opinions on oil supplements??

Ok, so I want to see everyone's opinions on oil supplements. I had my mare on rice bran oil for a weight gain supplement and I've tried different oil supplements. I recently read in Smartpak that is was unhealthy to feed oil supplements and would cause many health problems, even if fed by exact directions?? Im not too sure about that because there are many oil supplements and I know more than a few people that do use oil and i'm just curious about what you think? I don't currently have her on an oil because I switched to Farnam Weight Builder..I don't reply plan on switching back to oil because she is doing really well on the weight builder, but it just made me curious..any input is welcome!

I'm totally going off my own knowledge with no research before I reply to this, since I'm supposed to be doing my math homework. :)

I would think SmartPak's statement is false or overexaggerated. I'm pretty sure they don't sell regular oil (:P), and seeing how people have been using it more frequently lately, they most likely just want to steer people back to their supplements. I have no doubt oil can rarely cause some sort of crazy side effect, and that may be what they're referring to.

I feed flax seed and its fantastic. I would say any oil that is primarily omega3 is perfectly healthy. I doubt fish oil... I just think its weird to think about a horse enjoying essence de fishiness... But omega 3 is what's in nice green grass! So that's very natural for them to eat a pretty good amount of it.

I know its a good idea to avoid large amounts of omega6, which studies are showing could actually cause inflammation in horses. Black oil sunflower seeds contain omega6. Rice bran oil might, I'm not sure.

I highly recommend anything from flax or flax seed. Its palatable, safe, relatively inexpensive, and even I've started buying flax seed chips and and crackers for myself at the store... :)
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I have fed up to 200mL of sunflower oil for years to my horses and not had a single health problem in relation to it's feeding, as well as having it highly recommended for coat enhancement and general well being by an equine nutritionist.

Oil is fine to feed, you can feed up to 250mL/day :)

Yeah, that is what I thought. I hadn't EVER heard of a horse having problems because oil..I do like to use it though for their coats and using the flax seed. I look for it in my feed. They do have a pellet supplement now that is really good and has flax seed. I'm not sure about the rice bran oil having omega6 in it. I'll check and see later.

In Smartpak it was referring to a new supplement that they are making and saying how the oil is bad for horses and this was the new "IT" supplement so I might have to agree with you that they are just over exaggerating to get people to switch to their product. I also found that the Smartpak is cool and its convient but I can get all my supplement cheaper buying elsewhere and I can pour my different supplements in a ziploc bag and pack it and it's just an convient.

Is it possible that they were referring to oil not intended for horses such of vegetable oil, corn oil and such? I have heard that feeding those kind of oils are not good and can cause kidney problems. Can you post the article? I'd like to read it

I can try to find it. It was in the catalog I ordered a few months ago.
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We have been giving ours wheat germ oil for years, they all get 2 oz. A day and 4 oz daily for our seniors (21, 23 & 29) through the winter, they are all in great condition and all have great shiny coats, even in their winter fuzzies :)

In the past 10 years, the addition of fat to the horse diet has been researched extensively. The overwhelming conclusion has been that it is beneficially. Horses can't colic on it, it's the most concentrated source of calories, it's highly utilized (they don't waste it in the digestion process), it's inexpensive and it will enhance performance (muscles can be trained to utilize fat as an energy source that lasts longer than glycogen). Horses digest all types of fat equally, soy, corn, veg, ricebran... Where the difference lies is in the amount of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids but that's not the question here. To me it just sounds like someone has something to sell.

Ok..so I did some looking around at the house and I CANNOT find that catalog ANYWHERE! I did look online though and I still can't find that one article..anyway, I looked all over the smartpak website and come up with different things.

The Truth about Feeding Horses Corn Oil SmartPak Equine Blog.. I did find this and it's related to this thread and some of it is surprising.

I do remember in the article that it was said most oils were bad for horses and they caused inflammation, ligament, and tendon issues. Horses were having lameness issues because of oils in their diet. And so on..

I also looked into all the different oils out there and ALOT of people use Corn oil, Rice Bran oil, Sunflower, and Canola oil. I read reports from vets saying that Corn Oil causing GI Inflammation is false and Corn Oil is a very very good oil to treat ulcers in horses.

???? I still think there is alot to think about..I personally liked the Rice Bran oil and Corn Oil. I'll most likely use it again when I need to.

Thanks for everyone's input!