For all of the wonderful nutritional benefits offered by feeding flaxseed to horses, one more reason why horse owners prefer it because of the many different ways that it can be prepared.
You can therefore choose a particular method of preparation based on what is most convenient for you and what would ensure maximum absorption of nutrients.
One of the best forms of preparing flaxseed for horses during winter time is to make a mash out of it.
This winter treat will surely be loved by your equine pets! Mashing ground flaxseed for horses is beneficial because it helps to maximize fiber intake, thus improving digestive ability of the horse.
Meanwhile, it tastes and smells good, which can effectively whet his appetite.
There is a catch though: you need to slow cook the flaxseed for an entire day before you can feed it to your horse.
To learn about the step by step process of creating a flaxseed mash for your horses, you can read below for detailed instructions: 1.
Ideally, you must start preparing the flaxseed for mashing in the morning so you can have the rest of the day to allow it to slowly cook.
You will be using a slow cooker for this one.
You have the option to add barley and oats into the flaxseed.
However, limit it to 1 cup of flaxseed and make sure that when you do add other grain ingredients into the mixture that it would not exceed the daily limit.
Or, you can keep it within 25% of the daily grain ration requirement.
2.
Make sure to add twice as much water to the amount of dry ingredients.
You must keep the pot only half full while you allow it to boil to ensure that it will not boil over.
3.
Set the cooker to "high" and stir well at the start of the cooking process.
This will allow the tiny, ground flaxseed for horses to soften up and release the oil, thus making it a lot easier to digest.
After two hours of cooking, the mash will begin to boil.
At this point, you can switch the heat from "high" to "low" and leave it there for the rest of the day to simmer.
If you want to save time during the cooking process, you can opt to soak the seeds overnight so it will take lesser time to boil and turn into a mash.
4.
You can tell when the mash is ready to be fed to your horse when it has doubled in amount.
The consistency also turns gelatinous and bubbly at this point.
You can try to pop the seeds by slightly squeezing it with your fingers, but make sure that you wait for the mash to cool down before doing so or else you could risk burning yourself in the process.
5.
When you have leftover mash from the ones that you had prepared for that particular day, throw it away.
It would be no good serving mashed flaxseed for horses, or else you could risk your horse developing various forms of digestive disorder.
This is also why you need to limit the amount of mash you prepare based on the horse's meal for that particular day.