# carrot questions



## love_casper (Jun 4, 2006)

edited to say: IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THE WHOLE STORY, I'LL SUM IT UP: HOW MANY CARROTS DO YOU FEED YOUR MINIS???!!!

okay, our vet says that Ghost is a little pudgie. He says she is almost what a mare who just had a baby should look like, but normally the foal's nursing will help that extra chubbiness go down. Ghost has no foal at her side, so nothing will help that fat come off. He says to give her plenty of excercise and to put her on a diet of just hay. The owner of the house where Ghost lives says her friends who own Thoroughbred racers think she should get a bunch of carrots every day. I think we should do what the vets says, but every time we go to see Ghost, the house owner begins harping away about how she never gets any treats, and how everybody from the race track thinks she needs carrots in her diet. Keep in mind none of them have ANY experience with minis.

One mini owner at the barn where i board my big horse doesn't feed her mini extra carrots. She says that minis have very sensitive stomachs because of their size. Her horse has coliced several times because people think he is cute and feed him too many treats. SOOOooooo, we have vet *and* mini owners who say no carrots, and person who knows nothing about minis saying she will give Ghost an extra handful of carrots every meal. I am hoping some of you can settle this.

This lady has given suff to Ghost that I wouldn't dream of letting her eat. She says "oh, i gave my thoroughbred a [insert something you shouldn't feed a horse here] every day for his whole life!" well, that may not effect such a big horse, but _he_ didn't have a tiny sensitive stomach. One time, she fed Ghost a banana every day for a week and it made her very sick! we finally found out about that, and told her to stop. Of course, she came at us with the usual "i fed my thoroughbred..."

Sometimes i think she believes she owns the horse. taking her for walks, which really bugs me, as i have trouble even letting my mom or my best friends walk her. ggrrgg i am getting fftopic:

so I am sort of asking if i should feed her carrots, sort of hoping you will say no so that i can prove that minis are not the same as thoroughbreds, and sort of looking for advice on how to get her to stop owning my horse.

thanx for letting me vent.


----------



## Happy Valley (Jun 4, 2006)

If YOU don't want her to have carrots, then the lady taking care of her should NOT be giving her carrots. Maybe she doesn't take you seriously because of your age. Have you asked your Mom to talk to her? I'm not the calorie police for sure, and carrots are a better treats than a lot of stuff folks give, but if you don't want it then it shouldn't be. You said a handful of carrots? Carrots are full of sugar and do have lots of calories so a handful might be over the top.

As far as going for walks...if she wants to get Ghost out for a walk it certainly couldn't hurt, could it? Sounds like she needs that exercise.

Maybe next time your are there you could get one of her horses out and walk off with it!

She needs to understand that Ghost is YOURS, and that you pay her to take care of her according to your directions. Get Mom to intervene.

Stacye

Edited because I called Ghost a "him" in there a couple of times. Sorry. It was early morning and first cup hadn't kicked in yet.


----------



## Mercysmom (Jun 4, 2006)

Happy Valley said:


> If YOU don't want her to have carrots, then the lady taking care of her should NOT be giving her carrots. Maybe she doesn't take you seriously because of your age. Have you asked your Mom to talk to her? I'm not the calorie police for sure, and carrots are a better treats than a lot of stuff folks give, but if you don't want it then it shouldn't be. You said a handful of carrots? Carrots are full of sugar and do have lots of calories so a handful might be over the top.
> 
> She needs to understand that Ghost is YOURS, and that you pay her to take care of him according to your directions. Get Mom to intervene.


I agree - while minis are cute and everyone wants to feed them, what happens if Ghost founders from being way overweight from the treats? Who wants to pay the bill then? Hope your mom can intervene for you...maybe a note on Ghost's stall - "doctor's orders - NO treats please".

Horses do enjoy good pats in places they cannot reach and while pats do not taste as good, I do believe they enjoy it as much - at least mine do.

My grandpa was a bad offender of the treat rule... he would bring my large pony goodies and then when I would not come with loaded pockets, she would nip me! When he saw the bruises I had, he stopped.

Good luck!

Denise

Silversong Farm


----------



## qtrrae (Jun 4, 2006)

love_casper,

I do give my minis carrots but only in moderation and then I am very careful to make sure they are cut lenghtwise and are small pieces. I know that it is possible for minis to choke on carrots.

Mercysmom is right that maybe you need your parents to intervene, I'm sure everyone where you board Ghost think she is adorable(and I know she is) so they all want to feed her treats but they need to understand that she is YOUR horse - try the note on Ghost's stall - "doctor's orders - NO treats please".

Good luck!! I know how much you LOVE Ghost!


----------



## Cathy_H (Jun 4, 2006)

Tell her you are afraid that your horse will get one hung in its throat & choke - could happen & probably has -we just don't know about it....................... If anyone here has had this happen post it, then you can honestly say you have a friend who had a horse choke on a carrot & you don't want to go that route.................. We have never fed carrots or apples to our horses. If we wanted them to have a treat they grab the grass or hand full of hay we offer just as eagerly as the carrots............. Actually we did try carrots a few times & they turned up their noses so we didn't bother any more.


----------



## Marty (Jun 4, 2006)

I think you are being loaded with a lot of mis-information.

I do feed carrot treats but I certainly do not go over board and feed them "bunches and bunches" of them.

I take one carrot and cut it in half lengthwise, then I dice it up and put it in a bucket. I don't encourage hand-feeding becuase I'd end up with a lot of nippers.

As far as taking the grain away and just using a diet of hay to have your mare loose some weight, there are other ways to acheive that, but I'm not the expert here on how to do that. So someone else will come along and talk to you on that I'm sure.

