A complete well balanced diet is critical for the health and well being of the horse.  No matter how active or inactive your horse is, the overall diet can be formulated to meet protein and energy requirements.  These requirements will vary greatly by the activity level, age, metabolism, and required task of the individual animal.  It is not uncommon for hard working horses to become protein or energy deficient at times.  At the same time, it is very common for well meaning owners to grossly overfeed their “pet”.  These animals have a minimum requirement for maintaining body condition that needs to be met but because their activity level is so low they can become overweight easily.  These two examples indicate why you must feed for the long term overall health and well being of your horse.  If an animal, whether it is a human being or a horse, has all it’s systems functioning properly, it is going to be healthy.  Healthy digestive systems extract all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. necessary to maintain overall body condition.  Properly functioning reproductive systems made breeding and foaling a natural event.  Strong immune systems provide the first line of defense against infection and disease that is so vital to maintaining a healthy animal.  For this reason some experts feel that the immune system is the most important system in the body.  If it fails or is overwhelmed, all the other body systems are at risk of attack.   

Easy keeping fit horses, by nature, will be able to utilize their immune system to ward off or fight any bacterial infections that possess the potential to do them bodily harm.  It is much cheaper to feed for health than to treat for cure.  As the saying goes “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.  Feeds or feed ingredients high in naturally occurring Vitamin E are essential for good immune function.  Vitamin E is widely distributed in all fresh natural feeds.  This logic only applies to bacterial infections and a healthy immune system.  Sometimes, we as humans, and animals need a little outside help to supplement our immune systems.  When viral infections invade us, even a good immune system needs help.  Take the most recent case of West Nile Virus.  Two properly placed and properly timed vaccinations are needed to give the immune system that needed “boost” to ward off disease and infection of this magnitude.  A well rounded vaccination program compliments a well balanced feed program to provide health care for your horse.  

One of the easiest ways to tell if your horse is healthy is to look at his overall appearance.  Is he within the weight requirements for his breed…remember too much weight is as bad as too thin.  If he is too thin, check his teeth to make sure he can chew and digest his feed properly.  Is his coat shiny with good skin condition?  Are his eyes alert and his ears up?  Does he move around freely with no signs of pain or distress?  Are his legs sound and his hooves properly maintained?   Is he acting normal?  Horses have different personalities just like their owners.  You can tell when something is “just not right”. 

Horses are forage digesters.  To stay healthy it is essential that the vast majority of their diet is comprised of weed free pasture, mold free dry hay, or a combination of the two.  These forage sources provide the fiber fraction that is necessary to maintain proper digestion and decrease the incidence of colic.  One of the biggest mistakes horse owners can make is over feeding of grains or grain mixes.  While the grains do provide a source of energy for the horse, they contain high levels of starch.  These starch levels can lead to a variety of digestive problems.  It is possible that high quality forages put up in a timely manner can meet the minimum energy requirements of many horses.  To supplement this forage energy source one can either feed lesser amounts of grain or use one of the alternative energy sources.  These alternative sources can be broken down into two groups…the fats and the oils.  Most fats, like choice white grease, are hard to handle and mix in feed properly and tend to be unpalatable to most horses.  Solid fats are not the product of choice for supplemental energy in equine diets.  Fortunately, the oils provide a high quality palatable source of energy without bringing in the starch. 

These oils, primarily corn and soy oil, may be purchased at the local grocery store.  If added energy is all one is wanting, they be an acceptable source.  Unfotunately, these human consumption grocery store oils have been highly refined and “bleached” to extract all the natural occurring ingredients.  These oils have also been extracted by use of chemical means.  This oil will look crystal clear on the shelf.  A better alternative to the grocery store oil is the use of all natural mechanically pressed expelled soy oil.  This product, as the name implies, is an all natural (no chemical solvents) soy oil that is high in naturally occurring Vitamin E.  Remember earlier how we discussed the importance of Vitamin E to the immune system as well as the reproductive system and this is natural occurring Vitamin E, not a synthetic additive.  All natural expelled oil also contains lecithin.  This is a natural emulsifier that greatly aids in digestion.  So now we have a product that not only reduces the starch levels while providing energy but actually aids in digestion to reduce colic.  Expelled soy oil is also high in omega fatty acids for heart health as well as overall health.  It has been documented for a long time what omega fatty acids do for human health.  This research is finally filtering down to equine nutrition.  Earlier we touched on the skin condition and hair coat of a healthy animal.  Expelled soy oil with its’ natural antioxidants will improve skin condition and give a horse that “show ring shine”.

Proudly Made In the U.S.A
from American-grown soybeans
 

Chemical Free

Wiechert expelled soy oil is obtained by an extrusion/expulsion process that provides the consumer with the highest quality feed-grade oil available in the equine market.