We had our first heat advisory of the summer last week and while I could stay in the house to keep cool, the horses weren’t as lucky. Sure, they had an open pasture to catch the breeze and a covered run-in shed for shade when they wanted to cool off. But they were hot and sweaty and looked positively miserable. I wanted to keep them cool.
Soaked beet pulp to the rescue. Beet pulp is a good way to add fiber to the diet, and in limited amounts it doesn’t unbalance the mineral ratio. For my horses, I used approximately 1/2 to 3/4 of my feed scoop full (maybe 1 to 1/2 pounds by weight) and added a scoop of apple-flavored electrolytes. I then added cold water from the hose until my 8 quart buckets were 3/4 full of water.
What this left me with was beet pulp/molasses/apple flavored water with mushy, soaked beet pulp at the bottom. When I dumped it into the horse’s buckets they had a treat that lasted them at least 15-20 minutes of splashing their muzzles in the cool water to get to the yummy goodness, and they ended up drinking the water and slurping up all the pulp.
The horses appreciated the treat, and I felt good for giving it to them on a hot, humid summer day.
