Lisa McMahon from Australia contacted British Horse Feeds back in April, seeking advice on feeding Fibre-Beet to her horse Cappa, a 20-year-old Warmblood cross.
For four years he competed with Lisa’s daughter in dressage and cross-country and participated occasionally in sheep mustering at home, but he is now retired.
For most veteran horses, keeping condition is the issue owners struggle with, but for Lisa this isn’t the case.
In Australia, the drought periods make it incredibly hard for horse owners to get enough forage due to it being so dry. It can also be very expensive because of the demand. Lisa needed a cost effective solution to provide Cappa with his forage.
Originally Cappa was fed on Speedi-Beet, but during the extreme hot season where hay is in short supply, the added alfalfa appealed to Lisa.
Lisa learnt that Fibre-Beet is an ideal high conditioning fibre mash that can be used as a forage enhancer or to replace forage (up to 60% of the daily forage allowance). 1kg of soaked Fibre-Beet can replace 1kg of hay.
It took a bit of time for Cappa to take to his Fibre-Beet, but with Lisa’s persistence Cappa now enjoys his feed and has never looked so well.
The added benefit of feeding Fibre-Beet is that it is hydrating which is crucial in a hot environment.
Fibre-Beet expands to hold three times its body weight so Cappa is hydrating at the same time.
Lisa commented: “It was a great experiment to prove to other horse owners out here that it is possible to not spend lots of money when panicking about hay shortages. Fibre-Beet is a win, win, providing fibre and hydrating horses.”