Its been a rough winter and my pastures have taken a beating. The majority of my horses are thin despite feeding more hay and grain (within reason). A friend suggessted adding canola oil to their feed to help them bulk up. I am wondering if anyone has done this? What your experience has been with it? Does it add weight? How did the horses react to it? and lastly, how do you determine how much to give?
Thanks in advance for the info!
I feed 1/2 cup 2x a day, it really hasn’t bulked up my horse at all, but he wasn’t thin to begin with.
I added the oil and 1/2 rice bran 2x/day so I could reduce his pelleted feed.
A good rule of thumb is up to 2 cups per day. Most horses will readily consume oils and at 2000 cal a cup it can be a great way of packing energy dense feed to a horse. Be advised some horses will back off feed if given oil and so it can be counter productive.
However a bigger question is why are they thin with extra feed despite the long rough winter? My horses were outside for all but the worst of days and exposed to cold temps, heavy wet snows, high winds and all the usual crap winter throws at us. Winter came early and has been no fun. But increasing feed/caloric intake by 20% and upwards to 30% during the worst weather offset any low body weights. Are they older now and need senior rations or are their other concerns? Teeth, parasites etc?
Canola is the rapeseed plant’s oil. “Canola” was coined from “Canada” & “oil”. This oil is illegal to feed to livestock in Europe, & has been for years. The eyes of livestock fed it were adversely affected.
Europe is usually ahead of the US/Canada in health matters, as is seen by the availability of human-grade drugs/herbs well before they’re made available here.
There are websites dealing with the history of the marketing of “Canola” as being oh-so-healthful. You’ll have to do your own research.
After doing mine, I’ve never ingested it nor fed it to any animal.
[QUOTE=SarahGR;5484376]
Its been a rough winter and my pastures have taken a beating. The majority of my horses are thin despite feeding more hay and grain (within reason). A friend suggessted adding canola oil to their feed to help them bulk up. I am wondering if anyone has done this? What your experience has been with it? Does it add weight? How did the horses react to it? and lastly, how do you determine how much to give?
Thanks in advance for the info![/QUOTE]
If your pastures are in no shape to support the horses then they need to be on about 1.5-2% of their ideal body wt in good quality hay a day for starters…good hay will usually keep weights good if fed in these amounts (this would be 15-20 lbs of 14% protein hay per day per horse for horses that should weigh 1000 lbs…if yours should weigh differently then you can figure the amount they would need).
Horses can tolerate, in most cases, up to 20% of their calories in the form of fats. However, fats shouldn’t be used in place of good hay to provide calories alone…the horses need the nutrients in the hay plus the fiber to keep their gut working. If you are feeding the right amounts of hay and are using as much grain (usually not more than 1% of ideal body wt…or 10 lbs for the horse that should weigh 1000 lbs) as you should and they still need a bit more you can add oil (short term canola, vegie, corn are fine…usually the vegie is the least expensive)…start with 1/4 cup mixed with or on top of grain twice a day…some horses don’t like it (I think it is more textural than taste) so you can add something like a tablespoon of molasses and mix with it. Increase by 1/4 cup each week (so second week would be 1/2 cup one feeding, 1/4cup the second, third would be 1/2 cup at both feedings etc) up to 1 cup per feeding twice a day…if the manure turns to cow patties back up on the fats.
Keep in mind that horses aren’t going to gain instantly (if they’ve been losing wt it may take a couple weeks to just turn that around to gaining) and when they do gain it is usually at 1 to maybe 2 pounds per day and that it takes 100-150 lbs to increase body condition scores by 1 point/level…or a month and a half to three months. Ideally they will get some moderate exercise while gaining so that the wt gain is more in the form of muscle than just fat.
[QUOTE=Western;5484516]
Canola is the rapeseed plant’s oil. “Canola” was coined from “Canada” & “oil”. This oil is illegal to feed to livestock in Europe, & has been for years. The eyes of livestock fed it were adversely affected.
Europe is usually ahead of the US/Canada in health matters, as is seen by the availability of human-grade drugs/herbs well before they’re made available here.
There are websites dealing with the history of the marketing of “Canola” as being oh-so-healthful. You’ll have to do your own research.
After doing mine, I’ve never ingested it nor fed it to any animal.[/QUOTE]
“Canola plants?” Your article doesn’t even say what plant the rapeseed plant was cross-bred with.
You can read about the vested interest that big business had, connected with the Canadian government issuing a statement as to the healthfulness of “Canola” oil.
Resting on one short paragraph from the Mayo Clinic is unadvisable, imo.
Let the OP do the research. My conscience bade me give OP a “heads-up.”
There is a very good nutritional segment on the Jumping Radio Show (listen on your computer or download the podcast from iTunes and listen on the go). There is a link to the Horse Radio Network at the bottom of the Chron’s front webpage.
Recently the equine nutritionist who does these segments talked about feeding oils and fat. She suggests corn or soy oils. One should start with 2 tablespoons and work up. If you feed too much fat too soon, the horse may get very loose manure. Take a listen and learn from this great segment, whatever discipline you ride!
[QUOTE=Western;5484516]
Canola is the rapeseed plant’s oil. “Canola” was coined from “Canada” & “oil”. This oil is illegal to feed to livestock in Europe, & has been for years. The eyes of livestock fed it were adversely affected.
Europe is usually ahead of the US/Canada in health matters, as is seen by the availability of human-grade drugs/herbs well before they’re made available here.
There are websites dealing with the history of the marketing of “Canola” as being oh-so-healthful. You’ll have to do your own research.
