How Diet Affects your Horse’s Ability to Build Muscle

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Dr Nerida McGilchrist PhD presents a Guest University Lecture

Your horse’s diet has a MASSIVE influence on whether your horse will build muscle or not.

Muscle is made from protein, so it is the protein coming from your horse’s diet that will support muscle development for your horse.

BUT… not all proteins are created equally!

Some proteins contain the right protein building blocks (called amino acids) to support muscle development. Others don’t.

But how do you know which proteins are which? And what is it about a specific protein that makes it good, or not good at supporting muscle development?

Let us show you!

The recording below is FeedXL’s Dr Nerida McGilchrist PhD, presenting a guest lecture to Animal Nutrition Students at the University of New England (UNE).

During this lecture, Nerida explains amino acid nutrition and what the different types of amino acids are… in really simple, easy to understand terms!

Nerida discusses the three things horses need to build muscle:

1. The correct work to encourage a horse’s muscles to grow.
2. Enough of the essential amino acid ‘leucine’ in the diet to ‘switch on’ the muscle building process; and
3. The right essential amino acids, that come from the protein in the diet, to provide the building blocks the horse needs to build muscle.

Then Nerida shows us what happens when you don’t feed the RIGHT kind of protein to your horse (using her kids building blocks and 5 of her students who are great sports!).

If you really want to understand protein nutrition and give yourself the knowledge to choose the right proteins to help your horse build muscle, this short lecture is a must watch!

And if you want more information on which feed ingredients provide the best quality protein, have a read of our popular article ‘Understanding Protein Quality in Horse Feed’.

And to track protein quality in your horse’s diet you can use our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Calculator. You can start your free trial here: https://feedxl.com/plans-pricing/

 




 

 

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Sunbleaching or Sweat?

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I think it must be a combination of both! Poet and I did an unintentional experiment over our Christmas break that seems to show that the sunbleaching that occurs in some horses over summer is a combination of sun and sweat.

Where we live flies can get bad, so my horses have flymasks on during daylight hours. It has been hot (like seriously hot… 40 degrees celcius/100 F plus) so they sweat a fair bit behind their ears where the strap for the masks sit.

Check out the bleaching pattern though on Poet who is liver chestnut and bleaches out in patches every summer… he has bleached severely where he has sweated around the mask strap, BUT under the strap, where it wasn’t exposed to any sunlight, he has maintained his coat color. Funky huh!!

 

Looking at him this morning he is bleached badly around his flanks and on his shoulder where he sweats the most too. So sweat + sun + a certain color and coated horse = bleaching, even when the diet is well and truly adequate for copper and zinc (thanks to FeedXL and pasture analysis I know this).

It’s interesting to note that Popcorn, who has an entirely different coat both in colour, length, thickness and even feel doesn’t bleach anywhere, ever. So specific coats seem to bleach a lot more than others. And our climate obviously contributes significantly too!

 

 

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Portrait of beautiful red horse in summer

Copper & Coat Color

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We often talk about copper deficiency in horses, and specifically its role in coat color. Copper is part of an enzyme called tyrosinase which is essential for the production of melanin. Melanin is what gives the skin, hair and eyes their color.

So it makes sense that copper deficiency would cause a change in coat color! If an animal doesn’t have enough copper, they don’t make enough melanin and if they don’t have enough melanin they can’t color their coat.

Hereford cattle are my ‘copper deficiency canaries’… their coat color fades quite quickly when they become copper deficient. So they show me areas around the country that are low in copper (which is almost everywhere). Where herefords should normally be a rich liver red color, copper deficient herefords become a burnt orange color.

The ones shown in the photo here are on a farm not far from where I live. Having been in drought conditions for well over a year now they are likely deficient in almost everything, but certainly the copper deficiency is showing in their coats!

Copper deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies I see in equine diets. And unfortunately copper deficiency affects many things including hoof and joint health in all horses, increased susceptibility to uterine artery rupture in foaling mares and higher incidence of OCD joint lesions in young horses. Really recommend using FeedXL to check your horse’s copper intake.

 
 

Do you have a question or comment? Do you need help with feeding?

We would love to welcome you to our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group. Ask questions and have them answered by PhD and Masters qualified equine nutritionists and spend time with like-minded horse owners. It’s free!

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Who Wants More Muscle? Part 2

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Yesterday I wrote about the 3 things you need to build muscle; work, to stimulate the muscle to want to grow; leucine, the branch chain amino acid that switches on muscle protein synthesis; and a ready supply of the other amino acids needed to build new muscle.

Which left us with the question of which feed ingredients contain the best source of leucine to help switch on the muscle protein synthesis process. Here are a list of the best ones:

1. Whey protein concentrate. This ingredient contains around 80% crude protein (depending on the brand) and has over 10 grams of leucine per 100 grams. Certainly the richest source of leucine (and all of the other important essential amino acids) you can get. It works, but it is not cheap. If you use whey protein be sure to use it very strategically and feed it to your horse within 15 to 30 minutes of finishing a work session.

