I was just doing some random thinking and I was wondering if feeding horses high fat horse treats would help noticeably with weight gain. If so, what would you need to see in the nutritional value of the treats and Howe many per day? Could this be used stand-alone? Meaning, without other high-fat supplements. Just curious. Thanks!
Horses eat something like 20000 calories a day, so there’s just nothing that’s treat sized that makes much of a dent in that.
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I mean just as a weight gaining aid on top of their regular daily forage amount and grain.
My understanding is that you want to feed any added fat with consistency, as it is harder on their digestive system (needs to adapt to process the fat I guess?), so treats not fed consistently could cause more of an issue than help. That said, we buy a high fat extruded feed from Trouw/Shur Gain that are big enough you could use as a treat.
@CHT I will definitely look into that grain. I wouldn’t just give him the treats inconsistently, I would have a set schedule with it just like grain and supplements. For example, he gets 3 of these treats each day for weight gain. I hope that makes sense.
No point. It’s so much easier, cheaper, and more convenient to just switch to a higher fat feed, or increase the amount, or add something like rice bran.
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You would not be able to feed enough treats to make a difference and have it be economically feasible. Look at feeding a high quality, high fat feed, like Triple Crown Senior, at a minimum of the lowest feeding rate, if not higher.
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What about making treats with coconut oil? It is solid at room temperature, and horses seem to like it. Melt it in a cupcake tin and mix with sweet feed or something, and then cool for a treat ball. Too messy when hot, but ok for cooler days. Not sure of the calories in coconut oil though.
@CHT I love that idea! Let me know if anyone can think of other ingredients that are high in fat that I could put in the treats. I also love to feed vitamin e to this specific horse so can you get editable vitamin e for horses?
I’m also open to any high-fat grain suggestions. Also a suggested feeding amount would be great along with it. (I understand that every horse is different so the amount would vary but I’m just wondering like the general amount and then I would adjust it for my horse of course.) Thanks.
I addition, what is that the oil that is highest in fat, cheapest (if it’s between several), and the easiest to get ahold of? A type of oil that helps horses gain weight. I’ve heard of people using stabilized rice bran so anything like those kind of suggestions would be appreciated. Like stuff you can get at the grocery store.
Seems like it would be easier to just supplement with a fat supplement like Empower Boost or feed a higher fat feed. Empower boost or Progressive Envision are where it’s at, at least in my experience, for weight gain.
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All oils are equally high in fat. They’re all 100% fat.
Treats are not fed in great enough volume to make a dent in total calories, high fat or no.
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@soloudinhere I just haven’t be able to find a supplement or higher-fat or grain that really works for this particular horse. I’m looking into other grains and supplements to try.
@Simkie Thank you! I didn’t know that about oils. So there isn’t any that you suggest over the others? Oil wise.
A lot depends on what your horse will eat - many horses won’t eat oil at all. Most others need to be introduced to it slowly. A lot of people don’t suggest corn oil because of the high level of omega 6. You could do a google search on this topic, I’m sure there are tons out there on it. Here is one: https://equusmagazine.com/management/which-oil-is-best-for-horses-8623
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When you think of this think Mythbusters, but slightly modify Adam’s famous thought: Is anything worth doing really worth overdoing?* 
There’s no reason you can’t dump a bag of high fat horse treats into a bucket and put it out. But do you really WANT to do that? Probably not. Horse treats are, functionally, “candy.” We humans use them as rewards and their content reflects our thinking, not the horse’s needs. Certainly not all treats do this, but I’d bet money that a quick survey would shoe it’s true more often than not.
But, first question, “what’s the object of the exercise?” Why do you think a horse needs to gain weight? Sometimes it’s obvious (as in a rescue) but sometimes it’s not. And what kind of weight do you want to add? Where do you want do add it? It’s actually a rather complex question, but breaking down into parts is the thing to do, always keeping your final goal in mind.
My answer would be “no.”
G.
*Original quote: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Agree w/those saying add a high fat grain rather than a measly 3X daily “treat”.
I cannot imagine anything treat-sized could add enough calories/fat to matter.
Oil is messy, goes rancid & generally is a PITA to feed.
I had great success adding Empower Boost - 22% fat from rice bran - to my WB’s grain when he came out of Winter ribby.
Nutrena suggests 1/2-1# daily, I fed 1# (in addition to the 2# of whole oats I normally feed) & in 3mos his weight was back to where I wanted to see him < this was for a 17.3H horse.
Or you could add rice bran itself - just make sure you get only stabilized rice bran (20% fat) not rice milled feed that contains undigestible hulls.
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If you get coconut oil that is solid below 77* (so keep it in the fridge) there’s no reason you can’t use molds to make “cookies”. Vit E is Vit E, and there are any number of ways to feed it to horses. If you’re using solid coconut oil (which you put into the mold while liquid, obviously), then you can just plop in a couple of gelcaps from Walmart, whether the 400IU or 500IU or whatever), and if the horse eats that, easy peasy.
You’d just need to know how many treats, of your mold’s size, works out to about 1c of the oil. 1c will be about 2000 calories. It’s not going to be a huge number of treats unless your mold is for teeny things LOL.
You could potentially flavor it with a few drops of molasses and mixed in before “freezing”.
That’s a lot of work though.
@Guilherme I love your Mythbusters reference. :lol: I’m not going to go into huge deal much this particular horse went through a lot of change and he deopped weight. He is on a all gay diet without grain and a weight building supplement. He was on alfalfa cubes but I stoped feeding that because it wasn’t seeming to do anything. I’m also not noticing a huge difference with his weight while on this supplement either. He only needs a little bit of weight on his ribs and hips. I can give a more detailed feeding schedule if you want.
He is a a messy eater when it comes to grain (his teeth are fine) so a lot is wasted. I was hoping a treat form would work so that he wouldn’t waste it and it would be easier, at least for me, to feed. I also really need him to gain weight FAST because winter is approaching.
@JB I really like your idea so I’ll look into that. Could I even put the vitamin e in the treats of he won’t eat it? Like break the capsule and pie it into the mixture of oil or something.
I make homemade horse treats a lot because i enjoy it but they are usually just simple healthy, ingredients.
What are people’s opinions on Cool Calories and Senior weight acculturater supplements? They are at my local Tractor supply.