After doing mine, I’ve never ingested it nor fed it to any animal.[/QUOTE]
I dont mind facts, but…
It was named Canola for ‘Canada’ Low Acid’ because it has low erucic(sp) acid. …
Wild rapeseed does contain higher levels of eucic acid, the issue of which it can be toxic. normal canola oil from controlled genetic rapeseed doesn’t. Hence why it is allowed for consumption, as well as it’s byproduct rapeseed meal - which is well known for being fed to livestock.
Just saying…
As for feeding canola oil to horses, it’s not a bad product, energy dense and will aid in putting on weight a bit.
If you are feeding oil for the specific reason of wieght, - you are better off trying to get an unprocessed oil rather than the processed ones from the supermarket - as the processing done in those breaks down some of the essential fatty acids.
sunflower/corn oils are best to feed, instead of a blended in my experience - if you wish to go that route.
rainechyldes, “ola” is a common suffix for “oil”, like “Saffola” is the brand name for safflower oil, “oleo” is for margarine, etc.
You have no word for the “o” also, just the L means low & the A means acid.
However, what the “ola” means is beside the point of whether this product is healthful. I doubt that it’s been legalized in Europe.
[QUOTE=Western;5484671]
rainechyldes, “ola” is a common suffix for “oil”, like “Saffola” is the brand name for safflower oil, “oleo” is for margarine, etc.
You have no word for the “o” also, just the L means low & the A means acid.
However, what the “ola” means is beside the point of whether this product is healthful. I doubt that it’s been legalized in Europe.[/QUOTE]
go look it up… seriously:)
canola was named for canada/ low acid is 1976 or 78, or LEAR (which I dont remember what that stood for) I forget I’m old. I’m not arguing it’s healthfulness or otherwise, - in that most of the hysteria about it was due to an internet document written by John someone who blamed everything from mad cow disease to mustard gas attacks on Canola. The article if it’s still able to be found is pretty funny. Well I thought it was, but I’m weird:)
I don’t feed it - because there are better choices available - I never suggest soy for horses, becausemany horses are sensitive to it. why I voted for unprocessed corn or sunflower for weight if they wanted to feed pure oil- Which was the OPs question:) shrug.
I recently talked to my (equine) chiropractor and trainer and both told me that corn or vegetable oil is not a good idea, especially for horses with joint issues. I guess corn can cause major inflammation issues, so it affects these horses more. My chiro recommended Uckele’s Cocosoya oil for my gelding, but he said he shouldn’t stay on it for more than a year because it could affect his endocrine system (or immune system? I don’t remember). Apparently too much soy can cause issues as well. Anyone have more info on that?
rainechyldes, we must have posted at the same time! Can you tell me how soy sensitivity manifests itself in horses so I can watch for it? Thx!
If I ever have nothing better to do, I’ll research the “ola” in the coinage of “Canola”. Now, I want to go eat a bowl of granola, with a drizzle of Saffola on it, or perhaps instead, a drizzle of Mazzola, none of which have to do with low acid content, but rather, have to do with oil.
[QUOTE=DressageReine;5484720]
rainechyldes, we must have posted at the same time! Can you tell me how soy sensitivity manifests itself in horses so I can watch for it? Thx![/QUOTE]
I’ve only had 2 cases of it in my barn.
A boarders horse showed a mild sensitivity to it - like a food allergy - - got her tested and it was the soy. Had been on a soy product for quite awhile - it was a fairly low key allergy - horse was NQR, but it never interfered with daily work if that makes sense.
A young horse I had, came down with the absolute worse case of sweet itch I 'd ever seen (or so I thought at the time)
Theres a bit of documentation out and about regarding soy issues - soy is in a ton of horse feeds as well - I think soy allergy is probably rarer compared to how many horses are fed products containing soy.
[QUOTE=coloredcowhorse;5484577]
If your pastures are in no shape to support the horses then they need to be on about 1.5-2% of their ideal body wt in good quality hay a day for starters…good hay will usually keep weights good if fed in these amounts (this would be 15-20 lbs of 14% protein hay per day per horse for horses that should weigh 1000 lbs…if yours should weigh differently then you can figure the amount they would need). [/QUOTE]
I would like to emphasize the importance ofgood quality hay in the horse’s diet.
I have a variety of horses, and a variety of ages, they are fed enough hay that I do not have horses coming into spring ‘thin’.
That would be totally unacceptable to me, meaning I did not feed enough hay or grain to supplement the hay.
I would re-visit your feed program before I added oil for weight gain.
Wiki is your friend:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola
Canola was originally naturally bred from rapeseed in Canada by Keith Downey and Baldur R. Stefansson in the early 1970s,[3][4] but it has a very different nutritional profile in addition to much less erucic acid.[5] The name “canola” was derived from “Canadian oil, low acid” in 1978.[6][7]
3 “Richard Keith Downey: Genetics”. science.ca. 2007. http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=348. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
4 Storgaard, AK (2008). “Stefansson, Baldur Rosmund”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007687. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
5 Barthet, V. “Canola”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001356. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
6 “What is canola?”. A problem with weeds – the canola story. Biotechnology Australia (Australian Government). http://www.biotechnologyonline.gov.au/foodag/weeds.html. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
7 Klahorst, Suanne J. (1998). “Dreaming of the Perfect Fat”. Food Product Design (Virgo Publishing). Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20071030143537/http://www.foodproductdesign.com/articles/464/464_0398PR.html. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
[QUOTE=DressageReine;5484720]
rainechyldes, we must have posted at the same time! Can you tell me how soy sensitivity manifests itself in horses so I can watch for it? Thx![/QUOTE]
In my soy sensitive horse - clinical signs were diarrhea, excessive sweating, and sensitive skin to the point of not wanting to be touched.
I like this as well. 
I was always told Canola had a better fatty acid ratio than corn or veggie oil.
Just sayin’ 
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