I feed almost a cup a day - sort of - because my horse is milk white. I really believe that with her good coat she stays cleaner and the dirt washes off easier.
Along with all the other benefits.
[QUOTE=Taken;8610648]
Time to buy more supplements and I’m debating on whether the ground flaxseed (Omega Horseshine) is worth the cost for benefits. It does seem to be making a shinier coat, but for a healthy 8 year old horse in a pretty intense work program (he could use the tiniest bit more weight/muscle, but otherwise is in fantastic condition), are there tangible benefits other than the shiny coat that make it worth staying on? Not sure if the tiny bit of extra shininess to the coat is worth ~$20 a month…[/QUOTE]
Ditch the Omega Horseshine and get Triple Crown’s Omega Max. I get 25 lbs for under $30 and it lasts months and months for 3 horses. I was given a bag of Omega Horseshine once and tried it on one horse. No difference than the ones on Omega Max.
You can get either whole or ground flax seed at Sprouts in California. It is $1.49/lb ground and it is stabilized. Flax is flax.
In the Great Lakes area, you can get 50# of flaxseed for about $38. I give 2 handfuls per day, which is about 3/4 C, give or take a tablespoon. My new mare already had a good coat, but her mane and tail were a bit frizzy. In 3 months, her coat looks like it’s wet it is so shiny. Even after a roll in the spring mud, a good curry is all she needs to look like glass again. Everyone comments on her coat (plain bay w/short socks) and her mane lays flat - though it has been recently shortened.
I wouldn’t pay $25/month for this effect as her coat was nice before. But at $38 for a 3 month supply, and maybe some added joint health too? I’ll do that!!
One cup per day whole flax, 50lb from feed store. Love it
I’ll have to see what the feed stores nearby carry. I like that the stabilized ground flax sticks to the feed so it gets cleaned up extremely well. Freshly ground flax is not an option for me since everything needs to be in a pre-filled container.
I currently feed 3/4 cup of the Omega Horseshine since it’s halfway between the recommended range :). I’m wondering if going down to a 1/2 cup would still provide the same benefits and stretch the bag out an extra month.
Everyone here seems to be quite a fan of flax, so now I’m wondering if I need to start my retirees on it too!
I never had any luck feeding flax. One pony’s coat even looked worse while on it and with the other two I saw no change. I wonder if it’s just me, I tried three different kinds, the bagged ground flax, manna pro flax, and some other kind that I can’t remeber the name of.
What is the recommended serving size for flax? I see anything from 1/4 cup per day to a full cup per day.
Is it better to have whole flax versus a flax-based supplement?
[QUOTE=cayuse;8611679]
I never had any luck feeding flax. One pony’s coat even looked worse while on it and with the other two I saw no change. I wonder if it’s just me, I tried three different kinds, the bagged ground flax, manna pro flax, and some other kind that I can’t remeber the name of.[/QUOTE]
A few years ago, I couldn’t find a source of whole flax, so I started using the Manna Pro ground flax because it was readily available. I was feeding up to 1/2 cup per day and saw zero results.
Then I finally found a source of whole flax in the area. I switched my horses to the same amount of whole flax and their coats changed almost overnight!!! The difference was striking! At the time, I even had a horse with a stubborn case of rainrot that I had been treating for weeks. It literally disappeared in two days when I switched back to whole flax-- I have never seen rainrot just disappear like that!
OP- I have no problems with my horses cleaning up whole flax. I don’t even think they realize it’s in their food.
[QUOTE=DancingArabian;8611729]
What is the recommended serving size for flax? I see anything from 1/4 cup per day to a full cup per day.
Is it better to have whole flax versus a flax-based supplement?[/QUOTE]
I’m at 1/4 cup for the fatties, one of which gets loose manure if you give him too much flax, and the race horses get more like 1/2 cup. I’d look at the whole diet - how much fat are you already feeding?
If you feed a flax based supplement, what else is in the supplement, does your horse need all that stuff, and how much does it cost?
I feed a premium feed, which already has all the good stuff in it. I will supplement flax, msm and for the race horses, triple crown 30% if they need more topline before going back to the track.
The race horses usually come in with crappy feet and leave with good feet. The permanent residents have great feet.
Ditto what everyone else said. So many benefits. All of my horses get a cup per day. I get a 50# bag of ground flax from my local feed store for about $30. Omega 3 has so many benefits!
I feed a whole cup to my mare. I buy ground, stabilized, and balanced (flax is very high in phosphourous!) from HorseTech. It is not cheap, but the quality is great. The nutritionist I’ve talked to said whole flax seed is not as efficient - the horses mostly just poop it out.
My mare is IR, so not a lot of fat in her diet - for the average horse who is getting other sources of fat, 1/2 cup is generally recommended.
Flax is like fish oil for people - it adds healthy omega 3s which have all kinds of positive health benefits. Shiny coat is just a reflection of healthy animals!
I only feed 2 oz of ground flax once a day…any more then that, it gets left in feed pan. My horses eat but don’t really like it.
I buy whole flax (about $35 for a 40 lb bag) and grind daily in a coffee grinder. Except last time, I bought ground flax by mistake, and that has made life much easier! But I know that ground flax loses nutrients fast, and if I kept it in my loft over the summer weather, it would go rancid.
Right now I am feeding one cup twice a day: one in her evening mash, and one in her early morning hay, to also carry her vitamin/mineral supplement. When I go back to whole flax, and have to grind it, I will probably go back to one cup a day, just because grinding is an extra step of work.
Horse has been on flax all the time I have known her, and she has a sleek coat and heals quickly. But I have no before-and-after story about improvement.
I had been feeding whole flax (that is what the barn offered) and didn’t see any difference. Switched to TC Omega Max and saw a difference nearly immediately. Omega Max is really palatabl, too.
I cook 2 cups of whole flax and water in the slow cooker and divide it amongst 9 horses. It’s really easy! I add it to dinner and start a new batch and just cook it on simmer til the next day. It smells great in the feed room, horses LOVE it and all have spectacular coats.
I feed 1 cup/day.
I buy a 50lb bag of whole flax seeds and use an electric coffee grinder at each feeding to keep the nutritional value at its best.
My horse gets a cup per day (1/2 cup per meal) and is doing well on it. When I fed commercial grain I did not have luck with getting more than 1/2 cup in, if I added more a lot got left on the bottom of the bucket. Now that he’s eating wet food (there’s beep in what he eats) and out of a tub on the ground, I can feed a while cup and it all gets eaten. I get a 50 lb bag from the feed store and feed it whole, unground.
Love my whole flax! I did OHS for a while and was not happy with the price tag. My horse loves his flax whole and I see even better benefits from it then the OHS. I can get a 50 lb. bag for $35 and it lasts me easily 6 months at ~1 cup a day!
Because there is always such a difference of opinion about whether whole flax is beneficial to feed, I have actually asked an equine nutritionist TWICE over the last 10 years about feeding it whole. She said that whole is fine, horses still get the benefits of it, you just need to feed a little more than you would with ground. I add it to soaked alfalfa cubes, along with a RB, and all the horses clean it up. I feed a total of 1 cup a day of whole flax to each horse.
