Pegasus Health Rapeseed Oil

Pegasus Health

The benefits of adding oil to a horse’s diet are well-documented. Vegetable oils are an easy to digest, slow-release energy source. Adding oil also improves coat condition, supports tissue health and the immune system and improves the efficiency with which sporting, performance and endurance horses can metabolise food into energy. But not all oils are equally beneficial. Rapeseed Oil has proven advantages over cod liver oil, linseed oil and soya oil - please click on the Did You Know? tab for more detailed information.

Five reasons to switch to Rapeseed Oil:

1. Rapeseed Oil for horses contains a naturally balanced optimum ratio of the essential fatty acids Omega-6 and Omega-3 - 2:1 respectively.
2. It has all the traditional benefits of cod liver oil and other vegetable oils - helping joint mobility and tissue health - with none of their drawbacks.
3. Our 100% pure British Rapeseed Oil is a sustainable, natural product.
4. As a cold-pressed oil, it does not undergo the heat extraction technique of some oils which destroys the vitamin and essential fatty acid content leaving you feeding just ‘empty’ calories to your horse.
5. The cold-pressing technique is the most natural using NO chemicals or solvents in the processing and this is probably why Rapeseed Oil is so palatable to horses.

Rapeseed Oil contains:

• Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids
• Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids
• Vitamin E

Feed to:

• Racehorses
• Dressage horses
• Eventing horses
• Healthy horses who need a boost to coat condition
• Older horses with stiff joints

100% pure cold-pressed oil from rapeseeds grown and harvested in Yorkshire, England.

The amount required by your horse will vary depending on his lifestyle and the reason why you are feeding oil.

Performance and sports horses will require a larger daily supplementation than horses ridden just for leisure and pleasure. Start with around half a cup (120ml) a day split between feeds for leisure horses and a full cup (240ml) a day for performance horses.

Evidence points to Rapeseed Oil being the healthiest and most beneficial oil to feed your horse.

A horse’s usual diet - grass, hay and cereals - is not high in oil. Recognition of the advantages of feeding oil to horses has become widespread and there has been a big increase in equestrian feeds and supplements with a high oil content coming on to the market in recent years. For many years, owners and riders have fed oils to their horses to keep their joints supple and mobile.

A big benefit of Rapeseed Oil is that it contains the essential fatty acids Omega-6 and Omega-3 at the optimum-balanced ratio of 2:1 respectively.

The horse’s body cannot produce these two fatty acids so they have to be provided through diet.

Essential fatty acids are responsible for many important functions in the body including the repair and maintenance of tissues, the production of hormones, keeping skin and coat in good condition and efficiently metabolising energy from the diet. Many owners also report that horses supplemented with Omega-6 and Omega-3 are calmer and less highly strung.

Omega-6 is important for healing and Omega-3 is needed for reducing inflammation. It is possible that too much Omega-3 without Omega-6, could actually inhibit healing.

Vitamin E is also found in Rapeseed and its chief function is to help maintain the stability of the fatty acids. It is an important, natural fat-soluble antioxidant. Some oils have synthetic antioxidants added while others are manufactured using blending and processing of different substances to arrive at a product that mimics the benefits of Rapeseed. Why buy an artificially-manufactured oil when our 100% pure, British, cold-pressed natural Rapeseed Oil has all that goodness in it from the start?

Oil is a concentrated source of non-heating, slow-release energy. Oil contains nearly three times the number of calories as carbohydrates but is much easier for the horse to digest. This makes it a great way for hard-working horses to meet their energy needs. There is also some evidence to suggest that vegetable oils can offer some protection against gastric ulcers - a common problem for racehorses and other performance and sports horses.

Increasing the energy density of your horse’s diet by supplementing with oil offers clear advantages in the case of fussy eaters. Poor appetite can quickly lead to a loss of condition through inadequate energy intake.

Oil is a good source of fuel for muscles - making it particularly useful for hard-working horses especially those doing endurance sports. Because it breaks down relatively slowly it’s said by many owners to help make horses less excitable and ‘fizzy’ when they need to keep a steady head for activities such as dressage work or eventing.

There are some compelling arguments to choose Rapeseed Oil over other available oils.  Any oil can be fed for energy, but for the performance horse it is vital to keep Omega-6 and Omega-3 in the 2:1 respective balanced ratio that Rapeseed Oil provides.

For many years people have used Cod Liver Oil to add energy and conditioning goodness to a horse’s diet. But Cod Liver Oil is an animal byproduct and as horses are naturally vegetarian Cod Liver Oil is not an ideal fit as an equine dietary supplement. There are also question marks over the sustainability of Cod Liver Oil because of stricter fishing quotas and increased demand for cod which lead to quotas being quickly reached. Customers have seen prices rise as supplies become scarce. Rapeseed, by contrast, is a sustainable British crop. You can buy Rapeseed Oil knowing that you are not harming the natural balance of the environment.

Soya Oil is high in Omega-6 but contains hardly any Omega-3. Linseed Oil is high in Omega-3 but contains hardly any Omega-6. Rapeseed oil contains a naturally balanced ratio for optimum energy release.

Older horses with stiff joints can benefit from Rapeseed Oil added to their diet to help repair and support tissues damaged by wear and tear down the years.

Our cold-pressed oil is processed without the addition of solvents or chemicals and without the heat extraction techniques that destroy essential fatty acids and vitamin content.

Rapeseed Oil also seems to be more palatable to horses and many feel this is due to the fact that cold pressed oil is a more natural product than some blended oils and contains no residual solvents.

Many decades ago, Rapeseed contained substances called erucic acid and glucosinolates which were both unpalatable and potentially toxic if fed to animals and humans in large quantities. Selective plant breeding over the last 50 years has resulted in the “Double O” variety of Rapeseed which contains neither of these substances and from which our Rapeseed Oil is derived.

Rapeseed Oil has been fed extensively to horses in Canada and America for some time under the name “Canola oil” - but it has only recently been taken up by owners and trainers in the UK.

Research by an independent equine nutritionist concluded that: “Supplementation of the equine diet with Rapeseed Oil offers many potential advantages ranging from effects on behaviour to those on performance and health.”

She also said that Rapeseed Oil appears to be readily accepted by horses.