Question
I am creating a diet for my horse. In the past, he has maintained his weight on grass hay, and I fed him a ration balancer to fill in the nutritional gaps. He is working harder now as I improve his fitness, and I think he could benefit from the energy in rice bran, a supplement that I have had success with in the past when fed to other horses. We live in a rural area, so getting my hands on a stabilized rice bran will be costly. I do, however, have access to raw rice bran that contains no additives. If I fed him 1-2 lb (0.45-0.9 kg) of this daily, would this completely mess up the nutritional balance of his ration? Pros and cons?
Answer
Raw or unstabilized rice bran has a short shelf life due to its high fat content and the presence of a potent lipase enzyme that immediately begins to break down the fat once the bran is separated from the rice kernel. Because of this, raw rice bran should not be fed to horses due to palatability problems and digestive upset that may result from rancid fat or spoilage.
Another issue that may arise with feeding raw rice bran involves mineral imbalances, especially between calcium and phosphorus. Rice bran is naturally rich in phosphorus. Feeding rice bran, especially with grass hay, may provide the horse with an excessive amount of phosphorus.
Stabilization subjects the rice bran to heat and pressure, which inactivates the lipase enzyme without destroying the nutritional value of the rice bran. Moreover, most stabilized rice bran products contain calcium to offset the elevated phosphorus. Stabilized rice bran can be a valuable part of a feeding program depending on nutritional goals.
Because stabilized rice bran is not available in your area, consider feeding a fortified concentrate. All feeds have a recommended feeding rate printed on the bag or the tag. While your horse may not require the full recommended amount, he may benefit from the calories a portion of that amount provides. If the recommended about is 6 lb (2.7 kg) of feed per day, he may require only 2 or 3 lb (0.9-1.4 kg) daily to satisfy the calorie deficit. While the ration balancer will be necessary to fulfill nutrient requirements, the amount given can be reduced. A nutritionist can help create a balanced ration using these feedstuffs.
Other ways to increase calorie consumption include offering another high-fat feedstuff such as vegetable oil. This could be drizzled over the ration balancer pellets. An alternative hay also could be sourced. Good-quality legume hays such as alfalfa and clover tend to have more calories than grass hay. Because forage represents the largest portion of this diet, a bump in calories will be achieved.
To provide additional support for your horse as he becomes more and more conditioned, you may choose to feed Total Wellness, a product formulated by Kentucky Equine Research that targets three key areas for support: joint health, antioxidant status, and hoof and coat quality. In terms of joint care, Total Wellness contains glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, and MSM, all of which have been included at optimal levels. Natural-source vitamin E is essential for all horses that are fed primarily hay as a forage source, and it is a necessary nutrient for recovery from exercise. While vitamin E is abundant in fresh forages, hay and hay products contain very little. Biotin is added for its well-known benefits to hooves and hair.
