Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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Dr. Getty
Hello Erin,
Thank you for your patience during this holiday season.
I couldn't disagree more with the author of this article. First, oats have more than 50% non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) which includes starch and sugar. Insulin resistant or horses with metabolic syndrome should not have any cereal grain and their hay should be tested, so that the total diet does not contain more than 12% NSC.
The next problem is with intact kernels. True, they do not raise blood glucose, and hence insulin, levels as much as rolled or steamed oats would do because they bypass the small intestine enzymes due to the intact hull. But this creates another potentially serious problem... while insulin is not as dramatically affected, the intact grain kernels reach the hindgut. Here, the bacterial population can digest the fibrous hull and ferment the starchy pulp of the kernel, resulting in a large amount of lactic acid production. The resulting hindgut acidosis leads to the destruction of these bacteria and the release of endotoxins.
So, bottom line... both scenarios lead to laminitis. First, elevated insulin due to excess starch digestion in the foregut (small intestine). And second, hindgut acidosos caused by excess starch reaching the hindgut.
Thank you for writing about this very important point.
Happy New Year!
Dr. Getty 
Author of Feed Your Horse Like A Horse
The website below has an article on these whole oats, and offers an explanation as to why whole oats with an intact kernel are good for a horse, even horses that are overweight. But at the top of the article, the person who posted it says not to use whole oats due to insulin resistance, etc. Of course I've always heard to never feed oats, and so I haven't. But after reading this article, I'm not sure about the whole oats.
Can you please tell me which is right? I have access to whole oats, right out of the field, and am not sure if I should feed them to my horses.
http://www.thehorseshoof.com/oats1.html
Thank you!
Where are you from? Bayfield, CO