Grand Meadows Explains: What are Amino Acids ?

Thanks to the experts over at Grand Meadows, we can explain everything you need to know about Amino Acids. Want to know what, why and how? Read on to find out…

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. They band together in chains to help form the horse from the very beginning. Think of amino acids as Legos for your horse. It’s a two-step process, amino acids get together and form peptides or polypeptides and it is from these groupings that proteins are made. Amino acids are essential to nearly every bodily function. Every chemical reaction that takes place in your body depends on amino acids and the proteins that they build.

There are a total of 22 amino acids that are needed by the horse, but not all of them have to be provided in the feed. There are 10 that need to be in the diet. These are arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.

Out of these ten amino acids that need to be provided to the horse Lysine and Methionine are the two most important that are regularly included in supplements. At Grand Meadows a number of our products use a soybean meal base that is an excellent source of the required amino acids.

Lysine is involved in many functions in the horse. It helps improve the appetite and the excretion of gastric juices. It is crucial in the growth of young animals and helps protect horses from anemia. It is very important in the absorption of calcium and in the development of collagen. Lysine is also involved in maintaining the pigment of skin and hair coat.

A deficiency of lysine would result in poor quality hooves and coat, slower wound healing, poor tolerance to heavy exercise, a low red blood cell count along with a number of other problems.

Methionine is a very important source of sulphur and as such is crucial to the formation of healthy collagen and to the keratinisation of the hooves. It is involved in the production of a number of other important compounds in the horse from liver detoxification to muscle building.

A deficiency in methionine may well lead to poor hoof quality and tendon and ligament damage.

To find out more about Grand Meadows products visit www.worldwidetack.com

Can type II collagen help equine arthritis & suspensory ligament tears? One horse owner says yes, with Grand Meadows’ Grand HA Synergy

Stephen Biddlecombe of Equine Management wrote this feature in Local Rider magazine – we hope you like it…

 Can type II collagen help equine arthritis and suspensory ligament tears?

 A recent peer-reviewed study carried out at America’s Murray State University in Kentucky by Ramesh C. Gupta confirmed that type II collagen can be effective at treating arthritic horses. Type II collagen is a form of collagen in the cartilage that lines the ends of the bones found inside moveable joints, and may be found as an ingredient in high-quality equine feed supplements.

The study used the traditional placebo method, whereby a patient’s signs or symptoms aim be alleviated by an otherwise ineffective treatment; in humans, placebo treatments may work because the individual expects that the treatment will work, however in animals there’s no such perception – hence, the technique is widely used in animal studies.

The study, published in the Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, evaluated arthritic pain in horses, and divided the animals into a group that received a placebo; three groups given differing levels of type II collagen; and a further group given glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate.

Significant improvements

Horses were evaluated for overall pain, pain upon limb manipulation (flexion tests), physical examination, and liver and kidney functions. Horses receiving the placebo showed no change in arthritic condition. The horses supplemented with glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate showed a significant decrease in pain. However, this group’s improvement in condition was not as profound as the horses with all three doses of type II collagen, which showed significant improvements in their condition.

(The study is entitled: “Therapeutic efficacy of undenatured type-II collagen (UC II) in comparison to glucosamine and chondroitin in arthritic horses” and the abstract is available on http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.)

 Case study

Mel Wiles owns Charlie, a coloured 17hh Gypsy Cob x ID with conformational issues in his hind legs. “He was bought as my only horse to do low level dressage and hacking, but in September 2010, a week before our first dressage test, he went lame,” she says. “After a full lameness work up by a very experienced vet, including full x-rays and ultra sound scans, he was found to have suspensory ligament tears in his left hind and severe arthritis of the fetlock joint in both hind legs. The vets were sceptical of a full recovery due to the nature of the injury and his size and breed.

 “I was instructed to keep Charlie on box rest and immediately started looking for a joint supplement to ease the arthritis. In my vast search, I found Grand Meadows’ Grand HA Synergy product, available from www.worldwidetack.com. It immediately appealed to me due to the ligament injury Charlie had, as it contained ingredients including BioCell Collagen II™, which contains type II collagen.

 “Charlie started the supplement at the end of September 2010. We followed the exercise programme to the letter, and he was not medicated by the vets whatsoever. By March 2011 Charlie was showing great progress and I was instructed to begin riding again – by June, I was doing short schooling sessions.

 “In August we had our final lameness work up and scans showing that the ligament had repaired to that of a “normal” horse. The vet commented with regards to the arthritis that “His injections have lasted for a long time, haven’t they?”, to which I responded that he hadn’t had any injections or medication of any kind. The vet was astounded!

 “Since Charlie has not been medicated in any other way, I believe wholeheartedly that his rapid and full recovery was due to the Grand HA Synergy supplement he has been having and the excellent rest and recuperation programme that I was given by my vets.

“We are shortly attempting our first dressage test, all due to the Grand HA Synergy supplement. Thank you so much for giving me my horse back!” Mel concludes.