shiny

[walaa]

This relates to the imaginative horse care post. Sometimes when post get a couple days old no one seems to read them so thought I would ask this in a new post. Just wondering, (besides just a good feeding program, which is hard here in middle TN due to lack of anything besides co-op feeds, and some very basic Purina feeds, please dont hate, I just dont like purina feeds)) what are some things people use to put the best shine on a horse?? I know about all the different oils, I would like to hear which is the best, safflower, sunflower, rice bran oil, etc. The only problem I have had with oil, is, you are using for extra fat, calories, which is supposed to produce the shine, but getting my horses to eat anything I put oil in I have heard organic apple cider vinegar, not the regular kind, works great, but again, it takes a week of sad faces and not eating much, for them to get over it and eat it. can someone refresh how to post pics and you guys can see what might improve their coats?? I dont have close up, and they look pretty good, but my one ottb i am trying to figure out how to perk him up, unless there is no other way besides feeding 10 pounds of grain a day Just kidding he doesnt eat that much but getting close. Is grain what he REALLY NEEDS, and notall those oils and such? Just wondering what other people do for very hard keepers. My mares eat me out of house and home in the winter, but april to Nov, dont eat any grain at all, and just some hay lately because the grass has gone kaput with the heat and no rain we have had the last 6 weeks. thanks

[Tucumcari]

You don't have to feed it to them you can syringe it to them if it is in oil form... OR cover everything with molasses... play with the oil or rice bran or flax seed, or what ever you choose

[spex4me]

I give mine 1/3 cup vegetable oil over very little grain (the good ol southern states reliance) , perhaps a quart, once a day. They are fat and shiny....too fat, but I'm working on that. Oil has too many benefits for me to not feed it. They ablsolutely glisten in a little sunlight, well that is when they aren't coated with mud and muck!! And all my pigs have no prob slurping any kind of grain down, but Tuc is right about molasses.... they'd eat anything coated in molasses.... kinda like me if it were chocolate!!!!

[Roger]

The shiny coat is a product of any good feed with lots of rubbing and brushing and for sales quality shine, you will need a really good shampoo and conditioner.

[jumper77]

I just put my horses back on BOSS, and within about a week and a half, they're already shiny. No messy or unpalatable oil to deal with, and my horses loooooove the way they taste. So much easier than oil. Just throw a couple handfuls of sunflower seeds in with their feed, and they gobble it up! I don't feed any fancy grain, just simple 12% sweet/pellet mix. And I haven't found that the BOSS makes them crazy, like some of those oils can.

[Bondama]

I've used the ground flax seeds with good results. About a measuring cup full in each grain feeding.

[soundfast]

Mine like oil in their food. They get Nutrena Triumph with a mixture of corn and soybean oil and thin cooked oatmeal mixed in. I also give carrot pieces once a day with their feed. They are happy horses who look forward to their feed even though they have all the grass,clover,etc. they could eat and then some in their pasture. No need for brushing unless they just rolled. I have never shampood them. They have all the shine one could ever want without shampoo or brushing. How much oil are you putting in? They usually do not need a lot of it. I am against adding a lot of molasses because it can lead to insulin resistance. I do not give mine any sweet feed.

[majxmom]

People often comment on how shiny my horses' coats are. They just eat alfalfa and oat hay, and get a scoop of Farnam's basic vitamin, Vita-Plus. All my horses have dapples. I think one of the big things is that they are out in pasture all day. Being stalled rubs a lot of grime into their skin. I really notice how great everyone's coat is after a breezy day, so a little outside wind really helps.

[walaa]

Mine do get sweet feed, well, the only one that eats any grain right now, simply because you can add things to it if you need to and sometimes they will still eat it Adding anything to pellets with my horses is a definite waste of whatever you put in, they wont touch it. plus I have had back luck with pellets, sometimes finding whole raw cotton seeds etc, in there (can you say Strategy!) Got some free feed from Purina for it, but no more Purina for me, not enough standardization in how they make feed, and what they use for their protein source is dependent on which factory is located where, and what is available to them, and that is straight from purina's reps, that told me that. I have tried the molasses thing when my older mare fractured her skull, to try and get her to eat the antibiotics, and she wouldnt touch it. in fact anytime I have added pure molasses to their food, they were not happy. Now my younger mare has a huge nasty eyeball, so the vet is on his way out, dont know what she will have to get, but I bet she wont eat it I tried the BOSS, I never could tell if it made a difference or not, maybe I just didnt feed enough. maybe I am obsessed with shinyness. I just wish there was somthing I could give them that they would enjoy and eat!! My younger mare just has bad skin all the time, and I have had all kinds of blood work done on her and it always comes back great, now the eyeball I am so glad i stopped for wine on the way home from work today, if these vets bills dont stop, just a little, I will never get my keeneland weanling this year

[spex4me]

good luck with the eyeball wa! what is it the week of eye afflictions??

[walaa]

Whew, , I dont know She had a scratch on the cornea, so at least all the medicine will go in her eye, will be alot easier on me than feeding it! And wouldnt you know, she is the only one that doesnt wear a mask, because she sweats so profusely, I just cant make her wear it, water just runs off her face. But she will wear it now sweaty or not, she wont go outside without that mask for a week! plus the bugs havent been TOO bad, but just this week the huge horseflies are here, and some other weird bugs, and gnats and thing, so I think they must have drove her nuts today and she just rubbed her eye wrong. She has a fly sheet, which has helped her skin tremendously, but Friday is the only day they cant come in with a fan for the bad part of day, because of that crappy work thing, so I think they just drove her nuts today, she is very hyper sensitive about bugs. she looked really shiny in the barn lights and the vet was holding her tail to help her walk in the stall after, and said she had a very nice tail, and she has lots of dapples so maybe I AM just obsessed with shinyness, and gleaning all the info I can from you guys I bought some scarlet oil after I read that post, had never even heard of it, and there it was at a feed store in TN I cant wait to start putting it on every sore I see

[Lisann]

I've fed BOSS in the past - seemed to work well. I'm feeding Omegatin (Kent) now - since BOSS prices went up so much. A QH halter barn I used to be at fed Clovite.

walaa - good luck with the eye injury - I went through that last year with Zeus - they were all restricted to night turn out. It seemed to take forever and a day to heal.

[Discovery]

Suprised no one has mentioned eggs, maybe it's a British thing. I used to feed one raw egg daily to my horses, makes their coat very shiny. However, if give your horse biotin don't feed egg, there is a protein in eggs which will bind to the biotin.

[Sock Monkey]

but my one ottb i am trying to figure out how to perk him up, unless there is no other way besides feeding 10 pounds of grain a day Just kidding he doesnt eat that much but getting close. Is grain what he REALLY NEEDS, and notall those oils and such? Just wondering what other people do for very hard keepers.

I hate to say it, but 10 # of grain per day isn't that much for a TB - especially a hard keeper. If you're having trouble with weight - just up his feed. Another thing to try is shredded beet pulp - it's cheap and great for putting on weight. If you soak it, it's also great for helping other additives stick to the feed. They prefer the shreds with molasses added.

[soundfast]

Feeding raw eggs unless you own the chickens and know they are disease free is a really bad idea. People should not eat raw eggs either. Eggs should be well cooked. Salmonella and other bacteria are not uncommon these days since most chickens are closely confined. Powdered milk or whole milk mixed with oatmeal or just the regular ration can add high quality protein without the disease risk. That is what I give mine.