FAQ

What are amino acids, and why does my horse need them?

Amino acids are the individual building blocks that link together to form proteins. Every protein in your horse — muscle fiber, tendon, hoof horn, hair, enzymes, hormones, antibodies — is assembled from a specific sequence of amino acids.

Here’s the part that matters: your horse’s body can only build a protein if every amino acid that protein calls for is available at that moment. If one is short, construction stops there. It doesn’t matter how much of the others are in the bucket. That’s why balance, not just total protein, is what determines how well a diet actually works.

What’s the difference between protein and amino acids?

Protein is the finished structure; amino acids are the parts it’s built from. A feed tag showing “12% crude protein” tells you how much protein is in the bag — it tells you nothing about which amino acids that protein contains or in what ratio.

This is the difference between protein quantity and protein quality. Two feeds can carry identical crude protein numbers and support your horse very differently, because one supplies a better-balanced set of amino acids than the other.

Which amino acids can my horse make on its own, and which have to come from feed?

They fall into three groups, and Equine Amino Boost includes all three:

• Essential — the horse cannot manufacture these at all. They have to arrive in the diet, every day. Lysine, methionine, threonine, leucine, isoleucine, valine and arginine are in this group.
• Conditionally essential — normally made in the body, but demand can outrun supply during heavy work, rapid growth, illness, or lactation. Glutamine and ornithine.
• Non-essential — the body builds these from other compounds. Glycine. Supplying them can spare the raw material used to make them.

The essential group is where a diet is most likely to come up short, because there is no backup plan if the feed doesn’t deliver.

My horse gets good hay and pasture. Isn’t he already covered?

Often he’s close — and sometimes he isn’t. Forage quality swings with the cutting, the season, the soil, and how long the hay has been stored. Grass hays in particular tend to run low in lysine, and lysine is widely regarded as the first amino acid to become limiting in equine diets.

When a diet is short on a key amino acid, it rarely announces itself. It shows up as a coat that won’t shine, a topline that won’t fill, hooves that chip, or a horse that just seems to be working harder than it should — things easy to blame on age, footing, weather, or work load.

The only way to know what your forage actually delivers is a hay analysis, and we’d encourage anyone to run one. Amino Boost is designed to cover the gap when there is one.

Why do lysine and methionine come up more than the others?

Because they’re the two most likely to run short, and because they gate a lot of downstream work.

Lysine is the first limiting amino acid in most equine diets and the one nutritionists use as the yardstick for protein quality. It’s also the only amino acid the National Research Council publishes a specific requirement for.

Methionine is the sulfur-bearing one. The horse converts it to cysteine, and cysteine forms the disulfide cross-links that give hoof horn and hair their toughness. Keratin without adequate sulfur amino acids is keratin without much strength to it.

How do I feed it? Do I need to soak it or mix it with anything?

No soaking, no sauces, no gels, no carriers. One level scoop a day, top-dressed on whatever your horse is already eating.

The aminos are blended into organic non-GMO alfalfa meal, oats and dry blackstrap molasses and pressed into a small pellet, so most horses eat it straight out of the pan. Several of our customers report their horses cleaning the bucket to the bottom.

How much is in a scoop?

One level scoop delivers a measured 5.4 grams of amino acids across all ten in the blend, in a serving of roughly one ounce of pellet.

A Regular Bucket holds 30 oz — thirty daily servings, about one month for one horse.

Does every horse get the same amount?

One scoop daily is the standard serving and the right starting point for most horses. Aging horses, horses in heavy or sustained work, and pregnant or lactating mares have higher amino acid demands and may benefit from an additional amount.

If you’re not sure where your horse falls, call us — or better, talk it through with your veterinarian or an equine nutritionist who knows your feeding program.

Can I feed it alongside my current grain, ration balancer or other supplements?

Yes. Amino Boost is a targeted amino acid supplement, not a complete feed and not a vitamin-mineral package, so it’s built to sit on top of an existing program rather than replace one.

