Vegetable Oil

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gloster_image

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I'm going to start giving Rocks vegetable oil in his feed (allergic to soya, rape seed and sunflower) and was wondering how much people feed their horses that are in moderate work (rock will be eventing)? Also do you just use any brand or a specific brand? xxx
 
Check your bottle first, as most vegatable oils contain rape seed.

YO feeds sunflower oil to her retired 16.2 TB on instruction from the vet - 1 pint a day, split over his feeds. We just use a "dollop" in each feed - tend to use the supermarket brands, it's cheaper!
 
ONE PINT?!! Gosh thats loads! Ours wouldnt have that, fussy cows!!! Ours have 50ml a day - just because the linseed oil says to give 50ml every other day, so they get 50ml of the sunflower/veg oil too. I'd give more to an eventer though - ours are in very very light work at the mo.
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My horse has 2 pints a day, but thats a Shire!

You can feed up to 1/4 a pint a day before you have to suplement selenium. You need selenium if feeding vast amounts as the oil prevents the gut utilising vitamin E / upset the selenium balance which is closely linked to vitamin E.

You can feed up to 25% of body weight as oil per day. My horse needs it for his muscle problems, however the EPSM diet can be fed to normal horses and is very benificial... much less risk of colic or tieing up so is well suited to hard working competing horses who face stressful situations.

Here is a link to the EPSM diet stuff, it has some good advice for people feeding high oil/high fat diets, even if your horse is not diagnosed EPSM.
http://www.ruralheritage.com/vet_clinic/epsmdiet_goals.htm

As far as oil goes, most horses find corn oil the most palatable, but any will do apart from linseed oil which irritates the gut and can cause colic if fed in high volume for a long time. Oil is cheapest from the supermarket, but look at the lables and get the pure, non hydrogonated stuff or your horse will fart a lot!
 
I give vegetable oil to my horses, they quarter of a cup in each feed! i give them tescos own it comes in a large bottle which keeps them going for a few weeks!
 
Generally if you feed oil you should go for the most viscous as it is easier absorbed into the gut. Veg oil is one of the heavier oils therefore if unless he is also alergic to corn oil, this would be the better one to use.

Also if you have a tesco extra near you they sell large drums (about 10 - 12 litres) of oil - both veg and corn. It does work out cheaper buying it that way!
 
I was using veg oil for my mare but then changed to corn as i read in a horsey mag that it's the better one for weight gain/conditioning if that helps any one,cheap way of putting weight on!
 
I feed soya oil at the moment, however I have used veg and suflower before. Baron is in light work, gets ridden for about an hour per day. Hes 16.3 middleweight and I give him a mug full a day split between 2 feeds (no matter which oil I use). He also gets alfa oil, he is a poor doer though and needs the oil to keep his condition.
 
If you do decide to buy in large quantities (either from Tesco or possibly a catering suppliers) make sure you have somewhere cool and dark to store it as once its opened it can go rancid quite quickly.
 
Hi, I'm sure I read somewhere (annoyingly I can't remember when or where
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) that feeding a lot of oil can result in scurfy dry skin and that vitamin E should be fed along side the oil to help prevent this. Must admit I have noticed increased scurf when feeding up to 1/2 pint of vegetable oil per day. I wasn't using a specific vitamin E supplement at the time (just a regular all round supplement), so do not know if its added use would have made a difference to the dry skin.

Has anyone else heard of this being a problem when feeding highish levels of oil? <font color="purple"> </font>
 
Thats a strange one, I'd have thought vegetable oil would contain quite a lot of vitamin E? I didn't notice the scurf problem.

Gloster_Image, I believe it does increase energy though in a slow-release way, which is why I liked it with my tb. She was a nightmare to keep weight on but couldn't have anything quick release. The oil seemed to work well.
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To be honest, I can't for the life of me remember where I read it and of course "large quantities" wasn't specified by amount. Maybe it was some lunatic feeding litres of the stuff! I'll have to trawl through my stuff and see if I can find where I read it. Know feeding oil is very popular and extremely successful most of the time.
 
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