Lately there has been tremendous interest in the horse world about fat. In regards to human nutrition, “fat” is often considered a bad word, and low-fat diets are popular. But we should remember that in people, some fats are necessary and healthy. This is equally true for horses: fats play a very important role in horse feeds and nutrition.
There are many reasons to feed horses added fat. The best reason for using added fat is for an energy (calorie) source. The primary purpose for grain feeding is to provide energy for maintenance, performance, growth and reproduction. Because fat contains more than twice the calorie content of starch, and horses digest and utilize fat well, higher fat horse feeds offer an excellent opportunity to increase calorie intake without greatly increasing the quantity of feed.
Other reasons for adding fat to a feed ration include improved endurance, heat tolerance, hair coat and attitude:
- Horses on fat supplemented diets experience increased endurance because of a glycogen sparing effect. Glycogen is the fuel for muscular activity that is stored in the muscle cells. Horses that are on high fat diets conserve glycogen, which can help them finish a performance event stronger. This is particularly important in racing, eventing, cutting and other activities that require high performance over time.
- Horses trained in hot, humid environments show improvement to heat tolerance because fat supplemented rations generate less heat as a by-product of digestion. This becomes important in parts of the country where heat is prevalent.
- A shiny hair coat, a side benefit of added fat in the diet, is important to horse owners who are showing or selling horses. Higher fat levels, especially those that contain a balance of omega three and omega six fatty acids, are good choices for those in the show ring or sale ring business.
- Horse owners often report that horses that are fed lower-starch diets with added fat have a calmer attitude than those that are fed a conventional high starch and forage diet.
It is important to keep in mind that indiscriminate fat supplementation can create deficiencies of other nutrients. This is known as empty calories; where energy levels are adequate, but protein, lysine and mineral levels are not. Developmental bone problems can result which may precipitate injuries in young horses.
There also is a period of adjustment of about three to four weeks for horses to receive benefits from added fat. Any change in diet should be done gradually over seven to10 days to avoid the possibility of digestive upsets.
A balanced diet, tailored to the use and age of the horse, is the most important consideration. A trained nutritional consultant can make recommendations that will best fit your horse and the activity involved.
i have been feeding my horses a fat supliment heavily for the last 3 years and it has benifited my herd greatly! my performance horses are calmer but yet maintain weight easyer, and my brood mares and foals are maintaining and growing better and everything on the place shines like a new penny! i feed a complete equine mineral daily along with the fat supliment added to just basic livestock pellets and it works wonderfully!
Back in the 90s when I owned and operated a public riding stable, I went on a mission. I was going to change the stereotype of the trail string horse. I treated each of my horses as very special individuals. It was imperative that they looked good, felt healthy, and were happy.
That’s when I began a self-taught regimen to understand equine nutrition. I found that a diet high in fat and fiber was what I needed for horses working 7 to 8 hours a day on a regular basis: fat for the energy storage and fiber to help maintain hydration (as well as it’s other obvious benefits).
I began feeding my own special blend (the mill and I referred to it as my “trail mix”) and my horses bloomed. The public took notice, too.
A few years later, I began to see pre-mixed feeds adding fat. But I wouldn’t buy it if it had less than 10% fat.
I am happy to see that in recent years many more feeds/manufacturers have begun to see the benefits of a high-fat diet.
Yay! for the horses!
Hi,
I have recently purchased several horses from kill lots who all look like death. What was the special blend you fed? Many of these horses may be pregnant, I want to make sure I am meeting their special needs as well. Thank you for any help you can lend me.
Misty
Hi Misty,
Rehabbing horses that have been neglected can be a challenge.
You may find the following suggestions to be useful:
1. Make certain the horses have been brought up to date on dental care and parasite control. Heavily parasitized horses may require half dose initially to avoid trauma. Your veterinarian can recommend best protocol. Vaccinations frequently are put off until the horses make a certain level of recovery, again working with your veterinarian.
2. Fresh clean water needs to be available. Neglected horses are also frequently salt starved, so may want to start by putting limited quantity of loose salt out and gradually increase to having it available free choice.
3. Good quality forage needs to be introduced. Best to avoid high NDF (neutral detergent fiber) forages such as mature grass.
4. Senior Horse Feeds work very well for neglected horses to help them safely gain weight and restore muscle mass. Well formulated senior horse feeds will contain controlled levels of starch and sugar to help reduce risk of digestive disturbances, pre and probiotics to help get gut function back to normal, essential amino acids to help restore muscle mass and appropriate trace mineral and vitamin levels. Senior feeds are quite safe to feed and the amount fed can gradually be increased to produce desired weight gain and improvement in Body Condition. The Senior feeds also provide adequate nutrition in case any of the mares are pregnant. If mares are determined to be pregnant, may be useful to go to a Mare & Foal feed, like SafeChoice Mare & Foal to provide desired plane of nutrition for the foal as well.
5. It is important to remember that Calories drive Body Condition Score and amino acid intakes, along with trace minerals and vitamins, are key to muscle mass, hair coat and hoof quality.
SafeChoice Senior and other SafeChoice products have been used very successfully by consumers to help return rescue horses to healthy condition. And remember to introduce the new diet slowly so they have ample time to acclimate. Working them up to recommended feeding rates slowly, and several small meals throughout the day.
Best wishes,
Roy
I add a fat supplement to my old mare’s Nutrena Senior, and she has maintained a terrific weight, going into and now through this winter. Is there one kind of fat supplement that is better than another? She is 29 yo. and this has been the best she’s looked in winter; good weight, hair and feet. I top dress her grain with soybean oil. Is one type of fat supplement better than another?