Have your parents handle this for you. If the house owner continues to feed your horse all kinds of stuff, that is going to build up and someday your horse is going to get very sick on you and it will be her fault.


----------



## Hosscrazy (Jun 4, 2006)

Horses really do not need treats, and if Ghost is a little pudgy, then she definitely doesn't need extra treats right now!

I do not give my horses carrots or apples; if I do give them a treat, I give them small peices of cold celery.

Your vet and the other mini owners are right, and the owner of the barn needs to respect how you want Ghost to be fed.




:

Liz R.


----------



## love_casper (Jun 4, 2006)

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions. Runnin back to the barn right now...

I'll tell you how it goes!


----------



## suz (Jun 4, 2006)

What??? Carrots are not to be fed to minis???  My guy gets carrots everytime I see him. I would say he gets about 3-5 carrots cut up at each visit. Is this harmful?? I did notice that when I cut back on the carrots, his belly seemed to go away a bit (I know carrots do contain sugar). So....besides a "bigger belly", are they harmful ??? Carrots are the ONLY treats he get...


----------



## chandab (Jun 4, 2006)

suz said:


> What??? Carrots are not to be fed to minis???  My guy gets carrots everytime I see him. I would say he gets about 3-5 carrots cut up at each visit. Is this harmful?? I did notice that when I cut back on the carrots, his belly seemed to go away a bit (I know carrots do contain sugar). So....besides a "bigger belly", are they harmful ??? Carrots are the ONLY treats he get...



Minis can have carrots, but too many can add to their wasteline. As carrots are mostly sugar and starch, if you want to feed them to your minis, you must feed in moderation (maybe a couple baby carrots, or half of a full-size carrot). If your horse has metabolic issues such as IR or prone to founder; then carrots are not a good idea, as you will need to watch their carbs.


----------



## love_casper (Jun 4, 2006)

ooh, this is turning in to a good thread! :bgrin shall we keep it alive so all mini owners can share their views/opinions?

Maybe now it should be about all treats, how many you feed your mini if any, what those treats are, and what they do/dont do to your horse!





oh, btw, the house owner says she she now understands how different minis can be and will not be feeding Ghost any carrots or other treats. YAY!!!

okay, so back to the subject of feeding treats....


----------



## Black Magic (Jun 4, 2006)

We get baby carrots and then I cut those up for a treat from time to time. I find that watermelon that is nice and ice cold in the summer is more appreciated anyway. Frozen grapes... are also a fav around here. First of all, you never mentioned WHAT KIND OF HAY??? When I use Coastal, I get hay bellies... when I use T & A... less belly size within a month or two.

I would explain to the woman that you appreciate her concern for your baby, but that as I was told, "minis are always on the verge of founder". I was told, you can feed a 1200 lb horse a slice of pizza... and see little or no effect... but feed Pizza to a mini... is just asking for problems. And yes, I know someone that feeds her horse pizza as a snack. (she and I don't agree on this issue).

We grow our own carrots, so we know there is no insecticide on them, and they are pest free... so I'm proud of the fact that hubby started that for me. I even freeze carrots for the winter mos...

One of the snack things I feel a need to mention was mentioned a long time ago, by someone that worked for Buckeye feeds. She said the treats are designed to work with the feed, and to compliment the feed, and to maintain certain levels of carbs and such. She said, if I fed Buckeye, to use their treats, and if I feed another brand.. to use their treats. She said... one of the biggest problems she heard about, was people feeding treats that weren't made by the company that made the feed, and having a reaction to that... So I thought I'd pass that on...

God Bless,

Lynn W


----------



## love_casper (Jun 5, 2006)

funny about the pizza. Anyways, we give her timothy hay, sometimes it is timothy-orchard, when it is available. Most of the time is is straight timothy. My horses do prefer orchard, but for some reason, it is never at the local feed stores.

To the best of my knowledge, timothy has nutrients, but will not make the horse gain wieght.

(Except in the case of my big horse, where when we got her, she was 1400 pounds at 15 hands because she stole all the other horses hay. All of the horses in the pen with her were thin because miss alpha mare here ate everything in sight! LOL fftopic: )

So, we give Ghost one flake of hay a day, given in three feedings.

That sound good?

A draft horse at the barn where my big horse lives is like a garbage disposal. His mom has fed this 2,200 pound animal a whole watermelon, a head of lettuce, a pomegranate, vanilla ice cream, cake, he loves yams, some rice, corn,...ect, and he is one of the healthiest horses at the barn! If a mini ate too much of any of those, they may get sick, especially the cake and ice cream.

Oh, when you feed apples, do you remove the seeds? I do.



:


----------



## dangerranger (Jun 5, 2006)

we feed treats to ours every day. a carrot split between two horses or a small apple. one of ours is a little porky[ read that obease ] and a snack between meals seams to keep her mind off the diet shes on. our other was compleatly wild when we got her on mothers day so we have been hand feeding her to gain her trust. as long as theres a treat in it for her she will now stand for brushing , fly spraying, removing and putting on her fly mask, etc... on the other hand our old TB [27 yrs] was killed by a barn owner who would not follow our feeding instructions. he had a food allergy. our vet had us feed him strictly alfalfa. the barn owner did not want to feed him a differant diet. she also started sending me articles she had clipped that seemed to show that alfalfa is bad for horses. so I bought his hay seperatly. after he had coliced and died I found most of the hay still there. Ive always thought she was trying to prove her point [ that he should be eating what they all get and that alfalfa causes stones] but I couldnt prove it. SO, if you cant trust your barn owner to follow your instructions, FIND ANOTHER BARN. DR.


----------

