Mary Allen
Most horses love carrots, apples, and other sweet fruits and vegetables. So that the so-called juice food not only tastes good but is also healthy, you should follow a few rules when feeding.
Fruits and vegetables in the horse feed can be a welcome variety and at the same time provide valuable nutrients. On the other hand, too much, the wrong variety, and unripe, frozen,
sprayed, rotten, or moldy fruit can make horses ill – including diarrhea and colic. So if you put juice food on your four-legged friend’s menu, you should therefore ensure that it is of good quality – ideally from organic farming – and also store fruit and vegetables in a frost-free place and generally dose them sparingly.
“All types of fruit, including carrots and beets, contain a lot of fructose and relatively little crude fiber,” says veterinarian Silke Hieronymus, who specializes in animal nutrition and disease prevention for horses, dogs, and cats with her mobile practice. “Fruit should therefore only be fed in small amounts about the total ration.” Special care should be taken with horses with health problems. Because of the high sugar content, patients with laminitis or Cushing’s disease (hyperfunction of the adrenal cortex), for example, should ideally not be given any fruit at all.
Carrots
Carrots are well suited for most horses. The root vegetables contain beta-carotene, which is processed in the body into vitamin A, which is so important for the skin and mucous membranes. Just 2.5 kilograms of carrots cover the daily vitamin A requirement of an adult horse. “In summer, the animals absorb enough beta-carotene from the grass, and in winter mineral feed or carrots can provide a substitute,” says Jerome. As is so often the case, the dose makes the poison: too much vitamin A can lead to long-term poisoning with ataxia (disorders of movement), shaggy fur, or reduced muscle tone.
Another exciting ingredient in orange vegetables is oligosaccharides, which can help fight diarrhea. In consultation with the veterinarian, dry carrot schnitzel should be served with this. Raw carrots, on the other hand, have a slightly laxative effect. So be careful with horses with sensitive intestines! “A healthy horse weighing 500 kilograms can eat up to three kilograms of carrots a day, smaller animals get correspondingly less,” says the veterinarian.
Especially washed carrots in large bags spoil relatively quickly. Since even small rotten or moldy spots can trigger colic, it is best to check the carrots every day. You should cut off the green approach, which contains quite a lot of hydrocyanic acid.
A recommended winter vegetable is also the beetroot. “Its high iron content is blood-forming, its copper content supports bone development and the immune system, its manganese content supports bone, cartilage, and connective tissue formation and fat metabolism,” explains the expert. Horses with kidney problems and eczema can also benefit from the tubers. Beetroot should always be fed raw because important ingredients are lost during cooking. In dried form – as chips from the trade or the home oven – the vegetables become a healthy treat, says Hieronymus.
As a substitute for carrots, a healthy adult large horse can eat one to three bulbs (up to a total of one kilogram) of beetroot. However, beets are less suitable for horses with insulin problems, as they also contain the easily digestible sugar carbohydrate sucrose in addition to fructose and glucose.
Avoid Pit Fruits
Apples and pears are particularly popular when it comes to fruit. Almost every horse loves them. “Because of the high acidity and fructose content, moderation should be kept here as well. One kilogram per day is the absolute upper limit for a healthy, fully grown horse,” explains Hieronymus. For this reason alone it is not a good idea to let horses feast on fallen orchards. In addition, there is a risk of bee and wasp stings and colic from overripe, spoiled fruit.
More exotic fruits are also allowed as an occasional treat rather than a daily part of the diet. “A banana now and then is extremely healthy. However, you should peel them before feeding them,” advises the specialist. Watermelons – also always without skin – are allowed in the horse trough. Very rarely and in small quantities there is nothing wrong with oranges and tangerines.
Riders should generally eat some types of fruit themselves. “In the case of stone fruit such as plums, peaches, cherries, and mirabelle plums, the stone can lead to a blocked pharynx. There is also a risk of colic, as these types of fruit ferment very strongly,” warns the veterinarian. You should also avoid grapes, berries, and pineapples if possible. The high sugar content of these sweet fruits promotes, among other things, the formation of yeast fungi in the intestines, which can provoke annoying fecal water.