Will molasses fizz or make a feed sensitive TB hot?

Molasses is a by product of the sugar industry- we get it by boiling the juice of the sugar cane plant down into a thick, sweet, sticky syrup. Because molasses comes from sugar, it contains sugar- that's why it's sweet. Some breeds of horses, such as those of Arabian and Thoroughbred ancestry, cannot metabolize the simple sugars found in molasses very well, and will become "hot" and hard to ride and train when they are fed large amounts of feed which contain it. Since you mention that your horse is young and growing, a possible solution to your problem might be feeding your horse something like wet beet pulp, which is nutritious but yet is low in energy. We feed this to our horses- and we have had no problems with misbehavior which is related to doing so. You should also look into buying a grain mix which has lower levels of molasses- and there are any number of companies which make such products out there. Our grain mix is Legends, which is made by the Southern States company, I think- and it is one of the best products for keeping weight on horses which I have ever seen, and it doesn't make horses hot and stupid, either.

If you need something to mix supplements with, why not try using a little bit of sugar free powdered Jello mix? Once your horse gets used to the flavor, you will be able to add in anything you need to. You can mix it with water to make a liquid, and then pour that over the grain and supplements- and he should eat it just fine. You can also mix with molasses, provided that you do so in small amounts- no more than a couple of tablespoons per feeding- and I would dilute the molasses with water or apple juice. We use apple juice when we have to give our horses medicines like bute- we just crush the tablets and dissolve them in it, and then squirt the liquid into the horse's mouth as a treat. Most of the time, they love it- and they have no idea the liquid has medicine in it, because they can't taste it.

Good luck- I hope these ideas help.

It's just sugar - I use it very very watered down for fussy eaters and hiding unpleasant things in the feed. You have to be careful with the sugar balance - if you increase the sugar intake significantly you're just asking for laminitis. Take it slowly. Adding sugar is going to make your horse a little hotter and give him a burst of energy; it may or may not add condition, depending on his metabolism - a lot of horses just get fatter without actually getting physical energy from the sugar. If he's keeping his condition and performing well on the economy mix, there's no need to add molasses unless you need to make the feed more palatable.

Yes, it will make some horses hot. I'd avoid all nsc (simple sugars). If he needs extra calories, feed a feed that has more calories from fat - seeing as your feeding him grain. You can add oil to his feed (I like rice bran or cocosoya) to get the supplements to stick to the pellets, so they are eaten rather than sitting on the bottom of the feed tub.

Yes, I have a 6 month old filly who didnt eat her grain at frist and I added molassas to it and she got as hot as all get out she went from a quiet calm sweet baby to a total terror from kicking at me to rearing, biteing, and ur horse being at Thoroughbred ( a hotter breed) i would say dont do it..

have you thought of sugar beat to add to his feed you can even get the non heating sugar beat shreds that you add to water leave 24 hours than feed.

problem is with molasses its full of sugar

Yes it will.

If you just want to damp the feed down a bit why not add water ?