What do you feed for shiny, healthy coats?

FreyaB

FreyaB

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Hi everyone,
My coloured geldings coat & skin are looking/feeling dry, itchy and generally a bit neglected. He'd been bathed a lot in his previous home as he's mainly white and showed a lot so they kept him clean that way. So I would like him to have a nice glossy, shiny coat for summer and was wondering what you fed for those gorgeous, soft coats that I see!

Chocolate cake for anyone who answers...:)
 
Cheap and cheerful sunflower oil does the trick for mine-

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Just a glug in each feed :)
 
I've found in the past linseed is good for gloss and darkening a coat, peanut oil or any good vegetable oil added to hardfeed creates a fabulous shine, but can heat a horse if given too much. I swear by a raw egg mixed into the feed about once or twice a month plus a good multivitamin supp and also a good grooming preferably twce a day if possible especially with a massage type rubber mitt to encourage blood flow does wonders.
 
Gusbear said:
I've found in the past linseed is good for gloss and darkening a coat, peanut oil or any good vegetable oil added to hardfeed creates a fabulous shine, but can heat a horse if given too much. I swear by a raw egg mixed into the feed about once or twice a month plus a good multivitamin supp and also a good grooming preferably twce a day if possible especially with a massage type rubber mitt to encourage blood flow does wonders.
Click to expand...

Ahh, okay - Do you have a multivitamin supplement to reccomend?
 
I would feed micronised linseed rather than the oil. You have to feed vitamin E and selenium alongside oil to help digestion or much of it goes to waste. Linseed is also brilliant for weight gain/maintenance and hooves :)
 
It might be worth having a look at his feed before you add anything else...

I wanted to give my cob something with a bit more protein but still hi fibre so used alfalfa chop... Cue horrid scurfy coat and cracking skin behind his knees within a few days. Cut the alfalfa back out and started improving. I'm sad enough that I keep a little journal for the horse and when I looked back through it, his coat had been poor when he was on a pelleted balancer that contained alfalfa & soya oil. After a lot of phoning round various nutritionists, feed companies etc, got told that due to the high nitrogen content, alfalfa & soya can affect some horses this way, especially cob/heavy types. Maybe something worth looking at?

I now feed my cob micronised linseed from Charnwood - protein and oils and his coat looks fab. Even commented on by visiting posh instructor :D
 
In the pas i've fed outshine (excellent) and also flax oil .... but one of my friends came back from grooming Stateside and I now use .....
Black sunflower seeds - amazing 1 mug a day and they shine!
(Also cheap as its a bird food so VAT free)
 
About 6 weeks or so ago I put my coloured gelding on Top Spec Lite as he doesnt need feed, is a good doer. He used to have terribly scurfy skin with not a lot of shine to his coat. The difference in him is amazing, still a bit scurfy at times, like now when he's just got his summer coat through. He looks and feels much healthier, just 2 cup fulls of Top Spec a day seems to have made all the difference to him.
 
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