Question
I recently acquired a new horse. Here’s the lowdown: about 17 yrs old; skinny with a body condition score of 3 or 4; neglected hooves complete with a quarter crack; no deworming and spotty nutrition for the last eight years. In the last several months, I have ventured to correct all of the obvious deficits in his care: vaccinations, dental adjustment, regular farriery, fecal egg count with appropriate deworming, and an improvement in nutrition. Regarding his diet, I have started him on a high-fat, high-fiber feed, 5 lb (2.3 kg) per day divided into two meals. I also give him a hoof supplement and probiotics. I need to increase his energy, and my horse’s health-care professionals have suggested flaxseed and oil instead of more grain. Which way is preferable, flaxseed or oil? Does the flaxseed have to be ground? Where does supplemental beet pulp fit into his diet, or doesn’t it? I have not had the horse long enough to know if he will be a hard keeper, though I rather think he will be an easy keeper once he improves, as it seems he has survived at least eight years with little care.
Answer
Your new horse may just need more calories. There may have been some damage to his gastrointestinal tract from the neglect that would reduce his digestive efficiency. The simplest way to increase calories would be to feed more of the high-fat, high-fiber feed. He could easily be getting double the amount you are feeding without concern. You could try 8 lb (3.6 kg) per day (4 lb or 1.8 kg per feeding), increasing the amount gradually, and see if that doesn’t make a difference. By boosting feed intake, you are not just increasing the amount of beet pulp but also the oil and other calorie sources that are in the feed. The feed you’re using is relatively low in starch, so there’s no concern for starch overload. As soon as you get the horse to the weight you desire, then you can cut back on the amount so that he doesn’t keep gaining weight. I would try this before complicating things.
Flaxseed is a great supplement for horses. If you decide to go with feeding additional flaxseed (there is some in the hoof supplement you’ve chosen), then realistically you probably won’t be able to get the horse to eat more than 0.5 lb ( (0.2 kg) per day. That amount will not add many calories, but it will provide him with beneficial fats (omega-3). It can be fed whole, but you may find some coming through in the manure. Should you decide to feed ground flaxseed, make sure to grind it right before you feed it. You can find ground flaxseed in the market but check to see that it has been stabilized to keep the fats from becoming rancid.
Top-dressing with oil is simpler but messier. There is a limitation to the amount of oil a horse will tolerate in the feed, and the feed you’ve chosen is already high in fat. If you were to add more oil, you would want to keep it under one cup per day. Even though horses really prefer the taste of corn oil, we recommend that horse owners supplement with canola (preferred) or soybean oil to keep the omega-6:omega-3 fatty acid ratio in balance.
