Suppliment help?!

[Miss_Dior]

Hi! I recently bought some biotin and linseed to give to my new horse along side his normal food. (I want to make sure he has strong feet because I would like the option of maybe going barefoot in the future.)
I want to start giving him his food hot when it gets colder but part of me is worried that the heat will damage the supplements? I remember doing GCSE biology where they said heat can denature proteins and make them unravel so will this happen to his food?! I know I'm probably being paranoid but would love some reassurance!

 

[Shay]

It won't matter.

The linseed should be de-natured already - you can't feed raw linseed. You'll probably have it micronized which is ultra high heat treated. But you can get it as jelly and as pre-cooked meal. No amount of cooking it a second time will make any difference. But if you think you might have raw linseed please cook before feeding!

Biotin is a B complex vitamin and they are stable in heat.

So you'll be fine feeding warm feeds. Not too hot though!

 

[PaddyMonty]

I want to start giving him his food hot when it gets colder

Why?

 

[Miss_Dior]

Thank you! haha thats another thing I worry about! I always make sure I can mix it with my hands and then add more cold water to make it more sloppy - how he likes it! x

 

[Miss_Dior]

To warm him up!! xx

 

[PaddyMonty]

He doesn't need a hot feed to warm him up. He is a horse, not a human.

 

[Shay]

Paddymonty is right - hot feeds don't warm horses up. We used to think they did - but I'm old! I still do give my horses a warm - as in the same temperature as your hand not warmer - feed on returning from a long day hunting. And a warm sloppy feed can be more palatable for something very ill or a rescue case. And I wouldn't feed a soaked feed that had frozen overnight or anything like that.

Normal horses in the UK keep warm from good quality forage which ferments in their hind gut and produces heat.

But that wasn't your question so I didn't answer it! You won't hurt your horse giving a warm feed.

 

[Fishfingers]

as your feeding biotin and linseed i would suggest you feed turmeric and fresh ground pepper this will help the horses adsorb the goodness much better and gave them a relay glossy coat as well as a number of other benefits.

 

[Shay]

Sorry - there is no scientific basis for this. Both Turmeric and black pepper are useful supplements in themselves. But neither is said to help absorption / digestion of other ingredients. Quite the reverse as the active ingredient in Turmeric is not easily absorbed and better combined with other things.