Ep. 117: 3 Nutrition Fixes for a Healthy, Shiny Horse Coat

Episode Notes

On this episode of the Feeding Fumbles & Fixes series of Beyond the Barn, host Katy Starr and Dr. Kelly Vineyard, PhD equine nutritionist, discuss some helpful tips to getting a healthy, shiny coat for your horse, including:

• Why some horses never achieve that healthy coat shine despite excellent grooming and care
• Why two horses consuming the same amount of protein in their diets can have dramatically different coat quality
• The surprisingly small dietary adjustment that horse owners have relied on for decades to help enhance coat shine

If you’ve ever wondered why some horses seem to glow while others look dull despite your best grooming efforts, this episode will help you look beyond brushing, bathing and conditioning to better understand the nutritional foundation of a healthy, shiny coat.

🎧 Listen now on the Beyond the Barn podcast

Have a topic idea or feedback to share? We want to connect with you! Email podcast@standlee.com

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Check out our other Beyond the Barn episodes related to this topic – 

• Ep. 103: How to Balance Forage-Based or Grain-Free Diets & Bust Common Myths – Part 2
• Ep. 102: Horse Feeding Trends Explained: Forage-Based, Grain-Free & Everything in Between – Part 1
• Ep. 047: How Properly Balancing Your Horse’s Diet Can SAVE You Money in the Long Run!
• Ep. 045: Why Skipping a Hay Analysis Could Cost More Money in the Long Run with Sarah Fessenden
• Ep. 012: Myth or Fact? Horses Can't Digest Oils

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*Views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Standlee Premium Products, LLC.*

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Read full episode transcript

Katy Starr (00:01):

Hi, I'm Katy Starr, and you're listening to Beyond the Barn. Join me on this journey as we bust equine and livestock nutrition myths, and sit down with some of the most intriguing experts from across the country. We'll also take you behind the scenes of how premium western quality forage is grown and brought to your favorite farm and ranch retail store. I'm so glad you're here.

 

Katy Starr (00:27):

Welcome back to the Beyond the Barn podcast. We're back to our Feeding Fumbles and Fixes series. It's all about learning from real life feeding mistakes and experiences, and finding simple practical ways to make improvements for your horse ownership journey. In this episode of the series, we are covering nutrition fixes for a healthy, shiny coat for your horse. As a reminder, any of the topics we cover on the Beyond the Barn Podcast are more generalized and not specific to any individual horse or any specific situation. Be sure to always work with your veterinarian and nutritionist before making any drastic changes to your horse's feed program. Or you can reach out to us to talk directly with our PhD equine nutritionist on any specifics that you would like to know. You can spend hours brushing, bathing, and conditioning your horse, but if the nutrition isn't right from within, there's only so much grooming products can actually do.

 

Katy Starr (01:26):

Sometimes what we think is a grooming issue is actually a feeding problem. Hair follicles are some of the fastest growing tissues in the horse's body, which means they're highly dependent on consistent nutrition. And there are a few nutritional areas that tend to make the biggest difference when it comes to coat quality, and some of them are probably not the first things horse owners think of. In this episode, we're talking about some practical fixes that can support a healthier and shinier coat to get your horse to look and feel their best. Today we're talking about three nutrition fixes for a healthy, shiny horse coat. For most of our Feeding Fumbles and Fixes podcast episodes, we start our list at the bottom fix or mistake and work our way up to the number one piece of advice. But for this episode, we're starting with the most important fix so we can set the stage for fixes two and three so they make sense. So, keep that in mind as we work through these fixes on today's episode. So, Dr. Vineyard for fix number three, for a healthy shiny horse coat, we're thinking about this right as the most important fix, feed a balanced diet, ensure that your horse is receiving an adequate level of essential protein, vitamins, and minerals. So, explain to us what the problem is with that if we don't do that first.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (02:54):

