Feeding Chia Seeds to horses

[GinaGeo]

Has anyone done it?

Bit of history.

I have a troublesome child who is allergic to an awful lot. It extends to not being able to feed my other horses, that he lives with, anything on his allergy list as he reacts from eating their poo.

He's allergic to Wheat, Oats, Barley, Maize, Soya, Sugar Beet, Linseed, Peas, Carrots, Alfalfa. This rules out pretty much every commercial feed on the market.

It means they are all fed Emerald Green Grass nuts, with Grass Chaff with Pro Earth Hoof Balancer.

Historically I've fed a little linseed through winter, as they live on haylage and need a little extra help to get the necessary fatty acids, but obviously can't anymore.

They're looking well enough, but are lacking their winter linseed shine. Mel at Pro-Earth suggested Chia Seeds might be worth a try, I've never considered Chia Seeds as something to feed to horses.

Does anyone have any experience? If so - are they palatable? Do you soak them first?

Photo of the high maintenance one, who after an unsuccessful evening spent trying to convince him to soak his feet, was proud to show me that he'd figured it all out and was parked in his breakfast bowl the next morning.

 

[planete]

All I know is that they do swell a lot when wet so i would soak them personally. I am on the kind of restricted diet your horse is on (Lol!) and thought I would try chia seeds as they are supposed to be a wonder food. They made my digestive problems worse. Just saying, I am not a horse of course. Let us know how you get on. Love the pic!

 

[GinaGeo]

All I know is that they do swell a lot when wet so i would soak them personally. I am on the kind of restricted diet your horse is on (Lol!) and thought I would try chia seeds as they are supposed to be a wonder food. They made my digestive problems worse. Just saying, I am not a horse of course. Let us know how you get on. Love the pic!

Thank you - like you say the literature is fantastic but knowing how they work in real life is always interesting. If they make digestive issues worse that is the last thing we need!

If we do go ahead soaking will definitely be on the list - thank you!

 

[Littlewills]

Any oil will make them glossy and shiny, its just that linseed is one of the better ones.

 

[SEL]

I have - they are supposed to be helpful for ulcers because they form a sort of mucus in the gut.

Can't say I noticed a difference with her stomach, but didn't notice any negative points either. I use kwik beet so I just chucked a handful in when I was soaking that.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Chia seeds swell when soaked in water, as Planete pointed out, but they also become sticky and so I imagine that you could mix them with the grass chaff and the seeds would stick to that.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Thank you - like you say the literature is fantastic but knowing how they work in real life is always interesting. If they make digestive issues worse that is the last thing we need!

If we do go ahead soaking will definitely be on the list - thank you!

I'm another who has my own digestive issues with a lot of the stuff on your list, although I am fine with linseed. Chia doesn't upset me but they are a bit expensive to be feeding in the quantity that you would want to give a horse. Have you tried just adding oil to the feed, you seem to be able to give your horse olive, coconut, sunflower or rapeseed oil - just introduce slowly and monitor carefully - I react to rapeseed oil. In fact I think if I were you, I would give them sunflower oil in the first instance.

 

[GinaGeo]

I have - they are supposed to be helpful for ulcers because they form a sort of mucus in the gut.

Can't say I noticed a difference with her stomach, but didn't notice any negative points either. I use kwik beet so I just chucked a handful in when I was soaking that.

Thank you -that’s interesting - I was hoping for a double whammy of positive effects. The horse in question does have a questionable gut and does seem to have an ulcer (hind gut) flare up at the same time as the allergic symptoms present themselves.

I suppose I might have to try it and find out!

I soak their grass nuts so that can easily sorted ?

I'm another who has my own digestive issues with a lot of the stuff on your list, although I am fine with linseed. Chia doesn't upset me but they are a bit expensive to be feeding in the quantity that you would want to give a horse. Have you tried just adding oil to the feed, you seem to be able to give your horse olive, coconut, sunflower or rapeseed oil - just introduce slowly and monitor carefully - I react to rapeseed oil. In fact I think if I were you, I would give them sunflower oil in the first instance.

Thank you - that’s a good suggestion and might be a starting place. I like that Linseed is higher in Omega 3 than most. And Chia seeds are the same. I was contemplating Black Sunflower Seeds or Sunflower Oil but the high Omega 6 levels, which can be inflammatory put me off a little. You are right that cost will be a big factor. Certainly won’t be sourcing them in the 150g packs from Holland and Barrett if we do go down this route! ?

 

[Keith_Beef]

The lowest price I've seen is €6.60/kg, for five 1kg bags.

 

[windand rain]

I think I might be tempted to buy a bag from tesco to try but think I too would start with small amounts of sunflower oil. Chia seeds are very digestable to most horses but as with anything very slowly would be my advice. Emerald green are grown just up the road from me so are my go to food if they need more than rough grazing

 

[GinaGeo]

I think I might be tempted to buy a bag from tesco to try but think I too would start with small amounts of sunflower oil. Chia seeds are very digestable to most horses but as with anything very slowly would be my advice. Emerald green are grown just up the road from me so are my go to food if they need more than rough grazing

I do really rate the Emerald Green Feeds Thank you - will try Sunflower Oil and keep the Chia Seeds in reserve.

The lowest price I've seen is €6.60/kg, for five 1kg bags.

It seems to be suggested to feed 50-100g per day of Chia Seeds - so it certainly won't be the most economical! Thank you!

 

[Keith_Beef]

I do really rate the Emerald Green Feeds Thank you - will try Sunflower Oil and keep the Chia Seeds in reserve.



It seems to be suggested to feed 50-100g per day of Chia Seeds - so it certainly won't be the most economical! Thank you!

Even at the upper dose of 100g, that's only 66 cents a day. Hardly expensive.

 

[GinaGeo]

Even at the upper dose of 100g, that's only 66 cents a day. Hardly expensive.

It adds up when you're feeding it to four Would be adding just shy of £900 a year to the feed bill.

The Linseed used to cost me £146 for the year for the four....!

I'm going to look at the Sunflower Oil a little more closely! Thanks everyone

 

[chaps89]

These articles may be of interest if considering going down the oil route

https://davidmarlin.co.uk/portfolio...o-horses-and-how-to-choose-which-oil-is-best/

https://davidmarlin.co.uk/portfolio/how-and-why-to-feed-oil-to-horses/


Years and years ago there was a chap who had a stand at Your Horse Live extolling the virtues of chia over linseed, never had to look into it further but it's clearly not a new idea.

 

[maddielove]

I've been feeding chia for a few years now, mainly for gut health (runny poo/faecal water from autumn/winter grazing) and find out of the long long list of remedies I've tried it helps the most to dry her up. I think it works in a similar way to psyllium creating a gel in the gut.

The shine she gets is lovely too, I started feeding much earlier this year than usual as I was suspicious of ulcers and her winter coat has never looked so good. She's a good doer too and haven't found it to affect her weight at all..which I figure linseed maybe would.

I feed it in with pink mash so does get soaked, though fed previously in chaff and found a lot stuck to the sides of the bucket so probably better to soak to get it in them. I buy 2kg from Amazon (£11.99) and this lasts me a month-ish I feed three big supplement scoops a day which looks about half a cup in volume and must be about 60-70g.

 

[GinaGeo]

Thank you both very much indeed. I’ll have a read of those Chaps89

Maddielove - the fact that you find it helps the gut is very interesting indeed and it may well be worth a go.