Just started my 18yo gelding on Adequan (had his first dose today) and just looking for others’ experiences. This gelding in particular has a plethora of issues but main ones that I’m hoping for the Adequan to target are fusing hocks and mild neck OA-and I suspect perhaps a little bit of stifle but have not taken images in years .
What reason did you give Adequan, did it help, how long did it help for? Most importantly for me right now, how long until you felt a difference (I’m assuming a few weeks after the final dosage?)
I usually start noticing a difference about dose 4 or 5, I’d say. Maybe I’m imagining it, but that’s when it seems like his back feet are easier to pick up for cleaning and he’s warming up faster with much less stiffness under saddle, etc. By the time we reach dose 7, he’s doing pretty good.
At least from what I can remember. The last time I gave him Adequan I thought he was needing it because he seemed sore behind. Didn’t seem to be working like I’d remembered.
That’s when it became obvious that he had an abscess brewing in his right hind. Oops. Adequan doesn’t do much for that, LOL.
It’s been five months since his last series and he’s doing fine. I do daily Equioxx too, and I think that’s probably the biggest help to him. He’s 17 on Friday but started with the Adequan and Equioxx a few years ago when he was having serious hock issues. X-rays confirmed arthritis and some fusing starting to take place. Poor dude couldn’t even lay down. He’d try and it just hurt too much to try to bend his hocks to lower himself to the ground. I’d watch him get half way down and kind of bounce in his back end like he wanted to go all the way down so bad but just couldn’t.
He lays down just fine now. So I’m a believer in Equioxx and Adequan.
My last horse had Adequan injections and I knew another horse that had Adequan injections.
By the third dose, I noticed some subtle changes in my mare’s movements related to her arthritis, whereas my friend’s mare had more remarkable changes. I think what’s hard is that Adequan is quite expensive if you’re not sure it’s going to work. I kind of regret paying for it since it didn’t really help my mare the way Previcoxx did.
I know some people who have used Legend-- IV and different mechanism-- who said Legend really helped. That said, Legend is very expensive, and the people I know used it for their high dollar performance horses.
Interesting! I’ve seen some people day legend worked for them but Adequan didn’t and vice versa.
I never noticed a difference with this horse on Legend, so hopefully the Adequan helps him out instead. kind of seems like a one thing or the other works type of situation.
I’ve used adequan on multiple horses and a dog, and never personally saw an appreciative difference. It would not be my go-to in the future, based on my own experiences.
I’ve seen some slight changes using LubriSyn (which for anyone who knows me, touting the effects of a feed-through joint supplement is quite remarkable lol). This is a last-resort type try on my Old Man horse.
Overall though, I’m heading for the big-guns. IA injections or proper NSAIDs. The Old Man is on Equioxx as well, but I’m seeing less of an impact with it and may soon need to up the ante to daily bute. Once that stops working, I don’t believe I will try anything else - that will be the end of the road.
I’ve used Adequan quite a lot and think I see a difference in a couple of weeks.
I also like Pentosan and have been using it the same way as Adequan under my vet’s supervision. Twice a year for 28 days. Really like the results I am giving. I think it is called zycosan now.
I’ve also used the Adequan/Legend trio and find at that price point I do better just injecting the problem joints.
I use LubriSyn, too. When mine banged his knee in the hospital, we did PRP. It was SO traumatic for him, I can’t do it again…unless someone else can do it so it’s not so awful. We are doing Legend, Adequan, and Cosequin now. I’m actually wondering if it’s in the point of his shoulder and am trying to investigate that now.
I used Adequan on my older gelding for about 2 yrs. Wasn’t sure about notable results but continued use anyway thinking it must be helping. Had to stop it when the company plant was shut down for some reason…never saw a difference when I stopped it. What I did see a MAJOR difference with was Equioxx tablets.
I use Adequan on my shepherd. Huge difference. My dog trainer can tell whe he’s about due for his shot. We’re at every 3 weeks now. Started him a couple years ago when he just started to slow down. I think adequan works better if you start using it before the arthritis gets bad. It’s not a pain killer so I’m not surprised that people see better results with previcox/equiox. I think it helps to replace the synovial fluid in the joints. I’ll start with adequan and then to legend as the arthritis progresses in horses. I don’t think legend is approved for dogs.
I used Adequan on a mini with shoulder and stifle arthritis with excellent results after a couple of doses. Also used it on my Welsh pony who had age related aches and pains and it did absolutely nothing for him.
I use Adequan on my 15 year old jumper. He has mild arthritis in his hocks, and I can feel a difference in him after the first couple doses. It usually lasts for about three to four months. I also do hock injections annually, and adequan allows me to keep those down to once a year as opposed to more frequently.