Right. Well, we're starting here because to me, this is by far the most important nutrition related way to promote a shiny coat, which is feeding a balanced diet that meets your horse's essential nutrient requirements. This is a fix that's going to have the most impact, and all of the other fixes we're going to talk about, they're not going to be fixes at all if you don't do this first. So, that's why you have to start with a solid ration, a good quality balanced ration to meet essential nutrient requirements. And the reason is a deficiency in almost any nutrient can actually lead to negatively affect coat appearance. But specifically, we can be focused on minerals like zinc and copper. Zinc plays a really important role in promoting normal skin integrity and healthy hair growth. And those do tend to be some of the trace of minerals that are most commonly deficient in unbalanced diets. So, if you don't have a balanced diet, it doesn't matter what else you do, it's going to be a lot harder to get a shiny coat.

 

Katy Starr (03:57):

Right. And so obviously the fix is to feed a balanced diet, but what are some tips that you have for us to be able to do that and make sure we're doing it correctly?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (04:06):

Right. I mean, this is what we all are striving to do when we're feeding our horses. And I want to start out by saying feeding a balanced diet does not have to be complicated, and it shouldn't be complicated. So, if it feels complicated, maybe take a step back and remind yourself that it doesn't need to be complicated if you follow a couple simple rules. Number one, you start with your forage foundation and you build from there to fill in the nutritional gaps, understanding that all forage will have some nutritional gaps, namely trace minerals, sometimes protein and energy, depending on the horse, sometimes vitamins, but know that there will be some gaps. So, depending on your horse's life stage, depending on what their energy needs are, there's a couple different ways to balance the diet. One way for horses with lower energy needs is either with a well formulated vitamin mineral supplement or a quality ration balancer that's going to provide the missing nutrients and forage, not a lot of extra energy, but you don't need that if you have an easy keeper or a horse with low energy needs.

 

Katy Starr (05:05):

Right.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (05:06):

And then if you have a horse with higher energy needs, or maybe a horse with special needs like a senior or a metabolic horse that needs more calories, another way to feed a balanced diet is to find an appropriate high quality concentrate that's already balanced with those vitamins and minerals formulated in, and the proper amounts and the proper ratios, you can read the feeding directions from the manufacturer and really understand how to use it appropriately based on your horse. And those products make it less complicated to balance your diet. And so that's why I say it doesn't have to be complicated if you use appropriate products and use them in the correct way. Where it becomes a little more challenging is if you are feeding your own homemade ration. Mm-hmm . That's where you really need to make sure you are balancing, using unfortified ingredients just becomes more challenging. It can be done in these cases. I would make sure either you are using a really good high quality vitamin mineral supplement to balance out the gaps, or work with a qualified nutritionist who can help you avoid some of the common scenarios that I see in homemade rations. It's not only nutritional gaps. Sometimes we see nutritional excesses. If you're really not putting like pen to paper and making sure multiple supplements, multiple unfortified ingredients, they can add up, definitely can be done. But that's where it becomes a little more complicated. But there are good qualified nutritionists out there that can help or use a good vitamin mineral supplement to cover all your bases there too.

 

Katy Starr (06:39):

Excellent. Okay. So, fix number two, for a healthy shiny horse coat, check protein quality amino acids of the ration. So, what's the problem that we're starting with there?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (06:52):

Yeah. I mean, you can meet your protein requirement on paper, but the deeper or the next step is all protein is not created equal. Mm-hmm . Because it's really the amino acid composition of that protein that dictates protein quality. So, you can have a ration with 800 grams of protein or two different rations, and they both have the same total protein, 800 grams, but that amino acid content may be different. And you have one horse that has a really shiny coat and one horse that has a dull coat, and it's because the one with the shiny coat is getting better quality amino acids, primarily lysine, methionine, and threonine are especially important. Hair is largely made of protein and amino acids, and so is hooves and skin as well. So, if you have inadequate amino acids that make up that protein, it certainly can lead to poor hair growth, a dull coat, and just overall like a dull appearance. So, protein quality, even if you're meeting the total grams of protein, we also want to pay attention to amino acid quality.

 

Katy Starr (07:53):

Excellent. Okay. So, our fix here, how can we make sure that we're doing this correctly?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (07:59):

Yeah, and I would say this is most commonly an issue in horses that are maybe eating grass forages only. And maybe no fortified feeds that have added protein, because even though grass forges can certainly meet a horse's protein requirement, it may not always contain enough of lysine, methionine and threonine to really help that horse thrive. So, incorporating higher protein quality sources like a ration balancer, if your horse is an easy keeper, remember that's what makes the difference between a vitamin mineral supplement and a ration balancer is that addition of high quality protein and amino acids that can fill in those amino acid gaps. You can also feed straight amino acid supplements that are out there, or you can build in some good quality alfalfa hay, even a couple pounds a day. Alfalfa has a more robust amino acid profile. And so sometimes that will do the trick to sort of bump up the quality of the protein.

 

Katy Starr (08:53):

Okay. Excellent. So, fix number one for a healthy shiny horse coat is introduce healthy fats. So, talk to us about maybe what the problem is prior to doing this.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (09:06):

Right. Well, I think sometimes this is a lot of people's go-to, if your horse has a dull coat, let's feed fat. And that's not wrong. But you first need to make sure the diet is balanced and you're feeding high quality amino acids. And this is the third thing to do. So, you know, horses consuming plenty of forage, they're getting plenty of essential fatty acids to meet their nutrient needs. But horsemen, long before we started doing nutrition research in horses, horsemen have always known you feed a little bit of oil to horses. It makes their coat look shinier. And that's true. It can improve the visual shine. The bloom feeding fat can alter the fatty acid composition of the hair, actually. And fatty acids are a component of skin oils that help give that coat a glossy appearance. So, fatty acids really do play a very tactile role in improving coat shine.

 

Katy Starr (10:01):

Excellent. Okay. And so, for the fix, what's the best way to do this? Including maybe are there some fats or oils better than others and some things like that?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (10:13):

I mean, fat can come from a lot of different places in the diet. So, you've got your vegetable oils like the corn or soybean oil, for example. You've got flax seed oil, rice brand oil, or specialty oils. There's a lot of specialty oils out there now, fish oils and things like that. All of those will improve the shine of the coat. They all contribute essential fatty acids, some more than others to the daily ration. And that will in turn, help create a shiny coat if a horse isn't already eating added fat. You know, some feeds have added fat to it. So, say you're feeding an 8% fat feed or a 10% fat feed, it already has oil incorporated into that. So, you may not really need extra top dressed fat, but if you're not feeding extra fat, you may want to start. I always recommend starting with one to two ounces of oil per day. That is usually effective, an effective amount to affect coat shine, but it still doesn't add a significant amount of calories because sometimes you may not want to add a whole bunch of extra calories, but I'm not too worried about two ounces of oil, from a calorie standpoint. On the flip side, if you want your horse to gain weight, you have to feed way more than two ounces of oil per day. But that's the topic of another podcast.

 

Katy Starr (11:22):

Yeah, yeah, no worries.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (11:24):

And one question I do get asked a lot, is there one oil better than other? You know, especially when it comes to Omegas, omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, and I'm going to tell you, when it comes to coat shine, it really doesn't matter. These oils, both omega-3s and omega-6s are going to be effective to increase coat shine. So, certainly a horse has a dietary requirement for omega6s. Actually, there is no established requirement for omega-3s. They're both important. We do want them both in a diet, horses get a lot of omega-3s from forage. If they're eating a lot of fat added feeds, it may be more omega-6. So, I prefer using oils that are richer in the polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are both omega threes and sixes. Soybean oil, corn oil is also higher in omega-6s, but it does have a high polyunsaturated fatty acid content, canola oil, flaxseed oil, .

