…and GO!!!
Depends on the horse and the degree of issue?
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!
I’ll make it short… After trying all the different oral supplements…and realizing the costs…I find it best to use IM like Adequan. Do the correct dose (5ml every 4 days for 28 days). Some horses it lasts 6 months. Some a year and a half. Ends up being less money than oral. I think it’s about $50 a dose for 7 doses total. If you look at buying a good oral supplement, that can be from 25 to 110 a month (depending on brand, what it has, etc.) meaning that could cost you 300 to 1320 a year USD. Most of my horses seem to do well once a year (lower level event and fox hunt). It’s also a peace of mind that the horse will actually get the supplement and not spit it out.
If you want something to add to feed, MSM is my go too. Only one I have ever noticed a difference with, plus its cheap. Otherwise, use Adequan or Pentosan.
I use Triacta-HA Not sure if this is sold in the US. Sold in Canada, and I absolutely love it.
My gelding is 12, he’s had water on the knee for quite a few years no, no pain but just gross looking. After being on the loading dose, the knee went down half. Now he’s been on it for about 6 months, HOLY CRAP, his knee is 100% back to normal. Most of the time you don’t see a change with supplements but this one is enough proof. His warm up went from 20 minutes to 10 minutes as well.
Its about $119 CDN for 30 days. Worth every penny to me.
Equithrive (oral supplement) seems to have at least one study that found it effective
http://equinegold.com/texas-am-clinical-trial-indicates-equithrive®-joint-is-effective-therapy-for-equine-hock-lameness-practical-horseman-magazine/
And Adequan.
I normally just use MSM, but I decided to try a joint supplement on my gelding since I’m not sure the pentosan is doing much and I can’t afford Adequan on top of all his other meds/vet needs.
I recently started him on Absorbine Flex-Max. I like the ingredients and amounts and I think it is helping. Since I’m not positive, I just put my mare on it as an experiment (my gelding has too many issues to be sure what’s working and what’s not). I’ll report back if I think it does anything for her. I am continuing to feed it to my gelding because he will actually EAT it, and he is the pickiest horse on the planet. The pellets, however, are fenugreek flavored and picky horse is licking the bowl clean. So at least it’s not wasted like many joint supplement experiments of the past.
For my low-maintenance gelding, I’ve used an oil based turmeric paste (Doug’s golden paste) to help keep him loose. If I had to do more than that, I’d probably go right for IM like pentosan or adequan. Most evidence on feed throughs is anecdotal.
Recovery EQ - very effective in managing our older horse’s shoulder arthritis. Very obvious deterioration if barn owner accidentally forgets to feed it. Eventually, the arthritis progressed so that wasn’t enough - Previcox has really helped since then.
Another vote for HA.
Pentosan or Adequan injections. Hands down.
Turnout to allow movement keeps them from stiffening up.
Maintain a healthy weight so has not to stress the joints.
When those things don’t work as well any longer, I resort to Previcox
Another vote for Pentosan or Adequan. After realizing the costs of feed through joint supplements (which IMO don’t have enough evidence to support that they even work) vs the cost of an IM joint injection, I completely stopped feed through joint supplements and just do Pentosan now combined with hock injections as needed.
I know there is some debate as the best way to administer it (frequency wise), so I would do whatever your vet recommends. Personally, I do 1x/wk for 4 wks, then once a month, then another round of 1x/wk for 4 wks in about 6 more months. This may be overkill for your horse though- mine has a known bone spur in one hock and he is in 5 day/wk work.
I have never had luck with anything more than HA. In the past I used Grand HA, and it made a significant difference in my mare when nothing else did. I just bought a year’s supply of “pure” HA from Amazon for $30 for my 10-yo gelding recovering from a joint and tendon sheath infection due to a snake bite. It may not help him at all, but for $30 for a year it’s no biggie if it doesn’t help. It’s 1/8t per day in wetted feed, so it’s easy to hide.
Actistatin Equine. 
I vastly prefer Adequan though- after a lot of reading, most feed through joint supplements are just expensive pee… Over the course of a year the cost shakes out similar for a loading course of adequan.
IM pentosan. from horseprerace.com. literally called equine pentosan. me and 3 others at my barn tried it and it made an amazing difference in all 3 of our horses. as for feed through- actiflex 4000. has all the same ingredients as cosequin but a lot cheaper. you can get a gallon and a free quart from bigdweb.
[QUOTE=peterponie;8941850]
IM pentosan. from horseprerace.com. literally called equine pentosan. me and 3 others at my barn tried it and it made an amazing difference in all 3 of our horses. as for feed through- actiflex 4000. has all the same ingredients as cosequin but a lot cheaper. you can get a gallon and a free quart from bigdweb.[/QUOTE]
Does that site require a RX for IM Pentosan? From just doing a quick browse, it appears to be about half of what my vet charges me 
I’ve always had good luck with Conquer gel. It’s an HA product.
I use MSM. My guy had hock injections in the spring and started feeling a bit uncomfortable again in the fall. This time we did an OsPhos injection, and he feels just as good as he did after his hock injections. I am hoping it will last until at least spring, and that we won’t have to inject his hocks any more.
So I am another that would rather do an injectible than an oral supplement (except MSM, which is cheap). I think you get more bang for your buck.
I use Pentosan, and have tried many orals, but have always come back to the Smartflex joint supplements. Both of mine are on combo supplements- one Smart R&R (Smartflex Rehab is the joint sup in this one) and my older guy on Smart Combo Ultra (Smartflex Resilience is in this one).
Others I have tried and liked include the following; I just come back to SP because I like them and it’s just more convenient.
- Aborsobine Flex Max
- Uckele Lubrigen Pellets
- Hyla Sport
Injectables, both on cost and effectiveness. For us, it’s Adequan. I also currently do MSM daily, mostly because mine stocks up behind and I’d heard anecdotally it might help.
