Re: RC: definition of high fat diet

["Frank Mechelhoff" <fmechelh@c-s-k.de>]

Truman Prevatt wrote:

> The term "high fat diet" is in fact ambiguous.  Before we can praise or
> curse "high fat diets" we need to have a definition of such.  If your
> definition of high fat is, for arguments sake, "10% by weight of the
> concentrate portion" and you fed 6 pounds of concentrate a day, they
> that would be .6 pounds or 272.4 gm.

Hi Truman,
to distinguish what is "high" in fat one has to look for the *overall*
ration (incl. grass/ hay), not only the bucket-feed. One should add the fat
in all feedstuffs together. grass hay i.e. contains 2-4% of dry substance
fat, depending on sole and time when cut. Feed 10kg hay and you may have 1
pd. pure fat. green grass has up to 4% (here in Germany we have some "fat
pasture" literarily - but not in the mountains where I am!)

My horses gets a cup (0,25kg) full of sunflower-oil, this adds - with some
barley, sweet-feed-mix and hay in the overall ration to 435g fat. In 6990g
dry substance this makes 6,2% - not high in fat. To bring overall fat up to
10% (says my excel-sheet with the numbers according to Meyer
-Horse-feeding-) I had to feed 0,500kg oil. Too much in my oppinion, for the
given level of work.
But some endurance-rider recommend even more: Lew Hollander recommend 1,75
lbs. oil (795g) in his "high-fat-diet". His example adds to 13,8% fat, if
his horse eats some hay or grass too. And Courtney Hart recommend up to
20!!% fat in his otherwise sensible book. Anyone feeding such huge amounts?
I found most recommendation limits up to 10%, which sounds reasonable to me
(Nancy Loving, Hodgson/Rose, Colin Vogel). Meyer has an example for eventers
which has little more. If my horses would work really hard (100 miles per
week +) I would go to that level too - but not beyond.
So the small range of 8-10% (according to Tom) should be some reasonable
area to design rations "high in fat". Maybe it's only a "feel" but I one
should keep in mind that of all natural feedstuffs for horses the highest
fat-content is 4%. If God, or Nature had created the horse to eat lots of
fat it should look like something else... maybe something pink that grunts..

But one last question I have for the carbo-opponents who - on the other side
- recommend only 8% fat: how in the world will you feed a high workload ;-??
20 pds. corn? 40 pds. hay? or would you avoid the amount of work in general?
that's the league where balance become important.

regards,
Frank Mechelhoff
Schmitten, Germany
- & the Taunus mountain ponies (Ligeira and Natajy) -










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