2. Soybean. Soybean is well known to be the richest plant source of essential amino acids, including leucine. Soybean meal contains 47% crude protein and will give you 3.5 grams of leucine per 100 grams of meal. Full fat soybean is 36 to 38% crude protein and will give you about 2.7 grams of leucine per 100 gram serve.

3. Brewers Yeast. Brewers yeast is also a handy source of leucine. It contains 50% protein and will give you 3.2 grams of leucine per 100 gram serve. Like whey though, its a relatively expensive option.

Other common feedstuffs and their protein and leucine content are shown in the table below.

There are also of course BCAA supplements available (for humans and horses) that can be used. You should be able to find information on these in FeedXL, in the Blue ‘Supplements’ tab, under ‘Protein & Amino Acid Supplements’.

Happy muscle building!!

 

 

Do you have a question or comment? Do you need help with feeding?

We would love to welcome you to our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group. Ask questions and have them answered by PhD and Masters qualified equine nutritionists and spend time with like-minded horse owners. It’s free!

Click here to join the FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group

 

Who Wants More Muscle? Part 1

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You might need to pay more attention to your branch chain amino acid intake!

Muscle is a beautiful thing, be it on your horse or yourself. It provides strength, power, speed and it looks great. It is also very functional, providing stability and balance and a whole host of really important metabolic functions like the storage and utilization of glucose (which for us humans is very important).

Apparently as a human we build muscle until we are about 30 years old, and then we start to lose it… UNLESS we use it! I am not sure of the statistic for horses with regard to when they might start to lose muscle mass, but we have all watched horses turned out for extended periods of time starting to lose their muscle.

So muscles need work to be maintained or built! BUT, they also need the right building blocks to be able to grow.

Building Blocks of Muscle

Muscle is made from protein. And protein is made from amino acids. So to build muscle, a body needs access to the amino acids it needs to put muscle together. Muscle also needs a signal to start building muscle. In other words muscle protein synthesis needs to be switched on before anything will happen.

Back to the amino acids for a minute… There are 20 amino acids. Ten of them we call non-essential amino acids as our bodies and our horses can make them so we don’t pay these a whole lot of attention in nutrition.

The other 10 we call the essential amino acids and these must be provided in the diet. Within this group of essential amino acids there is a group called the ‘Branch Chain Amino Acids’ or the BCAAs (which include leucine, isoleucine and valine). In human muscle BCAAs make up up to 18% of the amino acids in our muscle protein, making them super important when it comes to building extra muscle mass!

But there is more to this story… research in humans and rodents has found that one of the BCAAS, leucine, has a particularly important role with regards to SWITCHING ON muscle protein synthesis. In fact it appears it is almost singularly responsible for doing this.

There are 3 major things needed in order to build muscle in horses:

1. Work! Muscles won’t grow unless they are given work to do.
2. Leucine. This branch chain amino acid switches on muscle protein synthesis.
3. Plenty of the other amino acids. Between work and leucine, muscles are stimulated to grow. So they then need a ready supply of all the other amino acids they need in order to actually grow.

 

 

Do you have a question or comment? Do you need help with feeding?

We would love to welcome you to our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group. Ask questions and have them answered by PhD and Masters qualified equine nutritionists and spend time with like-minded horse owners. It’s free!

Click here to join the FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group

 

Building Topline

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It doesn’t matter which equine discipline you are involved in, building and maintaining a strong topline on your horse is important. Strong toplines attract judges or buyers and also help ensure the horse’s back remains strong and healthy.

While work and correct muscle conditioning play a huge role in developing and maintaining topline, nutrition plays an equally important role. To build topline you need to provide the right nutrients. Here are some tips on feeding for topline.

5 Tips for Building Topline in your horse


1. Feed enough energy (calories) for the work your horse is doing

Underfeeding means your horse will need to dip into its stored energy reserves to fuel the muscles for work. Horses will quite quickly break down their topline to use it for fuel if they are underfed.

2. Feed high quality protein

To build topline you must provide the building blocks your horse needs to make muscle. Using feeds with protein provided by soybeans, lupins, faba bean or canola meal will give your horse access to good quality sources of protein, which builds muscle. Feeds with one or more of these protein sources are best.

Avoid feeds containing cottonseed meal as the protein source. Cottonseed is a poor source of protein that is deficient in the most important amino acids (amino acids are the building blocks of protein).

Feeding some lucerne hay will also contribute good quality protein to the diet.

3. Use top-up feeds designed to build top-line

There are feeds such as many of those based on rice bran or soybean that are designed to provide extra calories and protein to build topline. You can also use whey protein isolate or soy protein isolates. It is often wise to strategically feed whey protein based products immediately after work for the best timing to allow these products to assist in building muscle.

4. Feed a balanced diet

Once again it really is so important to ensure your horse’s diet is meeting all of its nutrient requirements as any deficiency will stop your horse from reaching its potential and this includes its potential for building topline. Also, minerals like zinc are needed to effectively build muscle; failing to provide these nutrients will inhibit muscle growth, no matter how well the horse is being worked and fed with quality protein.

Again, this is where FeedXL is so useful; knowing that you are feeding a balanced diet that does meet your horse’s nutrient requirements.

