Feed Like the Pros: Best Nutrition for Muscle and Topline

What do elite equestrians like McLain Ward, Steve Meadows, Sara Hassler, and Samantha Schaefer feed to support muscle and topline health? In this blog series, “Feed Like the Pros,” we reveal expert advice on equine nutrition, including diets with ultra-premium ingredients to support a healthy topline.

Keep reading to learn the best nutrition for muscle and topline and how to feed like the ProElite® pros.

What is Your Horse’s Topline Evaluation System Score?

Before deciding an ideal diet for your horse’s topline, you need to know your horse’s current Topline Grade using the Topline Evaluation System (TES). TES looks at three areas:

Wither & Back
Loin
Croup

To assign a grade, you measure the musculature in each main area and grade muscle quality. Add up the number to get your horse’s TES grade:

3 / 3 = A
2 / 3 = B
1 / 3 = C
0 / 3 = D

Please consult a veterinarian if there are questions about the best nutrition for muscle and topline on your horse.

How to Build Your Horse’s Topline

Just like anything, many factors can contribute to your horse’s topline, such as, genetic conformation, age, exercise, diseases, or back pain. One of the biggest factors you can control is diet, which is why pros trust ProElite feed’s combination of amino acid profiles to support their horse’s muscular performance.

Best Nutrition for Muscle and Topline

When choosing the best feed and supplements for topline and muscling, it’s important to keep these key feeding fundamentals in mind.

Amino Acids: Horses don’t just need a certain amount of crude protein, they also require the right blend of amino acids to support muscle strength and recovery. There are two categories of amino acids:
- Non-Essential Amino Acids: Horses naturally make these amino acids.
- Essential Amino Acids: These amino acids cannot be made naturally by horses and need to be provided in a horse’s diet. Essential amino acids include Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, and Valine. Essential amino acids can be thought of as “limiting amino acids.” Insufficient quantities of these amino acids in the diet limit our horse’s ability to build protein and muscle, regardless of how much protein the diet provides.
  - Limiting Amino Acids: Horses’ top three limiting amino acids are Lysine, Threonine, and Methionine, which is why ProElite feeds boast guaranteed levels of these three.
Diet Balancers: Diet Balancers are another way to meet the protein, mineral, and vitamin requirements in a low feeding rate to compliment your forage plan. If a horse doesn’t require a lot of extra calories, pros often supplement their horses with a diet balancer to ensure adequate essential amino acid consumption for optimal muscle performance.

Choose the Winning Combo

Because of the important role topline plays in performance, pros trust ProElite premium products to source quality amino acids. While there are many combinations of feed and supplements that can help develop and maintain healthy topline, here are some of the most popular:

Feeds: