warm bran mash

Question
hello, why warm bran mash is comfortable for horses? is it good for digestion? madam, would you feed rice bran or wheat bran to horses, especially show jumping thoroughbreds? which one is good?

Answer
Hello Rohit,

Thank you for your question.  It is commonplace to feed horses warm bran mashes with the idea that it helps improve digestive function and prevent impaction colic.  The truth is that a bran mash does not really work like a laxative in horses like bran will for people...as horses were designed to ferment forages...they were built to easily handle these forage sources.  However, a warm bran mash does work well to get extra water into your horse...and horses enjoy them, so in the long run they could help with impeding impaction colic by bringing more water into the ration.  It doesn't hurt to feed bran mash...but has little nutritional value besides the additional water...and personally if this is the effect I'm trying to get, I prefer to use beet pulp.

Rice bran is different from wheat bran in that the rice bran brings a beneficial amount of fat to the diet when fed...something wheat bran will not do.  If you are going to choose on of these to feed, go with the rice bran as it will bring more to the diet.

Thanks, Corlena