How much vegetable oil should I give my horse per day?

I have read articles that mixing vegetable oil in your horse's grain daily will help build a healthy hoof, and a shiny coat without spending a fortune on grooming products. Is a cup too much per day?How much vegetable oil should I give my horse per day?
Vegetable oil works great but it is very high in saturated fats. The best thing to use is Extra Virgin Olive Oil (can buy in gallons at Sams Club or Cosco for about the same as Vegetable oil). I give my horses two ounces in the am and two ounces in the pm. You can buy an ounce pump to use on gallon jugs and it fits on these (cost around $3 for pump). Olive oil also helps keep horses from developing such a thick coat when inside which helps keep it much shinier. They will still develop a coat if they are outside but the coat condition will be much nicer.





A cup a day is fine also.





Another thing that you can add is black oil sunflower seeds (not salted). These add a lot of natural oils and you can buy them in 50 pound bags. Just make sure that no chemicals have been added to them. Usually found in the bird supply areas as it is a bird food predominantly. You can add a cup or two a day of them.





I hope this helps! Good luck!How much vegetable oil should I give my horse per day?
I feed sunflower or corn oil at 1 cup (250mL) a day. As the others have said, slowly build the amount up from a tbs to a cup over a week or more.





Most of the research I've read recommends sunflower or corn oil as they are better quality and more easily digested than other oils. The quality of blended vegitable oil varies greatly as there isn't any consistency from brand to brand.





I used to feed sunflower seeds however I found that too many of them were still going through the digestive system whole (and yes, my horses had good teeth and had no problems chewing). I started soaking the seeds to soften the husks however I found that I had to be careful not to soak them too long as they would go rancid pretty quickly - especially in hot weather. I would start soaking them the night before and sometimes they would already have started to go off by feed time the next morning in summer. And even when soaked, a lot of seeds would still go through whole. But I did have some lovely sunflower plants popping up in the pasture lol.





So I swapped from seeds to oil. It ended up being more economical and my horses coat improved significantly.





Hope this helps





Shelly
hey im 13 n ive been looking after horses since i was 6 and all the time ive been told to give the horse/pony 1-2 spooon fulls wid every feeed but it sure up to yooh :P
I fed mine 1/4 of a cup of apple cidar vinegar every day and it did the same thing. But I guess vegatable oil is cheaper...I think......I dont know if it is the same measurments though....I thought that you would jsut want to know that you can do the same with apple cidar vinegar.
Mine get a cup of corn oil a day in their feeds ( except for one but that's a whole other story)


Start with less and work up to it because if they're not used to it it can go straight through them !
A cup a day is fine but you should start off by adding just a quarter of a cup and build up to the full cup over four weeks.





You'll really notice the difference in your horses shiny coat. It is also a good source of slow release energy, great for giving your horse extra calories to burn, with out the fizz of carbohydrates.


:D
The best way to get fats into your horse is in natural form. Many manufactured feeds have oil added; all grain and seeds contain fats so if you top dress your horse's feed with oils you may be giving them more fat than they need or can safely process.


Unless your horse is in very hard work, chances are it won't need extra oil . Sure, it'll make its coat shine but may overtax its liver.


Best tip for a shiny coat is - grooming. It's good for the horses' skin, coat and mind - and also good for the groomer. If you don't sweat and puff when you groom you aren't doing it properly.
1 cup is great for your horse a day you can even do this just every other day.
sunflower seeds work much better sunflower oil is healthier start with a little and build it up over time it depends really on the size of horse we're talking about but you don't need much if your putting it into every feed as consistancy will show improvement
Vetable oil is a very good idea. A cup a day is just fine. I feed that to my horses all the time in mashes I make up (I live in the mountains where it's very cold, snow here already).





I buy mine at Sam's Club, or Costco, or Cash %26amp; Carry (a resteraunt supply store). I buy it in the 5 gallon jugs as that is the least expensive way to buy it.





I use Canola oil. Very healthy for the horses. It's a great way to add fats to the horses diet, without loading them up on grain (which is too much sugar).





Your horse may not like it at first. Ease into a 1/4 cup at a time.





It really does give them a nice coat, mane, tail and hooves. By the way, great time to start, if your horse has not already put on his winter coat. His new coat should grow in very healthy, soft and shiney.





~Garnet


Homesteading/Farming over 20 years


Horse owner over 30 years


(Currently have 9 babies...I mean horses)
I wouldnt go any more than 2 cups - split into two portions a day. (1 cup AM feeding, 1 cup PM feeding)





My gelding is a hard weight keeper, he is a TB and he gets a cup a day (1/2 cup in the AM, 1/2 cup in the PM). Come winter here, I may give 2 cups a day.





Good Luck : 0)
We use soybean oil. Its a lot more expensive but supposed to be better for them. It depends on the horse's weight, age and activity level as to what amput they get. I have a 4 year old colt he weighs about 800 lbs and has a medium activity level, he gets about 8 oz a day.