soybean oil quantity in racehorse diets

Question
hello ma'am. my boss, a thoroughbred trainer is getting confused how much amount of soybean oil to add in racehorse diets. he feeds 3kg oats in the morning and 4.5kg in the evening meal. feeds two times a day only since the stable staff wont be available after longer periods. could you please help me out?

Answer
Hello Caine,

Thank you for your question.  There is no set amount of any ingredient that a horse 'must' be fed. The decision to feed any particular ingredient, and what amount to feed it in, should be based on the horse's requirements.  Requirements are a function of the horse's size, workload and the rest of the diet.  To figure out how much you could feed, calculate the amount of energy the horse needs and how much it is getting from the rest of the ration.  Then feed enough oil to meet make up the difference between how much energy the horse needs and what it's getting.

There is, however, a recommendation to feed no more than 10% total fat (from all sources) in the diet. So if your horse weighs 1200 pounds and eats 2.5% of its body weight daily, the total diet should contain no more than 3lbs (or 1.36kg) of fat daily.  I hope that helps.

Corlena