which oil do you feed??

[AJB]

I have a question on oil...my horse is a very good doer and goes without feed from May to October...once he is in at night he will be fed twice a day ,scoop hifi and lots and lots of carrots (I go thru 2 sacks a week!!) and a girly handful of pasture mix!!!...because of this low dose of mix he has a vit supplement and garlic and last year I gave him a dollop of vegetable oil each time...however some at the yard feed sunflower, others soya and some like me veg oil-anyone have any preference and if so why...i feed veg cos its cheaper and easy to buy in 3 litre bottles....

[artemis]

I don't feed oil. Just think that a high fat diet is probably as bad for horses as it is for humans.:D

[AJB]

interesting view-but horses digestion and energy requirements are a bit different to ours I think:D

[Gemma16]

I feed cod liver oil. It smells awful but he always has a glossy coat and seems to enjoy it.

Does veg oil do the same thing? Because its a lot cheaper than buying special horse oil. Plus I could get it from the supermarket too.

[nutkin]

i just feed vegetable oil. I find it just as good as any specialized oil and alot cheaper. My horse is an oldie (21) with arthritis, but he is as fit as any youngster. I swear the veg oil helps his arthritis and so do other people on my yard who use it for the same thing. I also feed garlic and that is also supposed to help with their joints.

[majorhorselover]

i add about a teaspoon of vegitable oli to each feed for my horses. it seems to help with their coat ang hoofs.

[makebelieve]

Wow! I'm going to positively do theat when I get my horse :). I'd better buy a bottle for tack room use only then!

[virtuallyhorses]

AJB If you're just adding a dollop I really don't think it matters - there's a table on the Mitavite website (http://www.mitavite.com.au) that tells you all about oils and the ratios of Omega 6 <> Omega 3 but I'd probably bet my last dollar that for 1/4 cup (a dollop) of oil per day in amongst the 25lbs of forage and other feed required by the average horse, it makes sod all difference whether its $25 per litre corn oil or $2 per litre no name brand vegetable oil :)

[Cochise]

Sunflower seed oil :)and linseed oil......all from bin inn!!! (like a bulk food shop for humans, but much cheaper than horse feed merchants!)

[artemis]

AJB - sure their digestive system is different from ours, but that doesn't mean that fat is any less harmful. Havn't found any research anyway. I'd rather err on the side of caution.

[AJB]

thanks VIV and Jay O!-I think I will stick to safeways veg oil as its cheapest and he did ok on it last winter...trouble is whenever anything has horses attached to the label its triple the price!!!Artemis, the point is that its not tonnes of fat per day and whilst a horses digestive system is different to ours so is their energy requirement which of course means they burn the fat quicker etc etc....my horse works hard and uses a lot of energy in the process so I dont see oil will harm him, in fact in the long term with coat and joints it is proven to do him a lot of good:D

[AmandaW]

Hi

AJB, I'm lucky too in that my chap is a very good doer (unusually he is quite a hot head too) and will be living on alfa A, hiFi lite, haylage, top Spec comprehensive and fresh air over winter! If he needs extra I'll introduce some unmolassed sugar beet and a drop of oil.

Artemis, the use of oil has been very well researched! It is much better tolerated than cereals by horses. The trouble with cereals is they contain alot of starch which is in horses is a quick release energy source as they are designed to digest cellulose by fermenting it in their hind gut. Cereals can raise the levels of acid in the stomach (may cause ulcers in stressed horses) and if fed in large quantities starch can reach the hind gut undigested and effect the bacteria there, causing problems ranging from laminitis to plain old irritability. I'm not saying it is wrong fullstop to feed your horse cereals. Some horses really need the extra concentrated energy to keep condition etc. especially in the winter. But oil is very useful for those horses that might be cereal intolerant or those who want or need their horses on a high fibre diet. Endurance horses are often fed quite substantial quantities of oil.

Amanda

[artemis]

I think the answer here is anything in moderation. I don't feed lots of cereals to my horses either.

It worries me that nobody seems to weigh or measure the food they are giving. They talk about cups & scoops which could be anything.

[K&K]

I feed 1 cup of black oil sunflower seeds twice daily. They're the small, black seeds, not the large grey striped ones.

