Myoplast - anyone got anything good to say?

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As per title really. Has anyone had good results feeding myoplast? Vet has recommended it but so far have only seen pretty mediocre reviews. Vet is very wonderful by the way, so no question of vet stupidity.
 
Have used it but its hard to say if it was the myoplast that worked or if it was the change in regime when the horse came here but whatever it was the horse looked a lot better in a sensible timeframe. if the vet has advised it why not give it a go and see what happens?
 
My big lad had a tub of it after he came out of 11 months box rest and into small paddock rest. His immune system collapsed, he later tested borderline cushings. The Myoplast increased his appetite and provided support whilst we patched him up.
 
Very, very expensive way to buy spirulina, The only thing in it for which there is any clinical evidence at all that it works.

Completely clinically untested, and when I asked them why, they responded that it's a supplement and does not require testing. When I asked why it was only supplied through vets, then, they went quiet on me.
 
It isn't only supplied through vets though, I bought mine online (in fact my vet strongly recommended it, but didn't actually sell it). OP, can I ask which vet you're with? Only because mine is very keen to get people to use it too!

I put mine on it for a month to try and improve condition and strength after a year spent in and out of vet hospitals and enormous weight loss; I didn't find it made much difference to be honest BUT it was up against a lot of other factors, and I'm not sure anything could have made a difference against all the other things going on. In that sense it's too expensive for me to carry on just trying it - I might consider again in the spring when he's back (hopefully) to full strength.
 
It was only promoted though vets at the time I was recommended it by my vet. Surprise, surprise, they make a lot of money out of selling it. I think, considering it's an untested supplement, that it was pretty unethical, myself. And after doing some research and contacting the company which markets it, I came to the conclusion that only one ingredient in it is clinically proven, spirulina, and that it's a terribly expensive way to feed spirulina.

I didn't use it, or spirulina, and my horse put on exactly the muscle everyone expected him to.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Good to hear a few positive stories about it.

Cpt - your response is not inconsistent with other things I have read (which is what really caused me to start his thread). I don't mind shovelling money down his throat but only if there is good reason.

Twiglet - it won't be the same vet practice as I see you are down south whilst I am in the frozen north. I hope your horse makes a full recovery, sounds like you have been through tough times.
 
I believe this thread contains the ingredients - Spirulina and sugar. http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?660286-Equitop-Myoplast-V-Spirulina-Supplement

My vet recommended it for an ex-brood mare recovering from laminitis, didn't make any difference at all. She said she'd contacted the manufacturer and they said it was ok to feed to a recovering laminitic, but I wouldn't do that again as I think that advice is incorrect, although naving said that the amount fed each day is very small. If necessary, I would try feeding Spirulina on it's own, it's a lot cheaper but it doesn't taste good (which is why I suspect Equitop encase it in the what look like sugar based "pearls"). The instructions are you should only add it just before feed is served, to avoid issues with the horse not eating it (which I would imagine are if you put it in hours/the night before, the sugar coating may get dissolved). My (usually greedy) mare wouldn't touch the native Spirulina - she couldn't have anything sugar based to hide the taste, but a horse without any relevant issues (e.g laminitis or EMS) might be able to have it added to something molasses based. I got the impression my vet was only recommending it because it was one of their commission based products that they were instructed to recommend in this type of situation.
 
You could try whey powder. Or soya meal. Has plenty of protein in it which should help muscle build up - given the right diet and work load.
 
We used it on Ruby towards the end of the event season last year as she was dropping off slightly, she definitely gained muscle again however we also gave her Succeed at the same time as the Myoplast, so not conclusive that it was definitely the Myoplast. It also made her very sharp to ride, which might be something to bear in might if you already have a highly strung horse.

To be honest, I'd always go with what my vet said, as I really do trust them and they've not given us duff advice yet.
 
We used it on a lot of the racehorses - given consistently for 3 months with no other changes in feed or work. Didn't do a noticeable thing. We fed it to 12-15 horses and can honestly say that there was no massive change to make in a viable supplement to use so we don't use it at all anymore.
 
