Flax

[suz]

I've been giving my guy his supplements in a flax base for a month now and have noticed that he is getting fat pads on his butt and other areas.

He gets 1 TBS am and 1 TBS pm, along with a Vita E capsule.

No other change in diet/exercise, etc. No grain - just timothy hay.

Has anyone else experienced weight gain or fat pads while using flax?

His coat is beautiful and shiny and no itchies, so I like what the results are, but I can't have him gaining weight or storing extra fat as he is just recovered from laminitis.

Maybe I should just cut it back a bit? Or any other suggestions for a shiny coat?

Thanks

Suz

 

[Sue_C.]

I have been feeding my horses 1/8th cup of groud flax twice daily along with soaked beet pulp, and Purina Checkers 200, for several years now, and they are all lean and fit-looking...no fat pad or extra weight, even on the sedentry ones.

Some people feed black-oil sunflower seeds for good coats, but when I mentioned it to my Farrier he said not to do it, as he has seen several horses "blow their feet" on them, so I would caution putting a laminetic horse on "Boss".

 

[mydaddysjag]

I was feeding domingo a flax based coat supplement and he gained quite a bit of weight, even with conditioning. It is the only thing I changed. His coat looked great, but due to the weight gain, I had to switch him to something else.

 

[suz]

[ His coat looked great, but due to the weight gain, I had to switch him to something else.

Finally, someone else with this problem! Seems like everyone else can tolerate the flax - I'm jealous!

What did you have him on and what did you switch him to?

Thanks.

 

[barnbum]

Hmm, interesting. I feed whole flax--about 1-2 tsp twice a day. My goal is just to keep things moving through those intestines. But, my crew stays "winter ready" all the time it seems.

Wonder if I should leave it out for a month and see if there's a difference? How can that little bit make a difference though?

 

[mydaddysjag]

I was feeding 1tsp of equi omega complex twice daily. Started at 1/2 tsp daily, but saw no coat difference. They were reccomending 1oz twice daily for a mini, which seemed like a huge amount to me... Its a flax based product, has some other ingredients, but when I emailed I was told that its primary ingredient was stabelized flax. I got it because I board my horses, and wasnt able to grind fresh for each meal. For what its worth my horse looked great for weeks, the gained a lot of weight, and got dandruffy, and his feet got crumbly. Farrier said some supplements over soften the feet. Dont know how true it is, but I have switched to hooflex. Laura from Ten L recommended it for coats, she actually said it is the best thing she has used. I figured if it makes his coat and feet nice It will kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I have picture before, while on, and after the flax supplement. I will take pictures in a few weeks to show how he looks on the hooflex.

 

[maestoso]

I don't have any problems with weight gain or fat pads, I feed a "handful" of stabalized ground flax(from OmegaFields) with PM feedings.