EPSM Oil Question

[Grey Haven]

My gelding has been diagnosed with EPSM 1 via genetic testing. He was on ALCAR but didn't seem to work for us that well, so I'm going to start him on the oil diet.

I've been speaking to Beth Valentine and given her all his info and she's suggested giving him half the recommended dose (recommended dose is 450g for each 450kgs of horse). My horse is roughly 500kgs so I would be looking at feeding 250gms (half the recommended amount).

Will be feeding Vit E, selenium and mag in a balancer made just for him based against our forage so he'll be getting the right amounts and I can add more Vit E if necessary.

My questions are:

If I feed oil - which oil would you recommend and how much (in mls?)

If I went for micronized linseed which seems popular how much do I need to feed to give him 250gms of oil?

My brain is frazzled by trying to work it all out!

 

[Cobbytype]

Sorry to hear your horse has EPSM - I hope the addition of oil to the diet works well.

As a ball park figure, 1 gram is about the same as 1ml. So your 250g of oil equates to roughly 250ml.

I used sunflower oil with my boy's neuro/muscular disorder. It seemed to be the most palatable. I tried linseed meal but it went rancid very quickly and the cost was prohibitive... and my boy wasn't keen.

There are feeds out there that could provide part of the daily oil requirement. Copra is high in oil - although it has higher sugar content (and some horses don't like it), it could be used as part of the daily ration to make feeding palatable. Then there are chaffs with a reasonable oil content such as Spillers Conditioning Fibre. Baileys Outshine has a high oil content and could provide part of the daily ration.

I found that there was a point where my boy just wouldn't eat feed that was too greasy, but I could feed about 150ml - 200ml a day in liquid oil form, split over 4 small meals - 3 of them were mash based, 1 was just conditioning chaff with oil added.

You'll probably have to faff about a bit to find a feed combination that suits your horse's dietary requirement and tastes.

 

[Grey Haven]

Thanks Cobbytype. He'll pretty much eat anything and he's a good doer so I've held off using the oil but I think he needs the Omega 3 for the neuro side of things as well as the muscle.

 

[Cobbytype]

Some people have success with using sugar beet pulp as the carrier for the oil/linseed meal. I didn't feed it, as years ago it caused behavioral problems with my husband's horse, so that experience put me off using it.

My boy didn't get fat on the high oil diet - he was a large draft horse, but I guess some of the little cobbies would balloon on the high oil (despite the claims that high oil doesn't make them fat).

Good luck

 

[burtie]

My boy has EPSm and if you do go the supermarket Oil then pure rapeseed oil (sold as veggie oil normally but check not mixed!) has the best Omega 3/6 balance, but it is no where near as good as Linseed in that respect. Don't forget micronised linseed is only about 35% oil so you would have to meed more than equivilent oil to get the same oil ratio.

For what it's worth I feed mine basic grass nuts from graze on (very cost effective), mixed with veteran vitality in winter and fast fibre in summer as this seems to make it more palatable. I use the NAF vit E supplement as it also has Brewers yeast as part of the base material and plain old veggie oil. i found 250 mls was enough for my 550k horse.

I am however slowly changing the oil for micronized linseed as my horse can now be a bit prone to swelling so I'm more aware of the omega 3/6 balance. It's slightly more expensive but if it helps with the swelling I'll stick with it.

Hope that helps!