Feeding rice bran question

The rice bran I get from my local feed store is like a powder and I have heard it is good to keep weight on a hard keeper, how much and best way to feed seeing as its a powder and it looks hard to swallow(at least to me).

You really don't want to feed more than 2 pounds of rice bran (for a 1000 lb. Horse) because it has so much fat- more and it is poses a health risk. The powder is best feed with soaked hay cubes or pellets or beet pulp, some wet grain. If you don't feed any beet pulp or hay pellets, you can just dampen it down with water.

I believe the 2 lb limit has more to do with the calcium:phosphorous imbalance than the fat content. 2 lbs should be plenty for most horses, though (it's about the same amount of fat as 1 cup of oil). The Ca:Ph ratio is less of a problem if the rice bran is fortified with added calcium, but still needs to be paid attention to. If you do find yourself needing to feed more than that, it would be worth trying out FeedXL.com to make sure the diet is well balanced.

The powder (called rice bran meal) can be fed as-is. It's what I feed my horse (since it's the only stabilized rice bran I could find in my area) and he loves it and even licks his feeder clean. I feed 1/4 lb twice daily, mixed in with his Triple Crown 30% Supplement. You can wet it down or add it to a mash if you want- it never hurts to get extra water into your horse

ETA- You should also be sure to add rice bran into the diet slowly, as too much fat too quickly can upset the horse's digestive tract (much like any other major dietary change).

Awesome! So you just feed it in with their regular food dry? I was really just making sure as I have just been adding about a pound a day to his diet for about 3 days now. I am just scooping it into his 12% feed and shaking it in.