Pre-course Knowledge Base
Muscle Support For the Active Horse
The Nutritional Requirements of a Horse Building Muscle
Horses are incredible athletes. Unfortunately they are not immune to muscle problems. Nutrition provides powerful support keeping muscles well developed, efficient and strong, and it is completely within your control. Efficient and strong muscular function allows smooth movement, athletic balance, speed and endurance.
Muscle issue effect the entire body and can be missed as a performance problem. Some signs to look for include:
* A lack of enthusiasm to work
* Excess sweating of the exercise workload or temperature.
* Muscle groups that are poorly defined or not building appropriately in response to exercise/training.
* Muscle twitching or pain on palpation.
* Texture of muscle unusually firm (triceps and quadriceps)
* Seems lame or sore all over.
Bloods may show muscle enzymes CK and AST at upper normal or above normal levels. This has been commonly seen during the conditioning stage and should return to normal as the horse becomes fit.
Muscle building and maintenance require a range of vitamins and minerals. Deficiencies can influence the muscle function negatively.
Vitamin E and Selenium are both very common deficiencies and have a critical role in muscle support. Energy generation to build muscle creates a heavy load of free radicals, making their antioxidant protection crucial.
Key nutrients for muscle support include:
1) Crude protein - Research suggests that the protein requirement of very active horses may be as high as 2g/kg bodyweight or 1000 grams/day for a 500kg horse. If your diet includes high quality forage or mixed forage/grain then there is good chance your horse is receiving that much. If not, consider making up the difference with a high quality protein source such as whey, soybean or linseed. With soybean and linseed you want defatted meal, for whey you need a protein isolate.
2) Salt - Optimal hydration is impossible without adequate salt. Horses need 30 - 85gms per day. Water is essential for biochemical precesses in the muscle cell, glycogen storage and delivery of nutrients to the cells and also for efficient cooling.
3) Vitamin E and Selenium - Both of these nutrients play central roles in arming the muscle cells with effective antioxidant defences. Vitamin E and Selenium combined work to powerfully support a healthy immune system whilst protecting cells and tissues to neutralise the damaging effects of excessive oxidative stress and free radicals. Production of energy is the major source of free radicals in the body and levels will jump with exercise. Minimum recommendation of 1000-2000IU for vitamin E and 1mg of selenium for a 500kg horse.
If your horse is having muscular issues, blood test to ascertain if these two nutrients are deficient.
4) Magnesium - Suboptimal magnesium intake may appear as fine muscular twitching, muscle cramping, irritability and even gait disturbances. Dosage is ideally determined after hay and diet analysis. If hay and diet analysis is not possible, 5 -10 grams may be tried short term to see if there is any improvement.
5) L-carnitine - is a carrier molecule that is needed to get fats inside the mitochondria so they can be burned. It's acetylated form, acetyl-L-carnitine, has a key role in regulation of energy generation. Supplementing with L-carnitine enhances muscle response to training and will increase aerobic energy generation which is documented by lower levels of lactate.
6) L-Leucine - Skeletal muscle has high levels of branched chain amino acids, in particular, leucine. Leucine has four important functions. It is a structural amino acid, used to build bulk. Leucine can be burned directly as an energy source, reducing the demand on stored glycogen and blood glucose. Beta-hydroxy-betamethylbutyrate (HMB) is a metabolite of leucine and is a potent regulator of muscle hypertrophy. The amino group of leucine is transferred to pyruvate to form alanine. Alanine travel to the liver and that is where it is converted to glucose. Leucine is most effective administered in small quantities of corn syrup as a carrier, immediately before and/or immediately after exercise. The dosage is 10 grams.
7) L-glutamine - is an amino acid that can support and drive the synthesis of glutathione. Glutathione is the most important antioxidant molecule in muscle cells. Muscles that are sore or tight may benefit from L-glutamine at a dose of 15 grams per day. (Note: Selenium also needed for glutathione function)
It may take some tweaking to find the right support modalities for your horse but muscle issues plaguing your horses performance can quite often be resolved with a nutritionally balanced diet.
If you would like a professional diet analysis by a qualified equine nutritionist then contact Michaela or Donna Smith at Elite Equine Nutrition. https://www.eliteequinenutrition.com.au
How Fit Is Your Horse?
Do You Know How to Measure Your Horse's Fitness?
The first thing you should know in relation to measuring your horses fitness is their resting heart rate.
You can find a pulse under their jaw but it's far easier to buy a stethoscope or a heart rate monitor for a more accurate reading.
In order to take your horses resting heart rate, make sure you read it in a very calm environment. Usually best in their paddock or stable where they are fully relaxed with no distractions. Count how many heart beats your horse has in 15 seconds and multiply that by four. Then you know your horses heart rate per minute.
An adult horse can have a resting heart rate from between 30 to 50 beats a minute. This will vary due to breed, age and sometimes climate. This is why it's very important to know your own horses individual resting heart rate while trying to build their strength and fitness.