Hi Kim, Great question. One thing about supplements, is that you will get a different opinion from every horse owners out there, that’s for sure! From a pure nutritional perspective, we generally recommend against adding just an oil – corn oil, soybean oil, whatever type. Simply adding oil adds calories, but they are empty calories – you need to provide additional nutrition to support the increased energy in the horse. Look for a supplement that is high in fat, but also adds anti-oxidants such as Vitamin E. You also want to look for a supplement with balanced Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids – a good ratio to look for is 1:5 respectively.
Hope that helps, please let us know if you have more questions.
Thanks ~ Gina T.
Sarah I’d love to get more info on your program…I have 10 horses right now in all different stages of life. I’m feeding them all Safe Choice which they all love. I’ve not added anything to it since I feed the recommendations. I’m always open to different and new suggestions, and I like the sound of yous…Thanks…
How do you find a feed nutritionist for a horse? I’m finding that I’m feeding our horse 4-5 flakes a day just to keep the weight on her. She gets tons of exercise so I feel she needs to eat more and she seems to eat fast. Any recomendations?
Hi Karen,
Thanks for checking in with us. For finding a nutritionist, there are a couple options. We’d be glad to help you here, or on our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/nutrena, or you can also visit http://www.nutrenaworld.com and use the “Ask a Nutrition Consultant” link on the contact us page – that will auto-direct your request for information to the local consultant based on your zip code. Your local feed store might also be a good source of information.
If you would like help here, just tell us a little more about your feeding program – what are you feeding besides the flakes of hay, and how much of that are you providing?
Thanks ~ Gina T.
if nutrena is sincere about the fat content in feed, i think they should take some initiative to increase the fat content in some of their lower priced feeds like stock and stable and non-nutrena labels (the feeds that most people can afford). nutrena and other companies do not hesitate to increase feed prices, so please share the burden of this drought and consider the fat content along with the price increases for your customers. later.tim
Hi Tim, Thanks for the great question, and we do apologize for the delay in responding.
One of the challenges that comes with adding higher fat levels to feeds, is that it isn’t cheap. Every 1% increase in the fat level of a product adds a pretty decent increase in the price of the bag. Not only do you have the cost of adding the actual fat, but formulation must also adjust to add certain nutrients needed by the horse, such as Vitamin E, to help the horse process & utilize the fat properly, and keep the energy-to-nutrient ratio in balance. So, unfortunately, adding fat would move the lower priced options out of that lower-priced category. We do have options such as our Triumph feeds that are in between the Stock and Stable and the higher end products like SafeChoice. As a horse owner, you could choose to move just those horses that would need additional fat in their diets – since not all horses need it! A good number of horses out there don’t need the added fat – many barely need any feed at all! So we need to keep options for them as well.
Please let us know if you have further questions!
Thank you ~ Gina T.
I help get horses back to a healthy weight. I use calf manna, calf manna supplements for horses, orchard grass pellets, alfalfa pellets, barn yard mix grain,canola oil, and sometimes a complete feed. I may adjust the mix frequently depending on the response from the horse. I give days to adjust to changes. And can take as long as 6 months to show a good results, depending on size and health of horse. I have a horse who is in wonderful condition who I have used this diet for 17 years. She only receives a lb a day of grain and supplements plus grass and hay. she still acts like she did at 5 and I still ride her.
Hi, I want to make sure that I have enough fat in my horses diets. I have a small boarding barn along with my performance horse (reining/cow horse) and my broodmare, mini and retired racehorse. Two of my boarding horses are very old. All my horses except the mini and one of the old horses (founders) are out on grass 12 hours a day. My broodmare has a grazing muzzle b/c she gets so heavy so fast. I feed safe choice and a competitor s senior feed, but also boost to one of the old horses. I also supplement the older horses with beet pulp. At this point, am I feeding what I should feed. Most of them are on just one cup of Safe Choice b/c of weight issues. Are they getting enough of what they need?
Hello Lisa, Thanks for the question! Horses don’t necessarily have a specific requirement for fat. They need a certain number of calories per day to maintain body condition, and fat is merely a source of calories, so their overall condition is your best gauge of if they are receiving enough calories per day.
As for the feeding rate of the SafeChoice, if you are only feeding 1 cup per day, then we’d suggest a switch to our ration balancer, Empower Balance. It is designed to be fed at a low rate like that – it’s very concentrated in vitamins & minerals. A cup a day of SafeChoice isn’t delivering anywhere near the intended levels of vitamins and minerals that your horses need.
Hope that helps! Thanks ~ Gina T.
I am having a hard time keeping weight on my thoroughbred and large quarter horse geldings. I added fat. What should I be doing?
Hello Lee, Thanks so much for checking in with us! Without knowing their total diet, it’s hard to say for sure, but here’s a basic recommendation to get him on track.
First, ensure adequate roughage intake – 1.5 – 2.0% of bodyweight per day, so 15-20lbs for a 1000 lb horse.
Second, select an appropriate feed and feed according to the directions for bodyweight and activity level. For harder keepers, look for a higher fat feed. TB’s are notorious for being hard keepers! We’d suggest a product such as our SafeChoice Perform, our our ProForce line. You can also feed at one activity level higher than they are actually doing, to help increase the calorie intake, if need be.
Third, once you’ve given the roughage & high fat feed a solid chance to start working (at least 2 months), then make adjustments from there. More hay, a higher calorie feed, or addition of fat or weight supplements such as rice bran, are all good options.
Hope that helps! Thanks ~ Gina T.