Hi All,

I am making the switch to foreage based and grain free diet.  Currently feeding free choice timothy, alfalfa cubes, mineral.

Next addition is loose salt.

Want to add a fat, and I keep seeing ground flax but that is hard to come by in my area.  Rice bran is easy access but I am reading inflammatory.  How many of you all feed a GF forage based diet but still use rice bran with success?

I guess I could have flax shipped, but would rather not unless it truly is the best option.

I use a scoop of ground flax twice a day to all my horses. Sure puts a shine on one! If you have a tractor supply near you , get a big bag of the triple crown ground flax. If not, Manna pro makes a great product in a little bucket. Either works great

We use Stabilized Rice Bran as a major component in Renew Gold, along with stabilized full fat flax and coconut. SRB is higher in Omega 6 than Omega 3, but at the inclusion rate in our formula and low feed rate it is absolutely not an issue for inflammation. Additionally, those who preach this about straight SRB are simply not informed about the difference of the pecentage of Omega 6 in a feed component and what the contribution of that percentage is as it relates to how much of the ingredient is used. When you go grain free, you greatly reduce the amount of Omega 6 in the diet due to the reduction of grain based feed added to the diet. In addition to this, when forage makes up the main source of nutrition and a smaller amount of non grain feed is added the overall Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio can come into a more perfect balance due to the higher amount of Omega 3 found in roughage. It is the very high Omega 6 from larger amounts of grain being fed  that messes this ratio up, not the small amount added to the diet by one pound of Stabilized Rice Bran. I was the person who brought Stabilized Rice Bran to the horse industry in 1989. I can state for a fact, that when you take grain out of the diet and put SRB in it's place you will greatly reduce inflammation risk. 

All that said, I feel we have moved the bar where SRB use is concerned, but, SRB remains as good as ever as a straight grain replacement with quality hay. Renew Gold does other things to benefit complete digestive effeciency in addition to simple grain replacement. But, the use of SRB in the formula remains a significant part of why it works.

One last point to make the inflammation issue clear. We use SRB in Renew Gold. We do not recommend a Omega 3 supplement be fed along with it if our feed recommendations are followed. As I stated above, the final Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio for the whole diet will come into proper balance once the grain is removed. It is important to remember, Omega 6 is an essential amino acid that has a place and fuction in the overall health of the horse. Once the ratio is correct for the whole diet, further supression of Omega 6 is not required, and can interupt it's proper essential function. 

Hope this helps

I feed my herd of 4 (only 2 performance horses) a forage based diet and Ill never go back. I do feed stablized rice bran as it is easier or me to find than flax 

Flax has more value when added to a grain based feed because of the high Omega 6 found in grains, and the typical higher feeding rate that grain based feed are fed. When you go to a grain free or very limited grain diet along with good quality hay, supressing Omega 6 with a high Omega 3 inclusion from Flax is not as desirable, and less should be used. In that case, I prefer the additional benefits of Stabilized Rice Bran in the diet. We use both in Renew Gold, but the SRB is higher in the formula. I am not bashing Flax, I use it too. But, we do not use Flax in as high a rate since we recommend that grain be taken out of the diet.

Good to know! Thanks for the advice!