I really wish my gelding would eat the EO-3 oil. I couldn’t get him to consume even 1 tsp in a mash - He sniffed his bowl and gave me the evil eye. And this was the improved mint/apple flavor. I tried for weeks. I finally gave up and went back to flax, which he happily consumes 
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I had no luck w either.
Wellpride has a citrusy scent and my pony doesn’t mind it.
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I’ve fed Contribute to several horses all with success. Smells like bubblegum.
Oh yes I did forget to mention that Wellpride is fish oil only, too. And 1 serving is close to the study dose for EPA and DHA but the cost is $1.80/day!
It is expensive, but is multipurpose. I’m using it mostly for asthma, but it also helps skin and coat, joints, stomach, muscles, hooves and energy. His other supplement contains spirulina, MSM and J-herb, so I feel as if all things are covered.
Renn_aissance, have you contacted Dr. Eleanor Kellon from the ECIR group about your results? I think she would be really interested in this, and maybe figure out how it worked and if it would work for others. There’s a huge group of people on that group looking to try anything that will help their horses. I belonged to it years ago but the amount of messages was just too overwhelming. My 15 yr. old pony is being tested for the first time this spring and has been given fish oil for a few months now; hopefully it does make him a bit more resistant to PPID.
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Well, I managed to get 1 of 2 horses to take the Contribute. Mine was a little suspect at first but eventually didn’t seem to mind it too much.
Husband’s horse thought I poisoned his grain and would not go near it so I may have to resort to capsules for him.
Has anyone noticed or heard that fish oil (or any oils) has a tendency to make hooves soft?
I’ve managed to get both horses to start taking the Contribute and so far so good but our farrier recently suggested I stop giving it b/c it can make hooves soft. I haven’t been able to find any research to support this, though…
how long have you been feeding it? I can’t think of any reason why an essential fatty acid would soften hooves
I started a couple weeks ago, but it took a couple days to get them to adjusted to full dose.
Farrier didn’t note anything off at shoeing appointment today–in fact he said they were nice and hard–but not sure how long it would take to see a change IF that were to be true.
I think he was saying because it was an oil, regardless of it having fatty acids.
I’m inclined to stick with the fish oil for now especially given all his joint issues plus recent recovery from Lyme plus likely steroid-induced acute laminitis.
Feet grow at an average rate of about 1/4" a month, so a couple of weeks isn’t anywhere near long enough to impact hoof quality.
If you were applying oil on top of the feet that can soften the outer horn to some degree.
Feeding oil doesn’t soften feet.
If the feet are indeed softer, then it’s something in the environment, not his diet.
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Respectfully, that is really ignorant. There is no relationship between the fat intake in a horse in the breakdown of the keratin in the coat or hoof. Also, you cannot impact the structural integrity of the existing soft wall outside of major environmental exposure or mechanical separation. The diet can only affect the new hoof that is growing down. If you were to experience any sort of adverse side effect, it would be a solid six months before it was visible. It is more likely that your Farrier has encountered people who have used an oil or fat supplement in lieu of fully balancing the diet and he is making a false attribution. I’m sure he intends no harm but it’s a reminder that even professionals in one area can be really off base in another.
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Feeding oil doesn’t soften feet.
If the feet are indeed softer, then it’s something in the environment, not his diet.
There is no relationship between the fat intake in a horse in the breakdown of the keratin in the coat or hoof. Also, you cannot impact the structural integrity of the existing soft wall outside of major environmental exposure or mechanical separation. The diet can only affect the new hoof that is growing down.
Yep, this all makes sense. Also, when I researched fish oil’s effect on humans it supposedly makes your nails stronger so I wouldn’t think it’d have the opposite effect with horses.
Will stick with the oil and hope to see improvement. Thanks!
Our farrier is really good at shoeing, but I do take his supplement recommendations w a grain of salt and always do my own research first.
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So take this post with a grain of salt please but…
I’ve been feeding 3 mares (that have each had more than one laminitic episode) a healthy dose of flax oil, alfalfa pellets, a couple ounces of whole oats, salt, BOSS and about 1/4 dose Vermont Minerals. They are on free choice but not abundant grass and first cut grass hay. 1 (22 year old) mostly retired but totes a kid around on trails occasionally, 1 (6 year old) in full work, 1 (14 year old) gets ridden a couple times a month.
All 3 of them are sound, look fantastic, have great coats and are at what I consider ideal body weight (feel but not see ribs, not cresty)
The things I have changed- I stopped muzzling and using supplements like Remission/ HEIRO and stopped giving any commercial feed (before they ate Equine Senior or Strategy depending) and added the higher dosage of the flax oil.
Take of this anecdote what you will
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Fascinating…what flax oil are you using?
mostly whatever I can find that’s cheapest lol. But usually that’s Sammy’s Shiny Coat brand on Amazon.
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Are they are on meds?
Nope- no meds. The only supplement is that the 6 year old is on raspberry leaf
Edited to add:
I felt like I was driving myself crazy having to have “perfect” nutrition for my horses, myself, my dogs, etc. And I was spending a stupid fortune trying to do so between supplements and feed. During one of those 2AM can’t shut my brain off sessions I was like why am I having these issues that I didn’t have 20 years ago etc. I didn’t know much then nutrition-wise but I know they weren’t overweight or foundering etc. Everyone used to get a scoop of COB twice a day and get 2 flakes of hay morning and night plus free choice not maintained pasture. The only thing I could come up with was that I was doing too much to try and make everything just right. And while I don’t want to go back to feeding COB exactly, I did want to simplify things. So far, it’s less work, it’s cheaper and they are healthy so hopefully I’m going in the right direction
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