Would it be o.k. to feed my skinny horse Canola oil?

Question

Would it be o.k. to feed my skinny horse Canola oil?

Answer 1

No I don't think that would be the right thing to do you can make it worse...take her to a vet.

Answer 2

I guess you could, but corn oil or at least vegetable oil would be better if you're trying to up his/her weight.  But remember to do it slowly to avoid problems.

You best bet would be to worm your horse and up their hay(make sure it is high quality).  Possibly add or up their feed too and maybe add a weight supplement and/or corn oil.  If you don't see improvement or if your horse loses weight, call a vet.

Remember, all changes in feed should be done gradually with the exception of upping hay as long as it's the same hay the horse has been eating.

Answer 3

You need to find out if the horse has parasites or needs to be floated first then you could up the feed, hay intake. You can use corn oil but I have had better results with beet pulp soaked and drained and add to the feed.

It is always a good ideal to have a wellness done on a under the weather horse to have a base line.

Answer 4

What is the reasoning for you wanting to give it Canola Oil?  

There is some wonderful stuff on the market called "Weight Builder"

http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductCla...

Read The Details Included (link under photo)

I purchased a horse from a lady for $200.00 because she was SO skinny and that lady couldn't afford to take care of her.  I put her on Weight Builder and Timothy Hay, and in about 4 months time she was filled out "completely" and was just beautiful!!!!  

I sold this horse for $1,600.00

I swear by this stuff...

I do not recommend adding grain to your horse's diet at this point and time.  You can cause him/her to colic or founder, or become very sick.   This stuff may seem a bit pricey, but it's really WORTH the cost.

Answer 5

First you should find out why he is skinny.  If he's just going through a growth spurt and his weight isn't keeping up with his height, then that would probably be fine.  If you don't know why he is losing weight, then you need to have him checked by a vet.  

Answer 6

It would help to know why your horse is skinny. If he being neglected? You need to have a vet check and see why he is underweight. And Canola Oil is not the way to go. Your horse could be eaten alive with parasites. If your horse is found to be underweight for no apparent reason, I would be willing to bet your vet would recommend 1/2 cup of Vegetable oil added to his food twice a day.

Answer 7

I would go with corn oil. it adds weight to the horse, they love it and its good for their coat. I used it on my rescue horse who was around 100lbs under weight and with in 3-4 months he looked a lot better.  

Answer 8

First, no on the canola oil.  Depends on why he/she is skinny...  If it's because you use him/her a lot, try upping his hay and adding some type of grain.  If he/she is just skinny try worming him/her and call the vet for a check up.

Answer 9

No.  Your horse is very ill and needs to see a vet to determine why.

Internal parasites?  Cancer?  You need to know the cause before treatment.  Please, your horse is suffering.

Answer 10

no feed him more for he will gain more weight and maybe call a vet  

Answer 11

Yes, we give oil to some of our old horses who don't keep weight on very well.  We mix it with the senior feed we give them.  If your horse is young and skinny, I would see a vet first.  And you may want to see a vet before you add anything to your horses diet.

Answer 12

Well, we use Corn oil, I've never tried Canola Oil though, but I'm not sure you should try it just yet, I would up his hay ammount, and also start graining him if you don't already

Answer 13

Corn Oil. Not veggie or any other. The corn oil has the highest fat.

Answer 14

no the best oil for horses is corn

and why is your horse so skinny? old horse? or a malnourished horse?

i have a skinny horse i'm nursing back to health, and oil is only used to make the coat shinier, and it keeps my pony nice and plump =)

it does not really in weight gain, just in keepig the weight at a nice even amount  

Answer 15

No, I wouldn't advise it.  A horse's diet is such a tricky thing, you really want to see professional help on this one before you go adding things to the horse's diet and everything.

You haven't told anyone here why the horse is skinny.  That could be the result of all sorts of things.  Are they getting enough hay?  Enough complete feed?  A horse really should be getting 1.5-2% of their body weight in feed a day.  So for a 1000 lb horse, they ought to be getting at least 20 lbs of feed a day (you can figure a hay flake might be about 5 lbs, so they would get 4 hay flakes a day) but that's just minimum.   People might be increasing that to 3-4% of the horse's body weight a day, depending how often they feed (2 times a day... 3 times a day, etc.) and whether or not the horse is an easy keeper.  My Haflinger is an easy keeper, he gets by on 2% of his weight a day (and actually I have to worry more if we're feeding him too much as opposed to too little) whereas my Thoroughbred in his later years had to have a specialized diet in order to keep weight on.

If your horse is getting enough food, I'd call the vet.  Have them out to check teeth, and run a blood test and everything to figure out why the horse isn't gaining weight. That could be all sorts of reasons.  There's an old mare at our barn who had tons of food in front of her, and a nice appetite most of the time. She was just really skinny and looked emaciated.  Her owner finally had the vet pull a blood test, and it came back that she's suffering from kidney failure, which is why she wasn't putting on any weight.  They're trying to treat her now, and hopefully will put weight back on her.  You should have the vet do  a complete physical on your horse.  And then I'd talk to the vet about a dietary plan.  Se what they think is the best thing to feed your horse.

The thing about Canola oil is, it's low saturated fat, which doesn't really do you any good.  It's more like a cooling oil than anything else.  There are better alternatives out there.  Personally, I liked the high processed vegetable fat that my gelding was eating (Cool Calories 100 and later Glean'n'Gain -- both from SmartPak Equine)  I've heard pluses and minuses about feeding corn oil.  It's supposed to be very good, but can go rancid very quickly too depending how its being stored.  Talk to your vet though, see what they recommend.

Answer 16

No, it might make things worse, I'd spend the money and take your horse to the vet.