My OTTB is on the harder to keep side of the spectrum - I love rice bran as a weight builder. I have only used the pellets in the past and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the oil?
Any benefits to one or the other? Easier to feed, more effective etc?
Any thoughts would be appreciated! Or any other special tricks to getting weight on a horse 
I’ve tried both. My horse is happy to eat the pellets so I’ve found that easy to use. I’ve tried oil too, but that’s messier unless you get a pump attachment and sometimes the stuff gets really gooey or just simply freezes in the winter unless you keep it in a heated room for storage.
The oil has about five times the fat of the pellets or powder, so you’ll need to feed a lot less of it to get the calories.
I have better luck feeding the oil vs the pellets. You need to slowly up the volume though. My horse did not like eating the pellets. I’m not sure if it was the gummy texture when added to the sloppy dinner or what.
I find the oil easier to feed as well. It doesn’t take up as much room as a bag of pellets and I really don’t find it’s that messy.
Where are you getting the rice bran oil?
Am I glad to see this thread! My 22 y.o. gelding needs more calories and I was wondering about 3 choices I saw in an article: rice bran, soy oil (I think), and beet pulp. I didn’t realize there is a rice bran oil. Can I assume that the omega 3 and 6 are better balanced than other types of oil. He is getting about 3 lbs daily of Blue Seal Sentinel LS, but needs more. He is boarded outdoors 24/7, and I can only grain him 1 time per day.
I’ve used the powder, oil, and pellets. I like the pellets best because they’re easiest to feed. The mare I was trying to feed wouldn’t eat oil. Oil is by far the better choice if you’re willing to deal with the mess and storage of it. Ends up cheaper and quicker to use the oil if the horse will eat it.
The barn I am at gets their feed from southern states - so below are the products I can choose from:
https://www.southernstates.com/catalog/e-CompareProducts.aspx?prods=1031_4851_7572
Iv seen many other brands of each but I will stick with these for convenience.
I am leaning towards the oil, however the feed is kept in one of the stalls in the barn so I didnt think about it possibly freezing in the winter.
[QUOTE=spotnnotfarm;8906335]
Where are you getting the rice bran oil?[/QUOTE]
Amazon! Free shipping, yes please.
OP, I just added rice bran oil to my hard keeper’s diet. He was not at fan at first, which is odd, considering he LOOOOOVES regular old rice bran. But once he figured out it was yummy, he started gobbling up his food. I can’t tell you if it’s helped add weight yet, but my vet thought the oil would be much better than pellets or powder.
If adding oil I don’t really think it matters what kind unless the horse finds it unpalatable. If picky, they really seem to like the cocosoya from Uckele. otherwise I just use some cheap kind of veggie oil.
Oil has more calories but it also is more hassle to feed (gets the ration buckets oily and dirty or you have to take the bottle to the stall to mix, one or the other). I find it a pain and tend to feed a rice bran product like Empower Boost.
Anybody else find their TB’s getting loonie (and yes, fatter) on the rice bran?? I give it to my gelding in the off/bad weather season, but find it makes him a wack job to ride when he is eating it!! I feed the bran version.
I had one that did that, crosscreek. my other TBs do fine on it. I think it is very horse-dependent. Some horses get hot on a range of things – like alfalfa. But I feed my TBs alf with no problem. I had a QH though that went through the roof if it looked at an alfalfa leaf. If it makes yours hot I’d use something else. There are so many fat-adding options (oil, flax, alfalfa cubes, etc.)
Greenhawk sells Rice Bran oil!
[QUOTE=spotnnotfarm;8906335]
Where are you getting the rice bran oil?[/QUOTE]
I was getting mine from Amazon, but the price skyrocketed recently, so I have been using Stateline Tack. They do fairly frequent 25% off orders over $100 and I just buy 4 bottles at a time.
That’s about a 2 month supply for my mare.
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8908566]
I had one that did that, crosscreek. my other TBs do fine on it. I think it is very horse-dependent. Some horses get hot on a range of things – like alfalfa. But I feed my TBs alf with no problem. I had a QH though that went through the roof if it looked at an alfalfa leaf. If it makes yours hot I’d use something else. There are so many fat-adding options (oil, flax, alfalfa cubes, etc.)[/QUOTE]
Thanks…I agree…some horses can eat anything and stay sane…others…not so much!! My horse isn’t a problem and I feed the rice bran in the off season, but I DO see a great increase in foolishness if I ride and feed rice bran at the same time!! We have a 2 yr. old TB stud colt…already over 16.2 and still a “kid”, but the rice bran doesn’t wake him up at all!!
Has anyone used this? 6 gallons for just a little more than I can buy 1 at Tractor Supply… It seems to be food grade, but, for horses? Thoughts?
http://www.ricelandstore.com/rice-bran-oil/
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