My vet recommended it but agreed when I pointed out the active ingredient was Spirulina. Think he was a bit shocked when I told him it was 60% sugar. He was perfectly happy for me to source it myself, think resourceful was the word he used.

Horse has definitely put on more topline and muscle but hard to say if it would have happened anyway.

I just introduced it gradually to a very fussy horse, took about 2 weeks to get up to the full dose.
 
Is anyone else unhappy with vets giving strong recommendations to use a supplement with no testing? They seemed to all started doing it at the same time, which smacks to me of heavy incentivisation by Equiplast. It does not seem at all ethical to me.
 
It didn't worry me as I knew what it was and the cheaper alternative but I see your point. Would be interesting to know if there are incentives or if it's a word of mouth thing.
All the farriers in the area recommend Kevin Bacon and I always joke they must have shares in it, but in reality there's no benefit to them.
 
cptrayes said:
Is anyone else unhappy with vets giving strong recommendations to use a supplement with no testing? They seemed to all started doing it at the same time, which smacks to me of heavy incentivisation by Equiplast. It does not seem at all ethical to me.
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Yes me. I couldn't believe they were recommending it to my friend and even sold it to her! Not sure what the local Boehringer rep was up to...

It really is just seaweed and sugar. 40% spirulina (Holland & Barrets sell it or try online) and the rest is various forms of sugar.
 
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We used it on a mare who had struggled in the Winter with a locking stifle due to weather conditions she couldn't be ridden enough. We started her on it then as soon as she could get out hacking everything improved and never had another problem. It did help build muscle quicker .
 
Seems to help my geriatric mare maintain at least some condition. She is fussy and won 't usually touch anything with a hint of seaweed.
 
My vet mentioned it to me when disucssing my mare's condition before we tested for ulcers.

As it happens the series of evening lectures my vets' group is running is sponsored by Boehringer
 
My vet sold me another Equitop supplement when my horse was diagnosed with ulcers - Pro nutrition or similar name. Very expensive and when I read the ingredients it was mostly just fruit/veg derivatives. Unimpressed. I feed Spirulina in its pure form - very cheap and horses have not objected although I did start with just a tiny amount and build up slowly. Why pay such a massive mark up just for sugar coating. Remember that vets are actually in business to make money - I've learned to research most of what they tell me so that I'm not too naive!
 
Lulup said:
My vet sold me another Equitop supplement when my horse was diagnosed with ulcers - Pro nutrition or similar name. Very expensive and when I read the ingredients it was mostly just fruit/veg derivatives. Unimpressed. I feed Spirulina in its pure form - very cheap and horses have not objected although I did start with just a tiny amount and build up slowly. Why pay such a massive mark up just for sugar coating. Remember that vets are actually in business to make money - I've learned to research most of what they tell me so that I'm not too naive!
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Whilst I fully respect vets and the education and hard work hey receive, I would like to say... good for you :)!! If more people were like us, vets would be reasonable in price.

Well.......... ignorance is how the pharma/neutraceutical industry make money especially when it comes to animals. Most things don't get to animals before patent expiry when marketing teams start thinking about how to extend the life of a pharma product, they will do a small test on animals then rebrand and voila... a saleable product again. Same with neutraceuticals really, repackage, add a few cheap things and voila.... a saleable product to people who will buy it. And people will without doing the slightest bit of research, hanging on to every word the incentivised vet says.

How do I know? I'm a rep!!! :D
 
I don't think we should underestimate palatability as a driver for added sugar to feeds and supplements. For all our horror of 60% sugar there are enough people out there who will say they have to feed that version as their horse won't eat the straight.

Most of the people I know on yards if adding a new supplement will add the full dosage to their horses feed and if they don't eat it first time will not try again and announce their horse won't eat it. I'll approach it thinking that the horse will be suspicious of a new taste (makes sense to me, in the wild it could be that something was poisonous or tainted) and I need to gradually sneak it in so they become used to it. They think I'm mad and forcing things on my horse that it doesn't like.

Same with feeds, I know of no end of overweight horses on sugary feeds because they won't eat healthy stuff. The fact they don't need any feed at all is moot.
 
criso said:
I don't think we should underestimate palatability as a driver for added sugar to feeds and supplements. For all our horror of 60% sugar there are enough people out there who will say they have to feed that version as their horse won't eat the straight.

