Equinety Amino Acids And Your Horse Supplements
What horse supplements are you giving your horse? Does your horse need any horse supplements? Have you considered adding Amino Acids, which are the building blocks of protein? Particular amino acids are really important to horses and are sometimes a little low in commercial horse feed.
Technically speaking, when you are feeding a performance horse (or any horse) you don’t really need a set feed percentage of protein itself. What you might consider is the right amino acids present in your horse supplements, some in minimum amounts. This allows the horse to produce proteins in his own body so that he can be a top performer.
What we do know about performance horses, in particular, is that they are often under stress. If you have horses that show, race, travel a lot, are ridden over distance or are otherwise like equine athletes, these things are good for horses but also stressful.
Horses love to have a job and they love to perform. When they do, muscle tissue breaks down and then it rebuilds during rest. Protein is essential to muscle building and the rights amounts of amino acids change a low-quality protein into a high-quality protein.
I was such a dedicated rider as a young person that I would push my horses and myself! I remember one fun day with a young Percheron horse. The horse was only 3 years old, barely green broke, and he already weighed in excess of 1500 lbs. He was sometimes reluctant to break from a trot into a canter so I was always looking for ways to get him going.
One day our barn was hosting a fund-raiser and there were events like pole bending, barrel racing, and trail obstacles. My Perch wasn’t agile enough for these activities at the time and he wasn’t a typical breed for these. I thought it would be fun to excite him by doing it anyway. I quickly entered him as the last competitor in the barrel race.
The small audience cheered and it worked! He began to do a kind of prancing trot as we slowly made our way around the 3 barrels in a traditional cloverleaf pattern. We knocked over all three barrels and the audience laughed, but my horse and I were having fun. Most horses hit a hard gallop after the last barrel and make the race for the finish line to get a good time.
I urged my horse into his fastest trot and tried for a canter. He trotted faster and faster and then barely glided into a bumpy lope and then he just gave a little buck as we went over the finish line. He was feeling his “oats” even though we had the slowest time of the day! I had learned to really check my feeds and add horse supplements, like Equinety, for all my horses.
30 Days on Equinety Horse Supplements
What are the benefits of amino acids in Equinety horse supplements that will help your horse from a cellular level?
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L-Lysine
Lysine supports muscles, connective tissues, the nervous system and the immune system. It is required for growth but is not naturally produced in the body.
Benefits of L-Lysine:
- Promoting normal growth and development by increasing collagen formation
- Supporting the production of other proteins like enzymes, antibodies and hormones
- Promoting bone health by increasing calcium absorption and preventing weak bones
- Helping convert fatty acids to energy and therefore reducing your horse’s unnecessary fat
- Improving your horse’s coat via increased collagen formation
- Helping to build muscle when taken with other amino acids like arginine
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L-Arginine
Arginine, also known as L-arginine, is involved in a number of different functions in a horse’s body.
Benefits of L-Arginine
- Wound healing
- Helping the kidneys remove waste products from the body
- Maintaining immune and hormone function
- As a natural dietary supplement, arginine has garnered particular attention for its possible heart benefits.
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L-Ornithine
Ornithine is an amino acid produced in the urea cycle by the splitting off of urea from Arginine. Arginine is a precursor to nitric oxide, which dilates the blood vessels and gives your horse an additional boost when it requires extra blood in its tissues. Additional benefits include:
- Helping your horse’s muscle cells produce creatine, a compound that muscles need in order to contract.
- Promoting physical strength and endurance.
- Lessening exercise induced fatigue.
- Promoting more efficient energy usage by cells.
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Glycine
Glycine is one of the amino acids necessary for the biosynthesis of creatine. Creatine provides muscles with a direct energy source and helps to build muscle tissue and strength. Glycine is an amino acid that will increase the muscle mass and overall performance of your horse. It also prevents muscle degeneration and decreases muscle repair time.
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Leucine
Leucine is an essential amino acid. It must be obtained through the diet in adequate quantities to meet your horse’s needs. L-leucine is obtained by the hydrolysis of protein by pancreatic enzymes during digestion and necessary for optimal growth especially in foals and for the maintenance of nitrogen balance in full-grown horses. Some of the benefits are:
- It is a building block of protein, and the key essential amino acid of muscle metabolism.
- It plays a unique regulatory role in muscle metabolism.
- Controls glycemic regulations.
- Participates in energy production in cell mitochondria (power production organs within the cell) for muscular contraction.
- Is a key factor leading to the stimulation of cellular processes for protein synthesis in muscle.
- During times of starvation, infection, or recovery from trauma and surgery, the body mobilizes leucine as a source for gluconeogenesis to aid in the healing process.
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Isoleucine
Isoleucine is an amino acid that is best known for its ability to increase endurance and help heal and repair muscle tissue and encourage clotting at the site of injury. Other benefits include:
- Primary function is to boost energy and help your horse’s body recover from strenuous activity.
- Promote muscle recovery after exercise.
- Keeps energy levels stable by helping to regulate blood sugar.
- It is an essential acid that horses cannot manufacture in the body and must be obtained through dietary sources.
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Valine
Valine is an essential amino acid that is crucial for maintaining proper cell and organ functioning. It is particularly important for liver function, as well as balancing nitrogen levels in the your horse’s body. Other benefits include:
- Valuable for cognitive, immune and nervous system functioning.
- Promotes muscle growth and repair.
- Maintains blood sugar levels.
- Improves cognitive functioning.
- Helps decrease stress and sleeplessness.
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Glutamine
Glutamine plays key roles in protein metabolism, increasing cell volume and anti-catabolism. It also helps metabolize body fat and support new muscle growth.
- Glutamine has been linked to protein synthesis. It prevents muscle from being catabolized (diminished) in order to provide glutamine to other cells in the horse’s body.
- Glutamine helps maintain cell volume and hydration
- Glutamine boosts the immune system. For physically active horses, this is important since heavy workouts tend to greatly deplete Glutamine levels.
- Glutamine is a primary energy source for the immune system.
Conclusion:
Most horses will need to receive an amino acid horse supplements to make sure they are receiving proper levels of all of these essentials. Even average horses will often be slightly deficient in nutrients if they are only on pasture, so a performance horse that is constantly healing and building more muscle just must have an excellent source of the building blocks available every single day! Here's to Equinety horse supplements!
