Feeding carrots instead of grain?

Question

i met a woman with a 19.2 hand belgian, she said she feeds him 1/2 grain 2x day, and 20lbs carrots a week! holy c**p! i didnt get a chance to ask her why, but i have never heard of feeding so much carrots! anybody heard of this or feed them in this quantity?

also, she mentioned her previous belgian died from founder complications, if she had him on the same diet could the natural sugars in carrots foundered him?

Answer 1

To my knowledge,  large quantities of carrots won't hurt a horse the way that apples will.  However, at the price of carrots it doesn't make sense to use them in large quantities.  They make great treats, but are not nutritionally balanced for a steady diet.

Answer 2

That is pretty rediculous. Grain is a fortified diet for a horse, carrots are simply a treat. They are high in starch and sugars, which is probably a good indication of why her horses founderd. Drafts especially, due to poor hoof quality tendencies, digestive tract and weight management issues should NOT be given so much starchy food. In addition, when drafts founder or have foot issues, it is always more serious because of the amount of weight they carry- they can't tolerate it as much as a lighter horse (not that ANY horse should have to tolerate pain!) She should speak with a vet about nutrition and feed more hay or roughage if she feels her horse needs more feed!

Answer 3

Well really 20Ib isn't that much when you consider the size of Belgians and the fact that you divide that by seven days in the week.  When you convert the energy produced by carrots it works out to be about 15.3 kilocalories per week, once again divide that by seven and you've got 2.1 kilocalories per day.  When a mature horse the size of a belgian requires 16.4 megacalories per day just to maintain body weight and 1 megacalorie = 1000 kilocalories. The obvious answer to your question is that the carrots wouldn't have caused her previous horse to founder.   Carrots contain lots of vitamins and minerals which are also good for horses.

Answer 4

Years ago, people fed beets to their livestock (horses, cows, goats, etc.) instead of grain.  It was a more economical food source then grain in some cases, since growing the beets was more feasible than growing fields of grains.  Since they are both root vegetables, I would imagine feeding carrots would be pretty similar to beets. 20lbs of carrots weekly to a big Belgian is probably a very small amount as well.

Answer 5

As you say, carrots are very high in natural sugars and fed in high quantities can exacerbate founder, laminitis. They are NOT recommended for horses and ponies susceptible to laminitis, even in low amounts. Nor are apples. Although the occasional one as a treat does no harm and is enjoyed.

Although this woman's horse is huge, I would have thought a reasonable limit would be 1lb of carrots per day. Less for a smaller horse.