There are various equine heart rate monitors available ranging in price from a few hundred to over one thousand AUD. Here are a few that are suitable for the every day horse owner.
nabd Equine Heart Rate Monitor
(Hand held device)
Lite - $275 US
Pro - $375 US (has a screen)
Polar Equine HR Monitors
(Worn on the horse while you train)
$329 AUD
KER Clockit
(Worn on the horse while you train)
$204.95 AUD
There's a range of different heart rate monitors on the market and a quick internet search will bring up your options. Most of them send information to an app or a watch. Some go to a cloud storage.
Once You Know Your Horses Resting Heart Rate
When you start working your horse, read what their heart rate is when in work. Document what their heart rate is at an intense level of exercise and how long it takes for their heart rate to return to a resting rate when you give them a walk break.
If they take longer than 7 minutes to return to a resting heart rate then you have pushed them a bit too hard. Drop the intensity of the training back until you are achieving this recovery period. Once they consistently achieve that recovery period for the intensity of training they're doing, then you can increase the intensity a bit further. Stay at that level of intensity until they recover in the 7 minutes again.
For a horse who is fit enough for the work that is being requested of them, their heart rate will stay between 100 and 168 beats per minute. For a horse building up to the stress of the level of activity they are being trained for their heart rate will range between 168 to 180 beats per minute. If you have kept them in the higher range for too long, it will take them an excessive period of time to recover. Do not push them too hard too soon or you will cause them an injury.
When training your horse to be more fit and strong, you will get better results if you increase the intensity of your horses training program slowly. Progressing the level of intensity in each training sessions slowly helps to condition the horses body more safely with less likelihood of injury.
Before & Aftercare
Before Care
I'm a huge fan of Equissage and find it an essential part of my horses pre-ride routine. The cycloidal vibration helps to flush out any lactic acid hanging around from the previous day and can help to reduce muscle soreness. I often use Equissage as a part of my after care routine too, especially if my horse has had a high intensity training sessions.
There are many other pre-work devices to use that vary in price. All are aimed at improving the horses circulation and warming their muscles up before load baring exercise. I have found all products on the market to be effective to some level so it is the riders personal choice and budget as to what they use.
If you don't have an Equissage or similar, make sure you give your horse a really good brush. After removing any dirt or mud, use a rubber curry comb over all their large muscle area's for ten minutes to stimulate circulation and help relieve any soreness.
Your warm up is important. Riders are by nature in a hurry to trot and canter. You must avoid this urge and walk your horse for at least five minutes at a minimum before trotting. Studies have shown it takes a horse between five and twenty minutes to prepare the muscles and joints adequately for load baring exercise. Try not to jam your horse into a working frame straight away either. Train them to expect a long and low frame as soon as you get on and you will find your horses will be more relaxed at the start of each ride. They are creatures of habit.
Once your horse is adequately warmed up you can dismount briefly to stretch their legs or execute some carrot stretches. It's important you stretch your horse AFTER they are warmed up as trying to stretch cold limbs out can cause an injury.
AFTER CARE
As mentioned above I will often use the Equissage for after care on a high intensity training day. It helps prevent excessive muscle soreness for the next day.
You can also stretch your horse out once you have dismounted and loosened their girth.
If you have been training high intensity sessions such as poles, hills, jumping or interval training then icing your horses legs after their training is a good idea. Icing helps to reduce and prevent swelling to the horses leg joints. After a training session that has increased the level of concussion on the horses load baring mechanisms the joints can puff up a little in an exaggerated attempt to alleviate the stress and jarring caused by such work. By icing the horses legs directly after intense exercise you reduce the wear and tear on their joints. Think of a pro footy player having an ice bath after a big game. It's the same principle.
When icing your horses legs put a timer on and leave the ice on for no longer than ten minutes at a time. For extreme training sessions such as interval training you can ice for ten minutes, take the ice off for ten minutes, then replace it for ten minutes up to four times over. The studies on length of time to ice have changed over the years but this is a method of time I have personally used successfully to keep my horses sound.
The mud poultices available on the market are more for extracting and preventing bruising to the horses exterior. While some brands claim to help with joint pain they are mostly used to alleviate muscle soreness, or bruising on the limbs from knocking a jump or similar. Remember these poultices are only effective while moist. As soon as they dry out they can have a heating effect which you want to avoid. Read the application instructions properly before applying.
Equissage - Cycloidal Vibration Therapy
Equissage has been around since the 1940's and is an important piece of equipment in many elite level riders kit.
I have been using Equissage for 20 years and found it so beneficial for not only helping to soften and warm soft tissue up on the horse prior to exercise but also as an effective aftercare tool aiding in the prevention of lactic acid build up.
I have also used Equissage successfully for horses who were suffering impaction colic or had a deep, stubborn hoof abscess that needed some help to burst. Its brilliant for getting rid of toxins in the body by simply improving circulation.
If you would like a free treatment and demonstration then contact Lauren Wilson Book A Free Equissage Treatment