket than in your horses gut.


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Dang, Huntsman.....I am sorry to hear that

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Sorry to hear that Huntsman.


I have a 30 year old paint. old guy was getting thin and we would find hay balls in his stall where he tried chewing hay but just couldn't grind it down very well. My wife did a little research and now feed him this twice a day. one scoop of beet pulp shreds, one scoop of alfalfa timothy cubes and one scoop of 12% grain. we put the beet pulp and cubes in a bucket and add about half a bucket of water to it. after the water has soaked in we top it off with the grain. He is now probably the fattest horse in the barn, almost never drinks from his bucket as he gets a lot of water from his mix, and doesn't get hay anymore because his teeth are so bad he just wastes it.

As far as shoes, I do not live in a rocky area, but I have two horses that have never had a shoe on them. Both have hard black feet, both have been ridden close to 400 miles a year and never been sore footed.


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Dang! I occasionally give my llamas alfalfa pellets....have to be careful about that!
I've read about llamas choking on pellets but they never say what size of pellet. Around here the only choices are a large horse cube or small 3/8" pellets. I give mine a couple handfuls mixed with grain twice a day when hunting to supplement the grass. Some suggest putting a few golf ball sized rocks in the feed pan to slow down their eating and make them take smaller bites.

A llama's digestive system is completely different than a horse's. They're semi-ruminants as they have a 3 chambered stomach. They can pack in a bunch of feed then chew it later like a cow. As long as they eat slow enough for the feed to get down the pipe without clogging, they can handle it.


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