
Crimped oats are cut which violates the double hull of the oat which leads to desiccation of the germ, bran and the 7 different fatty acid or oils. This is why crimped oats are a lot lighter in weight than whole oats.
Rolled oats have been crushed so it stands to reason this form of processing will quickly lead to desiccation of the internal structure of the oats just like the crimped oats.
If one reads the feed tag or the Guaranteed Analysis, it would appear as if there is very little difference in the nutritional contents of these three different forms of oats. The reason of this is quite simple. If one tests the nutritional content of the crimped oats and rolled oats just after the processing is done, it would stand to reason to expect the processed oats to be similar to the unprocessed whole oats.
Whole oats and processed oats be it crimped or rolled are bagged, shipped and stored at the warehouse, moved by truck or train to the different states, then to more local distribution warehouses and eventually to your local feed store where they remain until you buy them and feed to your horse. As you can imagine, a great deal of time will have passed. By then….who knows what level of desiccation has occurred to the processed oats?
There is a reason why crimped and rolled oats many times will be infused with a mold inhibitor….the processed oats have been violated and the portal of entry for mold and such has been created with the processing.
First I will address Natural flavoring because it is the easiest. Natural flavoring is the flavor that exists in the item naturally. For instance, flax has a taste, carrots and whole oats have a natural flavoring which will of course distinguish it as, in this case flax.
Artificial flavoring is that which is added in most cases to mask an unpleasant natural taste or smell. For instance, methionine, an amino acid, a common ingredient in horse supplements, is a very unpleasant smelling and tasting amino acid but methionine is a very necessary amino acid for your horse. Copper and zinc are not nice tasting minerals but most would not know that in so far as humans will take these valuable minerals in tablet form and swallow with water so you never know or experience the unpleasant taste of these two minerals.
Giving your horse tablets is a difficult thing but your horse has a very sensitive and educated smell and taste as a survival mechanism so….sometimes it helps to mask the nasty stuff with something which is more pleasant.
So, what exactly do we use as the molasses flavoring in Equine Challenge™? The “molasses flavor” comes from a proprietary blend of vanilla notes, botanical extracts and some aroma chemicals (all chemicals are EU approved as they are naturally found in different extracts, plants, etc). Equine Challenge™ can be the best horse supplement in the Unites States but if your horse will not eat it, what would be the point? And as we all know, the vast majority of horses love Equine Challenge™ and suck it up like vacuum cleaners!
What exactly is “yeast culture?” Yeast Culture is an ingredient produced by fermenting selected liquid and cereal grain raw ingredients with bakers yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and drying the entire culture-media without destroying the yeast factors, B-vitamins and other fermentation products. It is used in a wide variety of animal feeds including dairy, swine, beef, horse, poultry, aquaculture and pet foods.
In manufacturing yeast culture, the following ingredients are used: Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and the media on which it was grown can consist of ground yellow corn, hominy feed, corn gluten feed, etc…
It would be the corn that would not be GMO free.
The live yeast and yeast culture used in the manufacturing of Equine Challenge’s™ Yeast+ product are both Made in the USA!
Though there may be a few companies that state their Equine Supplements are GMO free, one must be very careful in making that claim given it can be difficult to know exactly where the source of a vitamin or mineral comes from. If that source is not GMO free, the product is not GMO free.