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| Cheval is Flax Free! |
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| Here is some MORE FLAX
information: |
Flax is definitely the cheapest
shine. But you get what you pay for!!!! And flax
is by far the most dangerous way to shine a horse!
The back cover story of the August 2005 Centaur
just had a great article by Gretchen Topel, equine
nutritionist, explaining Flaxseed's relationship
to thyroid damage, potential toxicity, and lethargy
in horses.
Many people have become our customers after suspecting
other's flax products caused thyroid problems
(which result in poor performance) and cushings!
Our own studies convinced us to go flax free some
time ago and all flax users with thyroid problems
who switch to Black-as-Knight
(ground extruded whole soybean based) so far have
seen their thyroid problems go away! To keep our
customer's horses safe we decided to leave flax
for the paint, laxative, and preservative industries!!!!
Dr. Rick Weiland, quite possibly the world's leading
expert on Omega3 and Omega6 and the PROPER relationship/proportion
between the two, has published extensively on
Omega acids. His research is considered the top
medical research in the field and I've had the
honour of discussing his writings/findings with
him in person. He told me that ground extruded
whole soybean (the basis for our shine) is in
the most perfect source of the proper balance
of Omegas for horses. Any of his books or newspaper
columns might be interesting reading for you.
http://horsecare.stablemade.com/articles2/flax.htm
has an interesting article where they say they
would not feed on a daily basis, but once a week
as part of the weekly bran. It notes, what is
common knowledge, that some flaxseeds can be toxic
to horses.
Hundreds of articles on that subject:
http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com/articles/horse-nutrition-questions.shtml
and http://horse.purinamills.com/bulletins/info_Plants.htm
note that wild blue fox is considered deadly to
horses and have some good information.
http://www.esc.rutgers.edu/publications/factsheets_nutrition/FS062.htm
has a really cute article on "odd things
horses eat" you might enjoy. What I like
about the stablemade site is - IF YOU ARE GOING
TO FEED FLAX, it gives directions on how to soak
it to make it safer and more effective; so I wish
anyone who was going to feed flax would follow
these good instructions on preparation in order
to render safer (eliminate toxins) and more effective
(not just expensive manure!).
After milled, flax often becomes rancid in about
2 weeks and can cause colic. If not milled, it
is not processed and just becomes expensive urine/manure,
so flax fans should at least follow the soaking
and boiling instructions on the above site.
Flax also contains entirely wrong phosphorous/calcium
ratio for horses. In Warmbloods an improper calcium/phosphorous
ratio can bring about devastating Epiphysitis and O.C.D. See Merck's Veterinary
Manual (the top veterinarian reference)
for more information on this.
Now, we aren't saying that flax doesn't have some
well known benefits - like we said it is the cheapest
shine on earth. We're just saying, if there is
the tiniest risk to the single health of a single
horse on this planet, Cheval won't do
it! There are better ways to shine. There
are better ways to get the multitudes of benefits
of Omega fatty acids (ground extruded whole soybeans,
fish, etc.). They are just a little more expensive!
But when Cheval did the risk benefit analysis
in our Company of feeding flax:
Benefit:
shiny coat, rich in Omegas, cheap
Risk
(even if only occasional): thyroid problems,
death, epithasitis, OCD, cushings, lethargy, colic,
etc.
Cheval decided flaxseed failed the risk benefit
analysis for horses!
Interesting, we like flax on our tests for humans
and dogs. Yet we will do YEARS more testing before
we draw any conclusions on that subject. Our YEARS
of research, along with thousands of others lead
Cheval to conclude we will not use it in any horse
product. It is simply our opinion that it is not
the best thing to feed daily to horses! |
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“I
hope this helps get you started in your own research,
so you can do what is right for your own horses.” |
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