Oil Extracted Seed Meals
Together, linseed meal, canola meal and stabilized rice bran can make the highest protein horse feed in the entire world. Our Equine Plus® Feed also includes a diverse amino acid profile, high quality fats, and is low in non-structured carbohydrates because of these three ingredients. Best access to these specific feed ingredients is unique to the Mid-Western plains of North America.
However, the most important reason our Biochemist chose these seed meals is that the most pesticide laden and least-digestible parts of the plant have been removed - leaving only the most nutritious part - making Equine Plus® Feed one of the cleanest horse feeds and ration balancers available in the entire world.
Starting with clean ingredients is critically important, but we also ensure our feed remains uncontaminated throughout the mixing process by only working with reputable partner mills who do not mix or handle other ingredients which could be harmful to horses.
Linseed meal, not to be confused with flaxseed meal, is our primary feed ingredient and contains high quality fats, including anti-inflammatory Omega 3s.
Canola was developed through selective breeding to produce different oils - which have been shown to have a more nutritious fatty acid profile than the rape seed it was originally selected from. Canola meal is also high in protein.
We only source Standardized Rice Bran from California - to eliminate the possibility of arsenic contamination which has been found in rice grown in other places such as Arkansas.
Avoiding Chemicals
The chemicals sprayed onto fields are designed to stick onto the outside of the crops (the hulls, middlings and forage). They are intended to stay on the crops and NOT wash off in severe weather and even in acid rain. These pesticide laden by-products are mechanically separated from the inside of the seeds (the meal) and then most of the oils are then extracted from the meal. Canola meal contains trace amounts of oil and these small amounts provide unique health benefits for horses.
The only nutritious part of any grain or seed is located inside the hull (shell) as the hulls and middlings are non-digestible agricultural waste products, and are often contaminated with things like pesticides, herbicides, mold spores, and dirt from the field. For this reason we recommend 'steam rolled oat groats’ instead of 'whole oats' for horses with additional energy requirements. Just keep in mind, ‘steam rolled out groats’ are essentially what people call 'oat meal,' and they contain a lot more nutrition per pound than whole oats.
There really aren't many USDA Certified Organic horse feeds in the U.S. because they are significantly more expensive to produce, and too few equine professionals value that type of quality. If a feed claims to be ‘Organic,’ make sure you are able to find the USDA Certified Organic seal before you believe that claim. Even when some feed ingredients truly are USDA Certified Organic, there are plenty of dirty feed ingredients you should keep an eye out for - particularly minerals, for which the term ‘Certified Organic’ does not apply.
Only the Purest and Safest Minerals
Some people find it surprising how much heavy metal contamination there is in ALL feed grade minerals. By contrast, our USP (Pharmaceutical Grade) minerals are 99.99% pure with essentially zero heavy metal contamination. We’ve been testing and analyzing horses for mineral and heavy metal levels for over 40 years, and it’s truly remarkable how contaminated, and poor in quality, feed grade minerals can be - especially free choice minerals. You can see some minerals directly compared in this video. For over 40 years, we have only offered equine nutritional supplements made from minerals that are pure enough to be fit for human consumption. So far, we are still the only company offering this highest grade of feed and supplements for equestrians all over the world.
Gluten Free
Wheat gluten can play a significant role in Equine Inflammatory Small Bowel Disease (ISBD) and/or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in horses. Removing wheat middlings, brewer’s mash, and other wheat byproducts from a horse’s diet can reduce signs of this disease.
Chronic equine inflammatory small bowel disease is most prevalent in sport horses, but the condition seems to be increasing in prevalence particularly in dressage horses as well. The disorder is associated with intermittent colic, weight loss, poor performance and anemia.
One sign of gluten sensitivity in horses is anal contractions, or a spasming sphincter. Here is a video showing what a spasming equine sphincter looks like.
Corn Free
RoundUp was originally developed for corn, but it, and other glyphosate-based herbicides, are not only the most common chemicals used to grow today’s agricultural grade corn, but they can also be found in everything from beer and wine to breakfast cereals. Glyphosate can contribute to intestinal dysfunctions like gluten intolerance and leaky gut syndromes like food allergies, chronic diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, malabsorption of various nutrients, colic, irritable bowel syndrome and even lower IQ.
Since there are detectable levels of glyphosate in much of our American human food chain, you can be darn sure that agricultural grade corn, which is of a lower quality than food grade, is even more laden with this distinct family of chemicals.
Additionally, corn contains a lot more starch than any other ingredient in our horse feed. When you feed corn to horses, it results in spikes of blood sugar and then insulin, which, over the long run, can lead to eventual health complications like insulin resistance which is Type 2 diabetes.
Another concern with feeding high-starch feed ingredients is that if the starches are not completely broken down and absorbed before exiting the small intestine, they will enter the hind gut, where they are likely to disrupt or abnormally elevate microbial fermentation. Fermentation is essential for the breakdown and absorption of nutrients and disrupting it thereby causes chronic nutritional deficiencies. Greatly elevating fermentation can lead to things like gas colic.
Soy Free
We do not recommend feeding soy to horses, even though it is the cheapest form of protein available because it is a legume which can interfere with normal thyroid function, wreak havoc with estrogens in many hormone driven systems, and can contribute to metabolic disorders like hypothyroidism, insulin resistance, and Cushing’s disease.
Soy in horse feeds has also been genetically modified to withstand heavy saturation of herbicide(s), like glyphosate based products, which are known to be one of the leading causes of leaky gut syndrome in horses. Again, as mentioned above leaky gut syndrome can manifest as many serious health conditions.
Also, phytates found in soy can bind to certain essential minerals in the digestive tract and prevent the body from absorbing the minerals - causing chronic deficiencies which eventually manifest as health complications.
Please keep in mind that when you feed soy bean meal in an attempt to boost protein, know that you are feeding so much more than protein, with very little of it being good for your horse!
We are just so proud to offer the #1 Highest Protein and arguably the #1 Cleanest Horse Feed available in the entire world - since the 1980s.