When to Increase Fat in a Horse’s Diet

Recently, my sister called me asking how to add weight to one of our horses that she has with her in Missouri.  She told me she is feeding free choice hay and 3 lbs. of 14% CP/5% Fat pelleted grain twice a day along with access to grazing.  This particular horse is an 8 year old 16.3 hh Appendix Quarter Horse gelding used for barrel racing competitions.  We have owned him since he was a 4 year old and he has always been a thinner type of horse.  He is very lean and muscular and most of that comes from his bloodlines and the work he is doing.

This is a photo of the gelding mentioned in this article.  I am shown here barrel racing him in a competition.

We know that horses can utilize up to 20% fat in its diet where we typically feed 3-5% fat.  Horses that are candidates for increased fat consumption are older horses that cannot keep weight on, frequently exercised/competition horses, and horses that have foundered in the past.  So, if we want to increase fat in his diet to add weight (especially going into the winter) what are our options?  We can select feedstuffs that are naturally higher in fat content e.g., rice bran or flax seed or we can add supplemental fats, e.g., vegetable oils, hydrolyzed animal fats or dry granular fats. Feedstuffs that are naturally higher in fat contribute other nutrients that must be taken into account. In contrast, the supplemental fats are greater than 98% fat and do not contribute other nutrients. The vegetable oils tend to be more palatable than animal fats and have less likelihood of containing impurities. Probably the most common method of increasing the fat content is to top dress the grain with corn oil or soybean oil.

So, what did I recommend to my sister in her given situation?  I recommended top dressing grain with a vegetable oil.  I felt that she was already feeding enough grain per day at the cost she could afford, so the oil was a great low cost option to help increase weight.  I also suggested that she deworm the horse in case he has a load of internal parasites preventing him from keeping on weight.  Remember, increasing the fat content of a horse’s diet should be done gradually.  Also, careful attention should be paid to not providing excess energy as this can result in an overweight horse.

Reference: http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/nutrition/feeding-fat-to-horses/