In horses, like in other livestock species, beet molasses is considered a good appetizer and an improver of pellets quality. However, in some Internet forums, beet molasses has been reported to have deleterious effects on horse health for several reasons that rooted in the history of feeding horses with beet molasses.
Actually, the level of beet molasses included in the diet of horses was very high and could result in health issues (kidney stones). At the beginning of the 20th century safe level of inclusion was reduced reported to be 10.0–16.5% (Morrison, 1936). More recently, recommended feeding levels have been considerably lower than this and beet molasses is reported as a non usual feed for horses in France (Trillaud-Geyl et al., 2015).
Levels of beet molasses inclusion in both forage (hay) based diets and cereal diets have been investigated. Horses and ponies were introduced over a period of time to beet molasses up to a maximum level of 1 kg/head/day. Beet molasses represented on average 10% of intake. Above this level of intake, water intake increased and faeces sometimes became soft, although this was not severe enough to cause distress to the horses (Pillner et al., 1986, unpublished observations cited by Harland et al., 2006).
K and Na provision by beet molasses may be valuable for horses as they counteract the loss of eletrolytes and thus maintain osmotic pressure in tissues when the horse is sweating. Beet molasses have also been reported to have high Cr content, a trace element that could prevent insuline resistance (Aellig, 2018).
It has been concluded that levels of up to 10% are probably quite acceptable (Harland et al., 2006). In Switzerland, 6% inclusion is recommended in horse diet (Agroscope, 2016). In France, 3-5% inclusion is recommended (Trillaud-Geyl et al., 2015).
