Here's some info from a post I did on another forum.
Beet pulp is IMHO one of the wonderful feeds for horses at our fingertips. It has been a part of each and every one of my horses' diets for over 15 years. It is an excellent source of fiber and is not high in sugar and carbs.
But... not all beet pulp is created equal!! You need to be very aware, and selective, regarding what type you are feeding and what else might be included in the bag.
Pellets etc must be soaked or else the moisture in the gut will cause it to swell and can cause an impaction. (This has been disputed by some but I feel better to be safe then sorry, so soak it.) I feed shredded beet pulp via Purina Complete Advantage. The carb factor in this feed is because of the added grains and molasses in it, not the beet pulp itself. This specific feed does not need to be made wet. It is a vital part of the mix I make up for my horses.
Beet pulp has been used for weight gain (it is more easily digested through the colon), horses with respiratory problems, coat issues, general overall health maintenance and a host of other issues. It added two more quality years of life to our AQHA mare who was 35 at the time of feeding. It also greatly helped a mare we had taken in with heaves and emphysema. It also was the feed which dramatically helped Pleasure, the horse we had adopted with Cushings.
A common misconception about beet pulp is that it is high in sugar and carbs. What it is high in is fiber. This is according to what I have found doing lots of research over the years about beet pulp. I really am grateful to have beet pulp in the "arsenal" of feeds for our horses and have had great experiences using it.
Here is a bit from the Equus editors that talks about the sugar/calorie etc......
Beet pulp contains lots of fermentable fiber and is fairly easy for horses to digest. It is often incorporated into "complete" or "high fiber" commercial concentrates as a source of fiber and some horse owners feed it as a separate "mash" for a variety of reasons, one of the most common being the belief that it is high calorie and will help horses gain weight.
However, beet pulp is NOT high calorie--it has only slightly more calories than good quality hay and less than an equivalent weight of oats. Beet pulp does contain about 10 percent protein, 0.8 percent calcium and 0.5 percent phosphorus, making it a more "balanced" source of energy and fiber than the more traditional wheat bran (15 percent protein, 0.06 percent calcium, 1.3 percent phosphorus). The high fiber content may "normalize" fermentation in the large colons, resulting in more efficient "digestion" over all, which may be why many "hard keeper" horses that have a significant portion of their grain concentrates replaced with beet pulp seem to maintain better body condition. It has been used to replace over 50% of the forage in horse's rations without adverse effects when fed with other balanced concentrates.
Here's more from another study and explains just what beet pulp is ....
It's high in digestible fiber.
It has a low non-structural carbohydrate level.
It has a low glycemic index.
After sugar is extracted from beets the left over pulp is a form of highly digestible fiber suitable for horses. Beet pulp contains 18.0% crude fiber, which puts it on the borderline of being classified as forage.
The equine digestive system is designed to utilize fiber. The cecum, which is part of the large intestine, contains microbes. These microbes break down cellulose and fiber. The fiber in beet pulp is broken down in the cecum and produces energy for the horse to utilize.
Fiber is a structural carbohydrate. Non-structural carbohydrates (NRC) are starches and sugars.
Non-structural carbs (corn, oats, barley and molasses are examples) increase the glycemic index. Beet pulp has a low glycemic index.
The glycemic index is a numerical number given to a food or feed. This number represents the average increase in blood glucose after a meal. For example, Anne Rodiek of the Department of Animal Sciences, California State University, Davis, published a study in which oats were given the glycemic index value of 100, as the average. Corn came in with a value of 117 and beet pulp (plain with no added molasses) a value of one.
Maintaining a low blood glucose level helps keep some horses calm. Feeds that contain high glycemic levels, which in turn spikes blood glucose, may cause some horses to become full of energy or "hot".
Horses that suffer from Equine Metabolic Syndrome, peripheral Cushing's disease, insulin resistance and hypo-thyroid problems will also benefit from a diet that is beet pulp and forage based. These horses do not produce insulin normally and blood glucose is not regulated properly. The resulting high levels of blood glucose can trigger a toxic situation resulting in laminitis.
Though beet pulp is high in digestible fiber it does not contain enough long stem fiber to be fed as the only source of forage. Up to 25.0% of the horse's total diet may be replaced with beet pulp. But, some of the horse's diet must be a source of long stem fiber -- hay, pasture or alfalfa/timothy cubes. The long stem fiber is needed to keep the hindgut working properly. The fiber pieces should not be less than three quarters of an inch long.
Also meant to add that our four dwarfs do really well on the Complete Advantage which has the shredded beet pulp. This makes up one third of their grain mix.