5. Avoid or treat back injuries

Use properly fitted saddles at all times and quickly treat any back injuries that may occur. A horse with a sore back will avoid using its back muscles correctly, in turn preventing it from building a strong topline.

Feeding a good diet with quality protein, in conjunction with exercise aimed at strengthening the topline should give you noticeable results in 4 to 8 weeks.

Meet The Author: Dr Nerida McGilchrist


Dr Nerida McGilchrist is FeedXL’s co-founder and equine nutrition specialist. She holds a degree in Rural Science, a doctorate degree in equine nutrition and nearly 20 years of full time, on the ground experience in feeding all types of horses. To learn more about Nerida and to ‘meet’ the rest of the FeedXL team, check out our About Us page here.

 

 

Do you have a question or comment? Do you need help with feeding?

We would love to welcome you to our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group. Ask questions and have them answered by PhD and Masters qualified equine nutritionists and spend time with like-minded horse owners. It’s free!

Click here to join the FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group

 

Feeding for a Brilliant Coat Shine

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There is nothing more pleasing to a horse owner’s eye than a brilliant, shiny coat. And aside from looking great, a shiny coat also usually indicates the horse is healthy inside and out. Question is, how do you make your horse shine? It’s really quite easy if you follow these simple steps.

5 steps to a brilliant coat


1. Feed a balanced diet

Many nutrients including protein, copper, zinc and vitamin A have a direct impact on the health and shine of your horse’s coat. These nutrients, as well as all of the other essential nutrients, must be provided in your horse’s diet at levels that will meet your horse’s requirements.

If you don’t keep your horse healthy on the inside you can’t possibly expect the outside to shine. This is where FeedXL comes in handy, it makes balancing your horse’s diet for good coat shine simple!

2. Add oils to the diet

If your horse’s diet is low in oils, and in particular, low in the essential fatty acids omega 3 and omega 6 it may mean your horse’s coat will be dull. Adding 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup of oil to the diet will help bring shine to the coat.

Various ways you can add oils to the diet include:

  1. Add oilseeds such as sunflower seeds, micronised or extruded full fat soybean, or flax/linseed to the diet.
  2. Add liquid oils to the diet. Almost all oils will have a positive impact on coat shine. Cold pressed flax/linseed oil, canola or soybean oil or any oils that have been fortified with omega fatty acids are particularly effective. Despite low omega fatty acid levels, rice bran oil and coconut oil are also good for coats.
  3. If you use a complete feed, choose one that contains ingredients like full fat soybean, sunflower seeds and cold pressed oils.

If you are feeding grains (which are high in omega 6) in your horse’s ration you should try to use an oil that is low in omega 6 and high in omega 3. For a full list of feed ingredients and their omega 3 and 6 levels, please read our post on Omega 3 for Horses.

3. Feed feeds known to darken coats

It is well known that feeds containing molasses will make a palomino’s coat go ‘smutty’ or dark in colour, while it will bring a deep liver colour out in chestnuts that have the genetics to go that colour. So if you are after a darker coat, try feeding a small amount of molasses (no more than ¼ cup/day for a 500 kg/1100 lb horse). NB Don’t feed molasses to horses who need a diet low in starch and sugars.

Alfalfa/lucerne is also known to darken coats so if you need a darker coat you can try adding some to your horse’s ration.

The minerals copper and zinc are also essential for correct coat color. Making sure your horse’s diet is meeting requirements for these minerals will make sure coat color remains true. If you want a really dark coat you could try supplementing with sensible amounts of additional copper and zinc to see if it helps?

4. Stay on top of worms

Nothing will take the shine off a horse’s coat faster than a heavy worm burden, so be sure to practice good management when it comes to controlling worms. Rotate your pastures, pick up manure where possible, especially if you live in a wet climate, use fecal eggs counts to determine worm burdens and worm when required. Work closely with your veterinarian on this!

5. Brush!

Brushing regularly will remove dead hair from your horse’s coat and will stimulate the horse’s sebaceous glands which release oils that cause the hair to lie flat and shine. A light rug will also have the same effect, so if you don’t have time to brush regularly you may need to throw a light rug on to keep your horse’s coat clean and shiny.

It nearly all comes down to a good diet

I can’t stress enough how important step 1 is. Balance the diet and make sure all of your horse’s nutrient requirements are met. If you build on this foundation, adding the extra touches for an amazing coat shine is simple.

Meet The Author: Dr Nerida McGilchrist


Dr Nerida McGilchrist is FeedXL’s co-founder and equine nutrition specialist. She holds a degree in Rural Science, a doctorate degree in equine nutrition and nearly 20 years of full time, on the ground experience in feeding all types of horses. To learn more about Nerida and to ‘meet’ the rest of the FeedXL team, check out our About Us page here.

 

 

Do you have a question or comment? Do you need help with feeding?

We would love to welcome you to our FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group. Ask questions and have them answered by PhD and Masters qualified equine nutritionists and spend time with like-minded horse owners. It’s free!

Click here to join the FeedXL Horse Nutrition Facebook Group

 

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