One thing worth checking: if you already feed a ration balancer or a hoof supplement, read the tag. Many include added lysine and methionine. There’s no harm in overlap — horses handle surplus amino acids without difficulty — but you may want to know what your total is so you can judge results fairly.

How long before I see a difference?

It depends entirely on what you’re watching, because different tissues turn over at very different speeds.

• Appetite and attitude — often the first thing owners mention, sometimes within a few weeks.
• Coat and skin — hair grows continuously, so changes here tend to show up inside the first month or two.
• Topline and muscle — responds over weeks to months, and only in combination with the work that asks those muscles to build.
• Hoof — be patient. Hoof wall grows roughly a quarter inch a month, and a full hoof capsule takes nine to twelve months to replace. New growth at the coronet band is where you’ll see it first. Judge this one at six months, not at six weeks.

Our recommendation: feed the correct amount every day for at least 4 to 6 weeks before drawing conclusions, and take a photo on day one. Gradual change is hard to see when you look at the same horse every morning.

Can I stop once my horse looks good?

Amino acids aren’t stored in reserve the way fat or some minerals are. The body uses what arrives each day and clears the surplus, which means supply has to be ongoing.

If the underlying diet still has the same gap it had before, stopping generally means drifting back toward where you started. Most of our customers feed it year-round.

Is it safe for foals, pregnant and nursing mares, and senior horses?

Amino Boost is formulated to support horses at every stage of life, and these are the groups with the highest amino acid demand — growing foals laying down new tissue, mares supporting a pregnancy or milk production, and seniors whose ability to extract and use protein from feed declines with age.

As with any change to a feeding program, talk with your veterinarian first, particularly for foals and for mares in foal.

My horse is insulin resistant, has Cushing’s, or has a metabolic condition. Can he have it?

The daily serving is small — about one ounce of pellet — so the amount of oats and molasses in a day’s feeding is minimal compared to a typical grain meal. Amino acids themselves are not sugars.

That said, metabolic horses need decisions made on the whole diet, not on one product in isolation. Please review it with your veterinarian before starting, and call us if they want the full ingredient breakdown — we’ll send it.

Will it test? Is it safe for competition?

Equine Amino Boost contains amino acids, alfalfa meal, oats and dry blackstrap molasses. There are no drugs, no herbs, and no stimulants in the formula — these are nutrients found in ordinary feedstuffs.

Rules differ by discipline and by governing body and they change from year to year, so if you compete under USEF, FEI, or a breed association, confirm against their current list before a show. We’re glad to provide a full ingredient statement for that purpose.

Can I give too much?

Amino acids in excess of what the body needs are broken down and excreted rather than accumulated, so there’s no meaningful stockpiling effect. That’s also why doubling up doesn’t double results — consistent daily feeding does more than a large occasional serving.

Feed as directed on the label. If you’re considering more than the recommended amount for a hard-working horse or a lactating mare, check with your veterinarian first.

What sizes do you sell, and what if I have more than one horse?

Three sizes:

• Regular Bucket — 30 oz, 30 servings. One month for one horse. $65.
• Big Bucket — equal to 5 Regular Buckets. $325.
• Super Bucket — equal to 2 Big Buckets, or 10 Regular. $650.

Running a full string or a boarding barn? Call us at 605-642-8166 and we’ll talk about bulk.

What does shipping cost?

Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address and the size of your order, so you see the exact amount before you pay. If you would rather hear it from a person first, call us at 605-642-8166 and we’ll quote it for you.

Full details are on our Returns, Refunds & Shipping page.

What if it doesn’t work for my horse?

We back every formula we make with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. We ask one thing in return: feed it as directed on the label, every day, long enough to give it a fair trial.

If you’re not satisfied, submit your refund request within 60 days of purchase and we’ll refund the full cost of the product. No hoops, no hassle — call or email and we’ll make it right. Full details on our Returns, Refunds & Shipping page.