Feeding For A Brilliant Coat Shine

There is nothing more pleasing to a horse owner’s eye than a brilliant, shiny coat. And aside from looking great, a shiny coat also indicates the horse is healthy inside and out. Question is, how do you make your horse sine? It is really quite easy if you follow these simple steps.

Steps To A Brilliant Coat Step 1 – Feed a balanced diet
Many nutrients including protein, copper, zinc and vitamin A have a direct impact on the health and shine of your horse’s coat. These nutrients as well as all of the other essential nutrients must be provided in your horses diet at levels that will meet your horses requirements . If you don’t keep your horse healthy on the inside you can’t possibly expect the outside to shine. This is why the FeedXL software (www.feedxl.com) is so good, it makes balancing your horses diet for good coat shine SIMPLE! Step 2 – Add oils to the diet
If your horses diet is low in oils, and in particular, low in the essential fatty acids omega 3 and omega 6 it will probably mean your horses coat will be dull. Adding 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup of oil to the diet will help bring shine to the coat. Various ways you can add oils to the diet include:
1. Add oilseeds such as sunflower seeds, micronized or extruded full fat soybean, or boiled flax/linseed to the diet.
2. Add liquid oils to the diet. Almost all oils will have a positive impact on coat shine. Cold pressed canola or soybean oil or any oils that have been fortified with omega fatty acids are particularly effective. Rice bran oil and coconut oil also good for coats.
3. If you use a complete feed, choose one that contains ingredients like full fat soybean, sunflower seeds and cold pressed oils. Step 3 – Feed feeds known to darken coats
It is well known that feeds containing molasses will make a palomino’s coat go ‘smutty’ or dark in colour, while it will bring a deep liver colour out in chestnuts that have the genetics to go that colour. So if you are after a darker coat, try feeding molasses (¼ to 1 cup per day). NB Don’t feed molasses to horses prone to laminitis. Products containing a compound known as gamma oryzanol are also often reported to darken coats. Gamma oryzanol is found naturally in rice bran and can also be purchased in a purified form (Google gamma oryzanol and horses). Step 4 – Worm regularly
Nothing will take the shine off a horses coat faster than a heavy worm burden, so be sure to worm regularly and follow a good worming rotation schedule. Step 5 – Brush!
Brushing regularly will remove dead hair from your horses coat and will stimulate the horses sebaceous glands which release oils that cause the hair to lie flat and shine. {sidebar id=2}It nearly all comes down to a good diet
I can’t stress enough how important step 1 is. Balance the diet and make sure all of your horse’s nutrient requirements are met. If you build on this foundation, adding the extra touches for an amazing coat shine is simple.