Re: Winnie's Cookies, yucca, MSM etc

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Mary Rose wrote:
> 
> I have a question about Winnies Cookies for those out there that have
> Nutrition Expertise (Susan G, etc.)
> I have some advertisement information from Whinnies cookies.
> They are touting a LOW Fat, LOW calorie balanced complete Supplement.
> Dont we want to get more calories and higher fat into our performance
> horses?
> They recommend feeding 6 little cookies at 1.7% Fat ( Depending on
> moisture)
> which to means to me it's probably not consistant in quality.Not much fat
> in the total diet if that all you feed with hay.I also put a pencil to the
> price of the cookies compared to another Major Feed company's High Fat
> (6%), high calorie supplement, and I could feed 8 lbs a day for the same
> price.
> Any comments?
> 
> Mary Rose
> Newbee  Wannabe

For a supplement that is essentially marketed as vitamins and minerals,
I personally would prefer a low fat content.  High fat means that the
shelf life is going to be shorter, as the fats are going to oxidize
faster.

Yes, fat is a good thing in the diet of an endurance horse, but it's not
a required part---the horse's natural diet is only around 2-3% fat and
because only about half of that 2-3% is actually bioavailable (some
substances like natural pigments, chlorophyll, etc analyze as a "fat"
but aren't used by the body as such), the totally natural natural of the
horse is extremely low in fat.  We add extra carbohydrates and fats to
the diet to add energy and body weight for the work we ask them to do,
and horses handle those dietary manipulations fairly well, but fat is
definitely not a mandatory requirement in the diet.

One other thing to consider is even if you were feeding 8 lbs of the
other 6% high fat supplement you mentioned, that's less than 8 oz. of
fat in that 8 pounds.  Lotta money no matter how you cut it for two cups
of fat.

So my advice is to consider these sorts of supplements a convenient
source of vitamins, minerals and probios only; and if you want fat in
your horse's diet, then add corn oil directly.

Hope this helps,

Susan G