Question
I have a PSSM type 1 mare with soundness problems. I’d like to remove oil from her diet. She gets 3 cups (about 700 ml or 24 oz) of canola oil a day. I know that canola oil has a high level of omega-6s, which can lead to inflammation. I don't know if the lameness and the canola consumption are related, but I am interested in reducing her omega-6 intake. Right now, she is fed alfalfa pellets, 10 g magnesium, 8000 IU vitamin E, and 9,440 mg MSM. She also gets three flakes of an alfalfa-based hay morning and night. Her energy level is spot-on right now, and I don't want that to dip, but I’d like to find a different form of energy for her.
Answer
You can eliminate the canola oil from your mare’s diet and still supply sufficient fat to meet her special nutrition needs. One way is through the use of a high-fat, low-NSC feed in combination with stabilized rice bran. Stabilized rice bran is a useful fat source for these horses and provides other nutritional components that can be beneficial. Stabilized rice bran products are often added to the diet at 1-3 lb (0.5-1.4 kg) to boost the fat and caloric value of the diet.
To provide the same amount of fat as 3 cups of canola oil, you would need to feed about 8 lb (3.6 kg) of a 10% fat, low-starch (13% NSC) feed and 3 lb (1.4 kg) of a high-fat supplement (25% fat) containing stabilized rice bran.
Several different combinations of feedstuffs can be used to concoct an appropriate diet. Use the following breakdowns to help assemble potential diets:
- 1 lb of high-fat performance feed (10% fat) = 1.6 oz fat,
- 1 lb of stabilized rice bran (18% fat) = 2.9 oz fat, and
- 1 lb of vegetable oil (2 cups) = 16 oz fat.
Feeding a fortified feed like Re-Leve or the one in the example is a great way to provide complete nutrition in a calorie-dense manner. The products suggested also contain added vitamin E, so this may allow you to reduce the amount of vitamin E supplemented, especially if limiting or removing vegetable oil as the main fat source.
Reducing the amount of canola oil to 0.5-1 cup per day will slash omega-6 intake but still provide a cost-effective, concentrated fat source.
Another way to balance the omega-3 and omega-6 ratio of the whole diet is to add an omega-3 supplement such as EO-3. EO-3 is a fish oil product rich in the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, which offer anti-inflammatory benefits that may help with your mare’s soundness.
