Arginine as a daily suplement for laminitic horses??

[Linda]

When my young horse had laminitis and had a (thankfully very minor) founder about three years ago, the responses and suggestions from this forum were helpful. Together with my vet, we were able to get my horse past the “acute” stage with minimal damage and he remains sound.

Since then. I have carefully managed his weight, his diet and his lifestyle. We have had some close calls but luckilly, no reocurrances.

The most recent “close call” was when I split up his annual vaccinations and started with one injection for West Nile virus. About 36 hours later, we had strong digital pulses in both front legs. I brought my vet out again and with injectable banamine, icing his feet, and bute, we escaped another founder.

I also feed him Jiaogulan and Spirulina in addition to his vitamins and omega horse shine.

He continues to have a minor digital pulse in both front feet - and the vet said that some horses just go through life with a “minimal” pulse. He is sound and in work.

I noticed in the smart pak catalog, that they have a new supplement called Smart Sox. This is designed for horses with poor circulation with the idea that it would avoid the sore feet that would be evidenced as the horse was potentially heading towards founder. It contains Arginine. I googled Arginine and got a variety of web sites written in “medical jargon” that sounded like it would help as it has a dilating effect.

I am very hesitant now to give my horse “anything” that I dont totally understand as it could easily cause a recurrance. What is the experience of the board with Arginine and with the supplement Smart Sox? Is it something you would feed as a regular supplement on a daily basis for a horse with a tendancy towards laminitis?

Appreciate your input!

[deltawave]

L-arginine was the darling supplement in cardiology 3-4 years ago, marketed and pushed as a vasodilator/anti-anginal remedy. Unfortunately, the research did not happen first (as so often happens) and when it was eventually done the results were seriously disappointing, although the substance does have some modest vasodilating properties in vitro and is a building block or precursor to nitric oxide, the “magic substance” that’s touted in all those bodybuilding ads as the “Nobel prize winning medical breakthrough”, etc. It’s probably harmless, but I wouldn’t hang too many hopes on it, either.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a really, really important substance in making arteries and veins behave properly. But it’s a large leap from giving an amino acid orally to a measurable therapeutic impact on the production or utilization of NO. :sigh:

Well worth studying, but not (IMO) ready to serve as more of an “it can’t hurt” type of addition.

[Linda]

I find the idea of the vaso dilator really intriguing as it clearly could make a difference in wardking off laminitis. Any other ideas?

[deltawave]

Well, on my vast list of things to really dig into “when I have time” is the pathophysiology of laminitis. With my very, very rudimentary and inadequate understanding I have far more questions than answers. BUT, I do wonder if vasodilators are possibly beneficial, possibly harmful, both, or neither. :eek: Maybe a vet could chime in with the current thinking on this theory; I’d love to hear more myself. But making vessels larger, even with the best of intentions, doesn’t always help and sometimes hurts. My field is LITTERED with studies of drugs and treatments that sounded absolutely brilliant on paper but failed to actually help, or worse–made things worse. Vasodilators are definitely on that battlefield. We use them, but with respect. There’s a lot of potential badness that can happen between a good theory and a good therapy.

[Linda]

I can totally uinderstand that.

We have used vasodilators on this horse when we were on the brink of a founder episode - with the intent of increasing circulation in his feet. It helped and once it did it’s job, we discontinued using it. It did what it was supposed to do at the time.

Thats why Im wondering why feeding it all the time (when the horse has no symptoms) would make sense.

I’d sure love to find a way to increase the circulation in his feet in a more natural way.

[Lieslot]

I’d sure love to find a way to increase the circulation in his feet in a more natural way

Okay, not a natural way by any means, but tightly fitted to the frog heartbar shoes or eggbars with heartfrogsupport pads increase bloodflow to the foot.

[Weezer]

I’m bumping this thread up to see if anyone has more recent experience feeding L-arginine to treat laminitis. I’m dealing with winter laminitis and this year we have tried everything - insulated leg wraps, insulated hoof boots, lots of blankets, j-herb. He’s normally dead lame by December but this year we made it to February without significant pain. He should start getting better soon but I’d love to find something extra to get him a bit further without so much pain.

[bellboots]

I use SmartHoof Circulate (SmartPak) becuase of the L-arginine that’s in it. My horse had an injury that caused swelling/stocking up for several months. There was something going on, but nothing could be found on xrays, ultrasound, etc. He wasn’t lame - just the swelling. I read that L-arginine supports circulation and circulation promotes healing - thought I’d try it. I would say that it’s possible this could have helped. Maybe time, too? Horse has always stocked up at shows from standing in a stall, and the last show this was greatly decreased. A good side effect - hoof quality has greatly improved.

[kaya842]

I’ve been using it on my horse for hoof issues, though not laminitis (see the Coffin Bone Infection Possible Round 2 thread). I’m not sure it has helped but she did back slide after taking her off of it (and other supplements as well as reducing her vibe plate time). Those were the only things that changed so I attribute some of the back sliding to that, but hers is a very complex case stumping both the best lameness specialist in the area and all of the specialists at MIZZOU. I think it helped/ helps but she is on other supplements and supporting therapies, etc so it’s certainly not a controlled study. It’s cheap and easy enough to try (I buy Arginine in bulk from Amazon) and see what happens.

[Weezer]

Thanks for the feedback!