Here's a quote from one of the specialists that post on The Mane Street:

"Some important elements for healthy hoof/skin/coat are the omega-6 essential fatty acids, oils and vitamins. All of these elements are found in sunflower seeds. They contain a mineral profile similar to grains. They provide fat, fiber and protein as well as phosphorus and magnesium. They also have high levels of vitamins A and E. Pound per pound, they are higher in fat, fiber, and protein than grains. Black oil sunflower seeds is my preference, rather than a liquid oil. There is no preservatives, or free radicals from processing, plus, the seeds have a many other nutritional qualities that liquid oil does not.

Melyni Worth, our resident nutritionist, says that the blackoil seeds are much more digestible, and have a higher fat content than than the other, grey striped kind. Just feed them shells and all. Horses have no problems at all digesting the shells, and, in fact, the shells provide important fiber."

My horse needs a bit of extra fat in her diet, as she's no easy keeper - plus the sunflower seeds add an awesome gloss to her coat, speed up mane and tail growth and strengthen her hooves. I mean, this picture was straight out of the field, a quick run-over with a soft brush over her coat to wipe off surface dust and a finger-comb of her mane - and look at the shine.

http://www.kaiti.com/sugar/pics/sugarjune4.jpg

[K&K]

Originally posted by artemis
It worries me that nobody seems to weigh or measure the food they are giving. They talk about cups & scoops which could be anything.

I don't know about everyone else, but I know how much a cup of each of my grains weigh.

[AmandaW]

K&K, may I say what a lovely job you have done with your horse Sugar. I saw pictures of her when you first got her on here. She looks fantastic!!

Amanda

[virtuallyhorses]

We talk about cups (and a cup is an imperial measurement unit - 250mls so its perfectly acceptable to describe liquids this way)and scoops because its easier when talking on a forum like this than to say 125ml or .5kg or whatever - initially you may have measured\weighed out what a scoop was but you're darned if you can remember just to pop it into conversation :).

http://worldzone.net/recreation/virtuallyhorses/feedtables.html#Weight\Volume%20Table

There's also the issue of whether the horse is grassfed or not and how long you've been feeding. When your horse gets free access to grass\hay in the paddock, whether the dollop of oil (or molasses) is 1/8 cup, 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup is probably neither here nor there to the average 500kg horse - as long as your dollop doesn't become 1 cup or 2 cups...!

[makebelieve]

I agree with the use of vegetable oil. In the picture, its pretty much proven (Beautiful horse, by the way!). I didn't think vegetable oil was extremely bad for you anyway (Unless I'm mixing it with Canola, I KNOW Palm oil is the worst).

Might just be my mind being messed...

[Nerys]

I think its useful to keep in mind that not all fat is bad for you. Vegetable oils are especially good, because they contain low levels of bad fats and higher levels of the good fats.

Fats, or fatty acids, are hugely important throughout the body. They are functional components of hormones, cell signalling aparati, and cell membranes. They also play important roles in the absorption of key vitamins.

Anyway, my brain just deserted me (its bouncing its overworked blobby self toward bed) so i'll try and write more later.

[Evol_or_revert]

I feed about 4 Tablespoons of Veg oil a day. Im hopeing to see the results as we get in to summer :D I also feel he had put on more weight and has more energy.

I read that it is a digestable energy source? Which I think means they are able to process it in to usable energy instead of straight to the head energy lol. I recommend it althrough it's a bit messy to feed. I tryed sunflower seeds but I ate to many, and I was forever running out of them.

[Nerys]

Evol or Revert is correct. Grains and other concentrates are converted to glucose very quickly and sends sudden large amounts of sugar into the blood. Oils, on the other hand, have to go through the Krebs cycle.

Remember metabolism from highschool biology?

Glucose can either go through glycolysis/krebs cycle/electron transport chain, OR fermation. Oil can only go through the first cycle.

This all means that it takes longer for oil to be converted to energy and prevent the sudden blood glucose spikes that can be a problem.

[AJB]

remeber biology Nerys!! god I hate to even remember school!!!, probably been sooo long cant remember anyway:D :D ...

[CLou]

I give feed a good glug of corn oil twice a day (just cheap stuff from the supermarket) - I've no idea why I feed corn oil - picked it up somewhere along the way - assume it's not dissimilar to veg oil? Any one else feed this?