I have an older barrel horse, he will be 16 in February. He is in shape and I think he looks nice, but I would like a bit more muscle tone. How do I get optimal muscle tone? I am taking him off of equinety because I don't think it is doing much. I might try tri-amino? Is there any supplements you recommend? He is longer bodied and about a medium build. In my opinion he isn't built to be real stocky, more lean muscle. 

To build muscle you want to walk and trot a lot. Going up hills and making him walk them and trot them. Walking and trotting builds muscle. Loping builds stamina. 

I've been feeding the Tri Amino to my 2. I'm really impressed by it actually.  I can see improvement in my older horses topline. I think exercise and conditioning is absolutely the most important thing to build muscle. Supplements can be pretty worthless if you dont exercise them accordingly. But the Tri Amino is economical and they seem to love the taste, it does smell kinda funny but they gobble it up no problem! 

Hello, we do long trot a lot. I have trotted and loped some over poles and up the hill I have access to. I mainly trot though. I lope circles some. I always thought trotting built staimina but it's loping?

Do you think it is better than equinety? I do exercise him a decent amount, I ride or lunge at least 4 times a week. The equinety isn't making too much of a difference and it's so expensive, so I'm wondering if tri amino would help support muscle growth. How long did you feed before it made a difference? Some reviews says it makes them fat, is that true?

Tri Amino making horses fat? I've never heard of that. I suppose anything is possible tho. I haven't had that issue because my horses are worked and I don't feed but 4 or 5lbs of feed a day plus unlimited hay. I wanted to boost protein without extra calories or fat so I added tri amino. Theyve been on it for a few months now. I also have fairly easy keepers but haven't noticed anyone getting fatter on it. 

Edited to add, I cant compare it to equinety because I've never fed equinety but looking at the price, I probably never would either! 

Yeah I'm not sure....hahaha but I will try it. It is much cheaper than equinety and I think it has better amino acids in it anyways. Thank you!

I have 2 of mine on the SmartPak SmartMuscle Mass, just 1 scoop daily. They aren't worked as much right now as they were in the warmer months, but they're still pretty ripped looking. I'm super impressed with the results I got adding that this year. Next year I may try the full 2 scoop dose, but it definitely works. You can't go wrong with adding gamma oryzanol when trying to build muscle. I just buy the bucket on autoship, it's very inexpensive. They're also on Exceed 6-Way which has muscle benefits as well.

I also do a crap ton of long trotting, no less than 20 minutes at the very least 4-5x a week. Lots of backing, stopping & backing, upward & downward transitions at all gaits. By the time I'm done riding I bet my horse has backed a cumulative total of 100 feet. Really helps build that hind end, as long as they're doing it correctly. My mare gets long trotted 40-60 minutes 5x a week to keep her stifles strong. They lope around 10-15 minutes too. Probably 20-30 minutes of walking mixed in various places during the workout. It takes me about 4 hours to work them both, including saddling time & cooling out. It's not time efficient at all, but it works for them. 

Do you back them on the ground or in the saddle? My chiro advised to back him 40-60ft, tighten the saddle, and then do it again to stregthen the stifles.

Both. And some days I don't ride, just lunge so they do get a decent mix of hand & on back backing. I don't have hills, it's flat as far as the eye can see where I'm at so I have to make do. I used to have a good sized hill years ago where I was at, about 100 feet tall and a decent slope. Good sledding hill. I'd make them walk up that 2-3x a day, 3 days a week. And back up part of it. I still back them up my road ditch if there's not a lot of traffic, but it's not even a 2 foot ditch so it doesn't do a lot of good 

Okay! Thank you.