Feeding Fat for horse health – a fad?

Feeding Fat, is it a fad or is it truly something we should be doing for our horse’s health?

Well I will tell you I do not believe it is a fad. There are several reasons to balance your horses diet using fat as one of the energy sources. I talked about it in Horse Nutrition Essentials. Explaining it more in detail here – fat is very high in energy however it is digested and absorbed slowly in comparison to carbohydrates. This benefits the horse in a couple of ways. The first is that your horses glucose and insulin levels can be leveled out. Many times when feeding carbohydrates, especially corn, the carbs are digested quickly and absorbed quickly causing a spike in glucose. The body responds by producing more insulin in anticipation that a lot more glucose is coming. Unfortunately since it is a carbohydrate there will be no more coming, it was digested rapidly remember. So this causes an unusually high spike in insulin with no glucose around to be utilized. This is one of the factors insinuated in Pre-Cushings or Insulin Resistant horses. So feeding a fat supplement such as flax seed and/or rice bran can stabilize the glucose insulin levels in your horse thus improving health and possibly avoiding future health problems.

Another problem with carbohydrates in some horses is the effect they have on muscle tension. In some horses, especially draft horses and heavily muscled horses, a disease known as Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (EPSM) can have dramatic effects on muscle tension to the point of muscle damage. The theory is that carbohydrates are not available for a long enough time period to provide the muscles enough energy to function when working. The muscles then starving for energy begin to break down, causing a release of lactic acid and other enzymes. This causes very tight and sore muscles. Damaged muscles certainly can affect your horses health and performance. Feeding a high fat diet helps prevent this issue, by providing a longer lasting energy source.

So feeding fat to your horse through the sources of rice bran and/or flax seed can be of great benefit to your horses health and performance. I especially recommend the fat diet along with Vitamin E and Selenium (in deficient areas in the country) and Magnesium, to balance out the hormone levels, in any horse that I see with very tight and sore muscles with no known reason except for working.

To learn more about feeding fat to your horse or about EPSM I would recommend visiting Dr. Beth Valentines websites and forums -

http://www.ruralheritage.com

http://www.ruralheritage.com/messageboard/virtualvet/index1.htm

and for more information and discussion about Cushings and/or Insulin Resistance checkout this group -

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/EquineCushings/

In another post I will explain the benefits of using Magnesium in possible Pre-Cushings horses it goes hand in hand with feeding a higher fat diet.