I have a mare who although has no joint issues, I’d like to put on joint supplements so I can prevent/prepare for future joint issues. She is a 13 year old ottb and is currently working training/1st level dressage under saddle. I was wonder which joint suppliments might work best/ which ingredients to look for in the suppliments and which to look out for. She eats powders, pellets, and liquid supplements so that’s not an issue although I prefer to use liquid because it’s just easier for me to add to her grain.
I have tried about a dozen or so different feed-through joint supplements over the years. The only one that made any noticeable difference in my (advanced) arthritic gelding is Cosequin ASU Plus. It is amazing stuff and well worth the price tag. I had my other gelding, who had just minor age-related stiffness on the original Cosequin and it too made a big difference in his comfort level and movement.
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I’m not sure there is anything preventative you can feed, other than very good nutrition. What is her diet now?
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My trainer was one of the scientists who developed Cosequin. It has science behind it that shows it helps, especially the ASU version. Additionally, when inflammation was induced experimentally in dog’s hocks, the dogs on Cosequin before inducement of inflammation healed faster. My horses get Cosequin as a preventative.
I have two on joint supplements right now. 14 y/o schooling the GP gets Cosequin ASU and Adequan. 13 y/o small tour horse recovering from a hind suspensory gets SmartStride Ultra. I also had a retired horse on Smartflex Senior for many years.
The thing about joint supplements is you can’t prove they offer protection/prevention.
But if you’re going to use something, I would be looking for at least 100mg HA. If you’re going to stack ingredients, then 10,000mg glucosamine, and 2,500-5,000mg chondroitin sulfate.
The jury is out on the benefits of Type II collagen, but it has potential, though I’m just starting to research even any field trials to get an idea of dosage.
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The only feed through vets I know recommend is Cosequin because it is the only one with extensive studies. All the vets I use recommend Adequate series of IM injections twice yearly, even as a preventative. To them: feed through you don’t know how much they are getting when they eat, versus injection. One of the lameness vets at the clinic we all use told my friend he believes all sport horses should start Adequan by age 5.
I bought my new horse 1 yr ago at 9, he had never had it so I started him this spring at my vets recommendation. My vets don’t care where I buy it and will call in scripts for me, so they do not recommend it to make money 
Does it works? I don’t know, don’t feel a difference in this horse, but it does no harm so…
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Adequan is some expensive prevention!
My vet always cautions against liberal use of any polysulfated glycosaminoglycan because while not documented (yet) in horses, that she’s aware of, it’s well-documented that regular use in dogs can result in englarged kidneys, and can exacerbate any existing kidney disease.
if the horse needs it, he needs it, just be careful, and it’s just not something I’d use every 6-12 months “just in case”, since there’s no evidence it helps prevent anything.
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I also tend to run treatments for animals through what I know of treatments for humans.
I’m in late middle age with a few arthritic changes (ringbone on the fingers). A couple years back, my GP sent me through a multiday program run by the Arthritis Center connected to the big hospital here, We got a lecture on current best practices, reading material, individual assessment, and a series of individual therapy sessions.
For basic osteoarthritis, which is what I have and what we worry about in our horse’s hocks, it turns out there is nothing for humans except pain control, inflammation control, decent nutrition, weight control, and appropriate exercise. There is no human feed through supplement that is clincially proven to have any effect on joint health, either to cure or to prevent or even just halt progression. And they don’t do nutraceutical injectables on humans (rheumatoid arthritis is a whole other thing, it’s an auto immune disease with different cause, different trajectory, different drugs).
Now I realize that many humans swear by their nutraceuticals, but osteoarthritis is such a flare up/ die down kind of ailment, that you could have all kinds of false results attributed to your own use of a supplement.
I have seen horses have a noticeable although temporary improvement on Adequan or Legend IM injections, and startling improvement on steriod IA injections. But as far as giving them as a preventative, how would you know they were working if the horse never had any symptoms? And I don’t believe that any injectable is 100% risk free.
Honestly, most of the horses that I have seen with hock problems are either aged, or have had an obvious career of being ridden in poor form, or both. I don’t think that hock problems at age 12, say, is normal for a horse with decent conformation, and there is alot you can do in terms of how you ride, warmup, and manage the horse that will help prevent the horse breaking down behind, much better than nutraceuticals.
On the other hand, my basic vitamin mineral supplement has 5000 mg glucosamine and 5000 mg MSM thrown into the mix, so perhaps my mare has been getting a preventative (not enough to be effective from JB’s figures) all along.
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The thing about prevention is there’s no known dosage of anything that helps, at least not in horses where we cannot control enough details of their lives to even have a prayer. The amounts I listed are generally considered the minimum from a perspective of “this is what we’ve seen make clinical changes to {joint fluid/bone density/cartilage strength/etc}”, which is very separate from making a difference in clinical symptoms, let alone affecting prevention of damage.
is half the amount needed to affect changes to the structures going to make a difference in helping prevent damage? Nobody knows
What about Hyluronex? The Cosaquin is only 50mg of HA and the Hyluronex is 120mg. And much cheaper than the Cosaquin. The glucoasamine and chondritin could be added and still cheaper.
Hyluronex sounds reasonable to me!
I’ve been looking for information on Type II collagen for awhile and this is the only thing I’ve been able to find.
Last I looked (which is a while ago), Cosequin and to a lesser extent Corta-Flex are the only supplements with scientific studies behind them.
All sport horses need Adequan by age 5? We’re doing something very wrong in the training.
Cosequin ASU for a feed through and legends, adequan or pentosan for im injectables. If you don’t go WOW after the injection, it didn’t do anything. Joints need to move, so keeping the horse turned out as much as possible is going to go a long way wrt prevention.
My vet has always recommended Equithrive Joint due to the science behind it and consistent results. Big fan. https://thehorse.com/18914/resveratrol-supplement-can-help-reduce-hock-lameness/
If we are talking feedthrough, the only ones I have seen make a marked difference in horses that need a little help, are:
MSM
Cosequin ASU
Platinum Performance CJ
Cetyl M
No comment on for preventative, as I think you may be wasting your money. Better spend that money to improve management: as little time stalled as possible, and good, controlled exercise. :yes:
For injectable it really seems to depend on the horse, but Hytril and Legend top the charts for me.
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