Most of the people I know on yards if adding a new supplement will add the full dosage to their horses feed and if they don't eat it first time will not try again and announce their horse won't eat it. I'll approach it thinking that the horse will be suspicious of a new taste (makes sense to me, in the wild it could be that something was poisonous or tainted) and I need to gradually sneak it in so they become used to it. They think I'm mad and forcing things on my horse that it doesn't like.

Same with feeds, I know of no end of overweight horses on sugary feeds because they won't eat healthy stuff. The fact they don't need any feed at all is moot.
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Well then add sugar.

Add it in small amounts with some syrup or molasses. It's pretty simple.

However, yes if your horse is that fussy then don't worry too much. A rep somewhere is having a lovely xmas this year so it's not all bad :) To be fair, fussy creatures are our bread and butter.

Don't say I never told you or am biased though. I do try to save people money but money likes to be spent and at times is more powerful than sense. I myself am testament to that!! :D
 
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tallyho! said:
Don't say I never told you or am biased though. I do try to save people money but money likes to be spent and at times is more powerful than sense. I myself am testament to that!! :D
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Hey I'm the one who spends time getting my horses to eat what I want them to eat rather than letting them train me to give them what they would like.


I am just saying that on all the yards I have been on in London and Hertfordshire, I have met 1 maybe 2 other people who are prepared to make an effort to get their horse to eat something.

Everyone else gives the full dose to their horse once and if it doesn't eat it straightaway, it's rubbish. Palatability is up there on their must haves for food and supplements. A horse scoffing lots of sugar rich feed is a happy horse and much better cared for than mine who get forced to eat healthily - the word cruel has been used.
 
I used the Myoplast a couple of years ago, vet gave it to me as part of my ulcer insurance claim as horse had dropped weight. I found it really effective at just half the dose and it didn't have any adverse effects. This year I tried the basic spirulina powder, bought from Pro Earth on Ebay. My horse happily ate it in whatever else he was getting, even though he is prone to being mega fussy. However it didn't have the effect I was hoping for and nothing like the Myoplast so I have stopped it. I do wonder whether the sugar does more than just coat the spirulina, whether it also helps with the absorption. I have, however, had just as good effects with just adding lysine last year, and that's the cheapest option of all. Now my horse is on copra I don't even need to do that.
 
I use Cavalor Muscle Force and can honestly say it definitely works. My big gangly TB ran out of it when he went away for schooling and there is a noticeable drop off in his top line despite the fact he was in good ridden work and nothing else changed only he had no Muscle Force for 6 weeks.
 
Maesfen said:
It certainly kick started my mare onto recovery from a sudden onset virus and weight loss, would have taken a heck of a longer time to get her and her system better without it.
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This! My boy looked fab after only a few weeks back in work from some serious weight loss due to a virus. It's hard to say how much was natural progression and how much was Myoplast, but I'm sure it helped.
 
criso said:
Hey I'm the one who spends time getting my horses to eat what I want them to eat rather than letting them train me to give them what they would like.


I am just saying that on all the yards I have been on in London and Hertfordshire, I have met 1 maybe 2 other people who are prepared to make an effort to get their horse to eat something.

Everyone else gives the full dose to their horse once and if it doesn't eat it straightaway, it's rubbish. Palatability is up there on their must haves for food and supplements. A horse scoffing lots of sugar rich feed is a happy horse and much better cared for than mine who get forced to eat healthily - the word cruel has been used.
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Sorry I meant "you" as in collective "you"... wasn't aimed specifically at you Criso... sorry.
 
An update in case anyone ever finds this thread when researching myoplast. My horse has been on it for just under a month. In that time, for various reasons, he has only been in very light work with about 8 hours daily turnout. He has had his usual feed, which does include conditioning cubes and his hay allowance is the same as ever. He looks better than he has ever looked during winter. His neck is usually a bit scrawny but it is noticeably more muscled. His hind end looks o.k, better than it did but more improvement required. So all in all I am very pleased with the myoplast. This horse has been through the wringer these last few months but to look at him you wouldn't know it.
 
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