Feeding oil for weight gain? opinions please.

[clares1994]

Hi. Never thought id write a post about my mare needing something for weight gain. I dont want to alter her feed too much, currently on a balancer and chaff, but she has just dropped condition ever so slightly. With having such a great summer weight wise and an increased workload this winter just want something to add a bit of weight. What are your opinions on feeding oils? Which ones? And just get them from the suprrmarket? Thanks

 

[sonjafoers]

I've had great success with oil supplements rather than pure oil, the supplements are balanced so no need for extra vitamin E and won't cause loose droppings which oil in quantity can do.

EquiJewel and Baileys Outshine are both great for helping with condition and topline and both are palatable according to my fussy girl.

I have fed soya oil at times but only for coat shine and nowhere near enough to help with weight gain so I can't comment, but I've read somewhere that horses should be fed oil designed for equines rather than corn oil or similar for human use. There was a very good reason why but I can't remember it - sorry!

 

[alsxx]

I feed my TB veg oil - he's hard to keep weight on, and coupled with hind gut issues, feeding oil allows me to pack in the calories without having to give him more hard feed. Most commercial mixes designed for weight gain upset his stomach anyway due to the ingredients, so this works well for me. Of couse I also feed ad-lib haylage, but the oil has made a massive difference, and he gleams!

He receives a vitamin/mineral supplement with added vit E. I have never had any issues with loose droppings either

 

[clares1994]

Just your bog standard veg oil from the supermarket? And is it right what ive read about 100mls per 100kg of horsr?

 

[alsxx]

Just your bog standard veg oil from the supermarket? And is it right what ive read about 100mls per 100kg of horsr?

Yep, I get the 2 big 6 litre bottles for either £8 or £10 (husband always does the shopping!). I'm not sure, I've read such varying things about feeding oil tbh but I feed about 300mls per day to a 500kg horse (he gets about 100-125ml am and about 200ml pm). Of couse, introduced slowly!

 

[PolarSkye]

I feed linseed oil, but he also gets a lot of oil from the micronised linseed and the D&H Pellets he gets (both also high in oil). Great for skin, coat and feet too .

P

 

[tabithakat64]

I fed outshine, as its fully balanced, works great an only a small amount needs to be fed.

 

[marmalade88]

I use veg oil from supermarket. Rapseed i think it. He gets it in evening feed, he's on country wide conditioning cubes oil and garlic. It helps his coat and I can notice a difference.

 

[sonjafoers]

If you go onto the Baileys feed page and look up Outshine there's an interesting article at the bottom entitled Not all oils are equal. I don't know how to post the link but it's worth a read

 

[NZJenny]

I've always fed corn or soy, rather than one of the generic ones. The other thing is to start them off slowly - 100 mls for the first week, then slowly increase from there.

 

[spotty_pony]

My boy is on Soya Oil and is looking great on it! He really likes the taste of it too. If you are feeding a balancer, you don't need to worry about the imbalance of Vitamin E and Selenium unless you are feeding a very high amount of oil.

 

[ThoroughbredStar]

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As Small Fish says, make sure you are feeding Omega 3's for weight gain. Omega 6 and 9 are pro-inflammatory oils, Omega 3 is an anti-inflammatory oil.

Linseed and Cod Liver Oil are the only oils out there that are anti-inflammatory. Oils such as Soya and veg are pro-inflammatory so not always the best- particularly if you are feeding to something with a sensitive gut or a poor doer.

You will notice that there are Omega 3, 6 and 9's in the anti-inflammatory oils, even though 6 and 9 are pro. However, there are much larger quantities of Omega 3 in Linseed and Cod Liver Oil (anti0-inflammatories) so out weight the pro-inflams.

My advice would be to feed to either cooked meal linseed or cod liver oil if you are looking at any oil.

I have a horse that has suffered quite badly with gastric ulceration and heavy worm burden. Amongst using other products I have found Linseed a vital part of the diet to encourage weight gain and it also helps to create a healthy shiny coat and skin.

Hope that helps.

 

[wench]

I've used bog standard veg oil/corn oil, and outshine in the past. The oil did bog all, the outshine really helped!

 

[milos]

A mug of micronised linseed. Great for coat shine and condition

 

[Jive Master]

My boy is on Equine R Oil, which is basically just rapeseed oil. seems to be doing the trick as he is filling out nicely & reasonably quick

 

[kobi]

Another vote for micronised linseed over oil.

 

[Welshboy]

Micronised linseed is great. Right balance of omega fats. Apparently better metabolised than linseed oil. It's clean/dry so convenient and inexpensive. I feed it Ll year round, but up the quantity for weight maintenance in Winter.

 

[wench]

I've used linseed as well. Did nothing either.

 

[MDB]

We can only get bog standard corn oil here in Spain, so that is what we used with both our rescues. Started slowly (quarter of a cup mornings only) and built up to about a half a cup in morning and again at night. So far not had any problems. Took about two weeks to notice weight gain but then again both their diets had a total overhaul so their weight gain wasn't solely due to the oil.

 

[Cortez]

Be careful feeding cod liver oil, a friend of mine nearly killed her horse by feeding too much; overdosed on vitamin A and compromised his liver.

 

[NZJenny]

Wow, cod liver oil stinks (we used to get it shoved down our throats as kids) and tastes disgusting. I remember Mitavite selling a fish oil here for horses and trying to disguise the taste/smell with garlic. The horse in my avatar thought I was trying to poison him - the look he gave me when I served it up to him was priceless. Needless to say it didn't stay on the menu long.

The best we can get here now is hemp oil - it's really expensive, so the best way to feed it is what they call hemp seed cake, which is what is left when the oil has been extracted. It's not only a great oil, but is a complete protein as well. The horses do really well on it, but oddly you cannot buy it for human consumption. Go figure.