Nutrition-do you supplement your dressage horse with amino acids/"topline builders"?

[North_Dakota]

the active ingredient in myoplast is blue green algae which also goes by spirulina.

Preface by saying all three of these horses have hay all the time.
The 3rd level dressage horse (starting to school 4th), has a tendency to get very… pudgy… and has a small hole nibble net. If it was up to him he would eat enough that he wouldn’t be able to fit through a door. So for grain he doesn’t get much, but gets a vitamin/mineral supplement. His topline improved a lot and he started really packing on muscle, without adding extra calories.

Horse 2 is an older TB who started on it while he was out of work temporarily due to a nasty abscess because his topline was disappearing fast and he was starting to look old. That was a year ago, his muscling all over bounced back fast, and has actually been maintained even though he’s temporarily out of work again (lack of time). This horse is a slow picky eater, so getting him to consume enough of anything is a battle on any given day.

Horse 3 is a combination of 1 and 2. TB, but young, who gets fat easily. He was an experiment horse, since we weren’t sure we’d go 3/3 with supplement success. It’s helped him fill out a lot, especially for him with muscle on his hindquarters.

Whether it’s related to the myoplast or not (but we don’t change much if things are working), I think the 2 TBs feet are standing up to winter better than previously. Both have shoes in front, but are barefoot behind. Despite our wacky, thaw/freeze/rain/ice/thaw repeat weather we’ve been having in Ontario, neither of their back feet have chipped.

[Pippigirl]

[QUOTE=alibi_18;9024538]
I get it from the vet. 80$ per container.[/QUOTE]

How long does a container last you?

[BWP]

[QUOTE=J-Lu;9024509]
Interestingly, I can’t seem to find what is in Equitop Myoplast except for “18 amino acids”. I wonder if it is similar to the typical higher-end AA supplements that you can find in the U.S. (except for the marketing - slick marketing). Hmmm…[/QUOTE]

Sugar coated spirulina.

It was fairly popular here when it launched and was being heavily promoted through many vet practices. I know a lot of people who swapped over to much cheaper unbranded spirulina instead.

[purplnurpl]

I feed tri amino.
And i swear by it.
But I also don’t feed a ton of bulk. Just a diet balancer.

[EventerAJ]

I feed a 16% protein pellet meant for broodmares and foals. My hardworking TBs do really well on it, fed between 3 to 8 pounds per day depending on their needs. I used to feed TC complete, or TC training (textured feeds, beet-pulp based, with 10-12% protein) and the same horses needed 5-12 pounds per day to maintain the same condition. Toplines look better on the 16% pellet, and I like feeding less grain (better for ulcery tummies).

I’m a big believer in feeding plenty of quality protein, instead of adding fat/calories to a horse’s diet. I feed excellent orchardgrass hay, or orchard/alfalfa mix to those who need a bit more. A higher protein hay, fed at 15-20lbs per day can allow you to reduce the amount of grain needed to meet the horse’s caloric and protein needs.

[gypsymare]

[QUOTE=J-Lu;9023570]
Thanks, Gypsymare. I’m a PhD physiologist and this makes more sense. I think that most dressage horses (IME, at least) have good nutrition. Most are fed good feeds and often to manufacturer instruction, plus decent hay. Occasionally, some have good turnout. Most dressage horses I know are not particularly lacking…unless dressage work creates some kind of deficiency (not talking about GP levels). That said, I know quite a few AQHA people whose horses are fed a spectacular diet and are still fed protein supplements.

I don’t think people feed these supplements to correct diets. IME, people who can afford these are also feeding quality hay and feed. It seems like these supplements are fed “on top of” a good diet.[/QUOTE]

I find many folks, including the two dressage barns I’ve boarded at, tend to cling to old methods of feeding with some kind of nostalgic pride. At one farm, a PSG Oldenburg was fed a COB mix. But holy cow the hay quality there was off the charts. He got plenty of it including gorgeous orchard grass and alfalfa fed separately. He looked phenomenal. Obviously didn’t need any other supplements.

