Feeding Oil

[lynz88]

Looking at adding veg oil after horse has lost weight with the weather and coat change. Need to add calories but not starch and sugar so wondering, for those that feed veg oil or similar, how much do you feed for weight gain?

 

[Meredith]

There are lots of similar threads about this @lynz88
Here is one as an example..
https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/feeding-oil-for-weight-gain-opinions-please.687916/
Have you tried micronised linseed?

 

[nikkimariet]

I feed linseed oil over micronised linseed as it’s lower volume but more calorie dense. It is pure fat with no protein though(as the protein is in the husk). You can feed up to 500ml of oil a day but that’s for really hard working horses. I feed 350ml linseed oil a day to a hard working mega poor doer.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Ive fed rapeseed oil and micronised linseed. Both worked fine. I used to buy the oil in the massive big jugs as it worked out cheaper.

Kia got a mug full of either split between his feeds and Faran gets 100g a day over winter to keep his coat good but not for weight maintenance.

 

[FieldOrnaments]

The issue with feeding straight oils is the cheap readily available supermarket ones (corn, vegetable, rapeseed etc) tend to have a greater ratjo of omega 6 to 3 which is proflammatory; anything with a ratio that favours omega 3 is anti inflammatory but no bottled oils do. Micronised linseed tends to be fed because it does, you need a minimum of 0.25 but ideally more .

 

[TPO]

Years ago there was a vet talk via the Arab Horse Society. That vet was completely against feeding oil in oil form. There were a lot of endurance riders in attendance who questioned him about this as oil was their go to.

I can't remember the finer details but the basic take away was that oil was not good for their digestive system

Also second Field Ornament with the pro Inflammatory ratio.

I fed small amounts of oil prior to that talk. Now I use micronised linseed. My chaffs have an oil coating [according to the labels]. Since feeding linseed I've never had the need to go back to oil in that form. Oh, I feed Outshine which is basically oil pellets?

 

[Pinkvboots]

I wouldn't feed veg oil I would feed small quantities of linseed oil because my Arab's tend to not like the husks in micronised linseed, Arabi would leave the husks in his feed bowl so I stopped feeding it.

But saying that I've not fed any kind of oil to my Arab's for a few years now and I don't think they have missed it or suffered from not having it.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I feed linseed oil over micronised linseed as it’s lower volume but more calorie dense. It is pure fat with no protein though(as the protein is in the husk). You can feed up to 500ml of oil a day but that’s for really hard working horses. I feed 350ml linseed oil a day to a hard working mega poor doer.

My 2 much preferred the linseed oil rather than the micronised but now I occasionally buy the lozenges for them as they are older don't do that much work and like them as a treat.
Arabi used to spit the linseed husks out

 

[lynz88]

He's already on micronized linseed and Equimins AC which is linseed based. Is it safe still to feed linseed oil on top?

 

[Squeak]

I've been eyeing this up recently because it says it's properly balance and doesn't have linseed in:

Omega Ultra Oil®

Ultra Oil® A super supplement packed with five nutritious oils for optimum energy performance and conditioning The benefits of supplementing oil in a horse’s diet are well known; excellent for conditioning, energy, coat shine, skin health and joint health. Knowing this, Omega Equine has created...

omegaequine.co.uk

Usually I love micronised linseed but for some reason this year it's making my horse itch