Three horses for me with hock problems. My anecdotal experience with each horse having received courses of Adequan, courses of Equioxx, and hock injections at different times and showing noticeable to me improvements in mobility was that hock injections ranked first, Equioxx second, and Adequan lagged way behind.
There was a time maybe 25 years ago or more when hock injections weren’t favored by vets in my area and were rarely used, roughly corresponding to when Adequan and Previcoxx became pipular options. But for the past 15 years or so hock injections have made a huge rebound as recommended treatments. Again, just in my own limited area.
Of course, joint injections target a specific spot. Adequan and Equioxx can address multiple sites simultaneously like hock, neck, and stifle problems stated in the OP.
I have used Adequan on my mare. She started having hind end issues last summer and I had hock injections done in August. She got progressively better so I asked the vet about using Adequan and he felt it a good option to possibly increase the time between injections. I gave her Adequan in October. She continued to improve with the Adequan. She has been doing great and just for kicks and giggles, I just started another course for her last week (6 months from previous course). She is moving great and I would rather inject the Adequan vs feeding her some magic formula that doesn’t really have much evidence for working. I am hoping it will get us at least into fall before she needs injections again.
Different story than many of the above but my 30-year-old retiree gets a loading dose twice a year to manage stifle arthritis. I also tend to see improvement after the 3rd or 4th dose, measured in range of motion, smoothness of joint flexion, and less selectivity about where he’s going to go have a really good roll. We also do twice annual polyglycan injections in the stifle joint but since starting the Adequan are no longer doing neck injections as the Adequan appears to be managing his comfort in that respect. I figure any gentleman of his vintage who can touch his nose two inches from his stifle on either side is doing all right.
I never felt he responded particularly well to Adequan when he was younger and we were treating his first arthritis symptoms (hocks and front fetlock.) At the time he had a better response to polyglycan IV. Around the age of 25 I felt like the polyglycan was no longer doing anything useful. Of course, around 25, his hocks were pretty well fused, so there wasn’t much for it to do!
This is so good to hear! My guy never really responded to neck injections so I gave up doing them a couple of years ago - I am super hopeful the Adequan will help him out a bit more though. And if he does have some stifle issues, then perhaps I’ll notice a difference there too
My fellow had a good response to steroid neck injections (improved range of motion in the affected joints, not having to think about where he was going to put his head to get a carrot) but he’s got Cushings so I was happy not to have to do that again.
I know that my retiree is living a different life than your active 18-year-old but hopefully the collection of anecdata in the thread is helpful to somebody!
Oh, and since people are also sharing their horses’ full joint regimens- my guy is on Previcox and SmartStride Ultra. I haven’t got a clue if the latter is doing anything for him but I put him on that at a time that a lot of things started going very well and I’m not changing anything that might be at all helpful at this point in his life. Also, he thinks it tastes good.
My main Adequan story is for my (currently) 19-year-old gelding. He’s had lameness issues since I bought him at age 6, between navicular, fusing hocks, catching stifles, etc etc. He’s pretty much tried to have it all!
He had a tendon injury around 2018 that sidelined him for nearly 2 years and I had put him on Pentosan at the time (Because it was dirt cheap). He just had this weird “gimpy hitch” in his step, mostly on his left front foot from his navicular. He would usually warm up out of it. I gave him the loading dose of Pentosan and then continued once every 2 weeks. A few months went by and then it dawned on me that the gimp was gone! Over the winter, I tried to decrease the pentosan to every 3 weeks but the gimp came back, so that told me to keep him on it every 2 weeks.
Well then Pentosan went name brand and now is no longer cheap. So I switched him back to Adequan and have again maintained every 2 weeks (after the loading dose). This past winter when he wasn’t ridden much, I dropped him down to every 4 weeks. My mistake. The gimp is back. So I just got him back on every 2 weeks a few cycles again and the gimp is gone again!
Of course, the Adequan is in conjunction with other therapys such as hock injections (Steroids), equioxx when needed, Osphos, etc etc. One a horse with multiple issues, I would never use it as stand alone.
I also used Adequan on my (currently) 9 year old mare and do the loading dose once a year. She doesn’t have any problems. However, I was very pleased she has been SOUND for 2 years (along with doing regular PEMF). I run barrels on her. It’s pretty rare for a horse to get through a barrel racing season completely sound. My vet is very good and she could count on one hand the number of “sound” barrel racing horses she sees and my mare was one of them! So I will keep giving her the loading dose once a year for now, since that seems to be keeping her sound.
I will likely put my new younger mare on it too this year, as she picks up speed in barrels.
I really should get my other older (19) gelding on it too … but he only gets ridden a couple times a month by the kids.
I’m a believer in it! It’s worked well for my horses, although pricey.