Another dressage barn was feeding a bulk whole grain mix. The owner had left for Florida so only the young and old were left plus boarders. The hay was total junk. I was lied to about what my horse was being fed and my friend and I pulled our horses out of there before their condition could deteriorate further. Every rib was visible and I got left a nice passive aggressive note about beet pulp for weight gain by the assistant BM.

How many times does this board answer questions from folks who are feeding way less than the recommended amount of feed or think Strategy is a quality feed? All. The. Time.

Protein requirements are hugely variable. Degree and type of work, body type, personality. These supplements don’t have to be expensive or provided by some hard to process algae. I use Triple Crown 30%. At the recommended feeding rates for my big TBs it provides more AAs than TriAminos, more magnesium than Smart Calm Ultra, and as much biotin as many leading hoof supplements among a few dozen other vitamins and minerals. All for about $1/day.

[Lord_Helpus]

Alibi_18, I have my first tin of Equitop Myoplast on its way from England. I had not read your post (or did not internalize it) when I did my research and decided that this product seemed to be the best.

I am glad you like it. I cannot wait to start using it. Did you notice a visible change in the topline or hips? What other benefits have you noticed?

I ordered from England because the price I found in the US (c. $242) was almost 4x of the price in England (c. $81). It is also OTC in England, so I just emailed them and ordered it.

Now I am really excited!! (only horse people can understand how exciting a new muscle supplement can be).

[Manni01]

[QUOTE=J-Lu;9019775]
Gypsymare,

I have no idea what you’re saying! Can you explain it to me in sciencey-terms??

Manni01, I’m not talking about amino acids and proteins that come in vitamin/mineral supplements (such as Platinum Performance and various feeds). I’m talking about feeding supplements that are specifically “designed to build the topline”, such as TopLine Xtreme or SmartMuscle Mass, or other products specifically designed and marketed as “Muscle builders”. I know some people in the QH world who use these but I didn’t realize that dressage people used them, too (according to my local feed store).

Joidevie99, I always wondered if they “actually” worked. Cowgirl, that’s interesting. I can see how a GP-level horse doing GP-level work would benefit from aa supplements. Thanks for this information.

I wonder about chronic high protein in an herbivore’s diet. Or, at least, I think about it. I’m not planning to use these “muscle-building supplements”, but I was curious if anyone here used them and why.[/QUOTE]

Ok I have been thinking about this for some time and I think I am feeding these amino acids you are talking about. I was wondering why there is such a huge difference in price between the grass pellets and the sport horse pellets, and now I know why. Also my show horse looks truely amazing… My trainer thinks its my riding, but I am not so sure about it… I think by now that it is the amino acids… I am very thankful for this thread because it kind of opened my eyes about what I am feeding…

[Kolsch]

I feed California Trace Plus which has added aminos. My hay is excellent quality and tests at 13% protein, I feed the aminos to make sure they’re able to utilize it.

[Samantha37]

After talking to a performance vet, I have started my horse on this:

http://store.nancoecipn.com/top-lineadvancedsupport.aspx

And have increased his Tribute Essential K (ration balancer that I use on top of their Kalm Ultra grain) to a pound twice a day. This is for a 2nd/3rd level horse who is a hard to keep OTTB. We are currently working students (me and my horse ) for my trainer so I will also have the incredible benefit of instruction 6 days per week. I have taken photos to start and will take another set at 30 days and then at 60. The vet said to use this to get him where I want him and then take him off the supplement and just maintain with training and enough Essential K in his diet.

MTA: We tried to give him alfalfa in addition to his grass hay to help with protein and weight but he became like a junkie for it and refused to eat anything else but alfalfa so we had to take him off of it.

[poltroon]

blue green algae can be very toxic, so I would be really careful to only feed it from a supplier who is rigorously testing it.