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (12:21):

Mm-hmm . Then you've got your specialty oils, fish oil, and there's the ahiflower oil, which is a really interesting specialty oil as well. So, all of those increase coat shine. And I say feed the oil that you can get easily your horse likes, and that, you know, makes you feel good because in terms of, if we're talking about omega-6s and omega-3s, sure. If you want to prioritize omega-3s, you're going to go fish oil or flax oil route. But that's also number one is they're usually more expensive and they can go rancid more quickly. So, there is a downside to those too, so you have to be aware of that.

 

Katy Starr (12:57):

That is excellent. And I have a couple of things that I'm going to bring up because this dumps into a conversation, horse conversations all the time. So, help us understand this just a little bit. For those that think that sometimes feeding certain oils can cause inflammation issues or anything like that, help us understand that better.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (13:19):

This is a topic for a whole other podcast. . Well, I'm laughing because this is a topic of my PhD research was omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. So, I think the short answer is you are not going to cause your horse to have inflammation by feeding two ounces of corn oil. It's really not possible physiologically. Now, on the grander scheme of things, when you talk about enzymes and different like pro-inflammatory versus anti-inflammatory pathways and precursors to things in the body, certainly omega-6s are the precursors to some pro-inflammatory mediators, omega-3s service precursors to the anti-inflammatory mediators. But that's on a way bigger scale than a couple ounces of oil per day. Another important part of the conversation when you talk about omegas and horses is understanding horses actually get a lot of omega-3s from forage. Mm-hmm . The fat content of forage is low in general, but of that fat, it's actually high omega-3s. So, again, I could go down a lot of rabbit holes in more detail, but the best oil to feed your horse depends on your goals. Mm-hmm . If it's for a coat shine, it can be really any oil with high polyunsaturated fatty acid content. You know, if you have a horse has an inflammatory condition like a skin allergy or a respiratory condition, then you need to feed, if you want the anti-inflammatory effect, I always recommend going with the marine derived oils. Okay. So, fish oils.

 

Katy Starr (14:51):

Okay. Excellent. And this one might be kind of similar to your response in the fact that it's only a couple ounces, right? Mm-hmm . But just knowing that sometimes if people are trying to hit two birds with one stone, maybe they're trying to do that, but maybe also they're like they have a hard keeper and they're trying to put weight on or something, so they may end up feeding more. For those that think that horses cannot digest oils because they don't have a gallbladder, speak to us about how horses do it.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (15:17):

Yeah. Well, they still generate those enzymes that the lipases that break down fat. So, they're not generated or stored in the gallbladder, but they are in the liver and then secreted and bile and secreted in a small intestine to contribute to digestion of fat. So, horses are actually very, very efficient at digesting fat.

 

Katy Starr (15:37):

Excellent. And so we have had a few conversations about this in previous episodes, so I'll be sure to link that in the show notes for this episode. But Dr. Vineyard, thanks so much for sharing such great information on how to get a healthy, shiny coat for our horse in terms of nutrition. We appreciate it.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (15:57):

All right, thank you.

 

Katy Starr (15:58):

Today we covered three nutrition fixes for a healthy shiny horse coat. Here are some key takeaways from Dr. Vineyard. A balanced ration is the basis of horse coat health. Because nearly every nutrient plays a role in skin and hair function. Even subtle deficiencies, particularly in minerals, can reduce coat shine and quality. It's not just about how much protein a horse gets, it's about the quality of that protein. If key amino acids like lysine, methionine, and threonine are lacking, coat growth and shine can suffer even when overall protein looks ideal. Healthy fats contribute to coat shine by supporting the oils that naturally coat the hair. Even small amounts of added fat can enhance gloss and bloom in your horse's coat over time. If you want to dig a little deeper into learning more about feeding your horse a balanced diet or more specifics about protein or fats, we've linked some additional resources in our show notes, and we'd love to hear your feedback on our Feeding Fumbles and Fixes series or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us anytime at podcast@standlee.com. Thanks for listening to The Beyond the Barn podcast by Standlee Forage. We'd love for you to share our podcast with your favorite people and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite listening platform. Until next time, keep your cinch tight, and don't forget to turn off the water.