The Key Ingredients to Topline
Every horse owner wants their horses to look and feel their best, and a lot of time is spent figuring out the
best way to do so.
One key indicator of overall health is a
horse’s topline, or the muscles that run
along the spine consisting of the withers
and back, the loin and the croup. In
fact, a 2016 survey of veterinarians from
the American Association of Equine
Practitioners found that seven out of 10
veterinarians believe a healthy topline
is key to a horse’s well-being. Of those
same veterinarians, 62% believe a
healthy topline is key to fewer injuries.
So, what exactly goes into promoting
a healthy topline? While factors such
as genetics and exercise make an
impact, proper nutrition plays the most
critical role.
By following key nutritional recommendations, horse
owners can help keep their horses healthy and performing
at their best.
AMINO ACIDS: KEY TOPLINE CONTRIBUTOR
For topline health, amino acids are the name of the
game. Muscles are made of protein, and protein is
made of these crucial amino acid building blocks. Ensuring
the right input of amino acids through proper nutrition
will go a long way to grow larger muscle and impact
overall body composition.
Of the 22 natural amino acids known today, there are 10
that are essential for a horse’s daily diet: lysine, methionine,
threonine, tryptophan, valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine,
histidine and arginine. These key amino acids are
needed in specific amounts and ratios in order to properly
maintain the structure of the horse’s body.
While it’s a common practice, simply comparing the
amount of crude protein on feed tags won’t tell horse
owners the whole story, since crude protein doesn’t note
specific amounts and ratios of amino acids. Choosing a
high-quality feed that shows information on amino acid
inclusion is a good first step.
THE RIGHT FEED FOR THE JOB
Horse owners looking to improve topline should feed a
product, according to tag directions, that guarantees
amino acids in the right amounts. One option is Nutrena®
SafeChoice® horse feed.
Health
SafeChoice feeds leverage
Cargill’s and Nutrena’s leading
EQUINE Topline Balance® research
and offer formulations that
help horse owners build and
support topline muscling
on their horses. Following a
60 www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com recent launch of three new feeds from
SafeChoice, horse owners now have
expanded access to Topline Balance
formulations through every feed in the
Nutrena SafeChoice family.
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In university testing, amino acid-fortified
feeds such as SafeChoice have
been found to promote greater muscle
development along the posterior topline
in mature horses. In another study, feeding
SafeChoice led to similar results –
researchers found a 15% change in the
loin muscle area for horses fed a fortified
diet versus only a 6% change in horses
fed a non-fortified diet.
An amino acid-fortified diet can also improve the horse’s
Topline Evaluation Score and strengthen its longissimus dorsi
area, increasing fat thickness in under two months. This muscle
development can mean greater performance, fewer injuries
and improved well-being for horses.
BETTER TOPLINE WITH SAFECHOICE
There’s an ongoing need for products that promote topline
health. With Nutrena’s SafeChoice horse feed, horse owners
can build topline muscling on their horses through the feed
they put in the bucket.
All SafeChoice feeds now have even more amino acids to
ensure great appearance, strong recovery from performance
and sound growth and development. Every SafeChoice feed
provides and guarantees three critical amino acids – lysine,
methionine and threonine – in levels and ratios designed to impact
the entire muscle structure of the horse, from the topline
down. SafeChoice feeds also deliver tried-and-true controlled
starch formulas, so horse owners know exactly what’s in every
bag they feed their horse.
CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO TOPLINE
Topline health remains a priority for Cargill. Cargill leads the
market in topline expertise and continues to provide horse
owners with both tools to evaluate their horse’s topline health
and products to improve topline health.
Cargill’s continued commitment to topline health in horses is
demonstrated through updated amino acid formulations in
SafeChoice feed. Horse owners can trust SafeChoice feeds
to deliver controlled starch formulas and its industry-leading
Topline Balance amino acid profile to deliver winning muscle
and topline results.
For more information
about topline health and
access to a free topline
evaluation tool, visit
ToplineBalance.com.
/www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
/ToplineBalance.com