What is the best glucosamine, chondroitin, other natural product for inflammation you have solid experience with - hope this is an allowed post.
For what itās worth, and most people donāt want to believe it, my husband, who holds an MD/PHD in neurology and pharmacology from Johns Hopkins, those products are digested in the gut and do not make it to where it needs to go- in other words, they are a waste of money
8 Likes
Well, thank you for that, and an informed opinion!
For sure people with ruminant animals (cows, sheep, goats) do not want to believe it.
Ruminants break carbohydrates down into volatile fatty acids in the rumen. Yet you can buy a ājoint supplementā with glucosamine for your show steer.
Indeed. These are very large molecules and its not obvious that they can fit, intact, through the gut lining. I would think this would be especially true in an herbivore.
That said, I have always been a fan of injectable stuff. I had a vet with a pharmacology degree that used to ābrewā his own HCL version of glucosamine for a once-a-week injection.
I think Iād do an Adequan series 2x/year if I wanted something that was the most established-to-work thing (and if I could swing the $800/year price tag).
If I wanted a feed-through that was probably the best quality (and also a product that has the amounts of the various substances it says on the label), I think Iād feed Platinum Performanceās Complete Joint. And you will spend money on this product.
If I wanted inexpensive and non-invasive, Iād feed MSM, a bio-available form of sulfur. Nota bene: Some people say it makes their horses hot. I havenāt had that experience.
Back in yestercentury, I knew a horseman or two that fed yucca to their older, creaky horses. I donāt know how well that works.
Yet I had a horse go from lame to sound on a joint supplement. He had an inoperable fixed bone chip in one hock. IA Adequan brought him sound and I maintained with a joint supplement until the manufacturer changed more than the label and he went lame. I tried one that had 8000mg glucosamine, 8000mg MSM and 8500mg chondroitin.
āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹Four days after starting (three doses) he was sound on a loose rein, lame when asked to come into a Training Level carriage. I was doubtful and rode around going sound! lame! sound! lame!
He just kept getting better and ten days out I couldnāt find the lame. I did not ask for increased self carriage - the goal was comfortable in his field and hacking out, which we got.
Iāve read about studies that concluded horses didnāt use oral chondroitin based on measuring input vs output. My own experience makes me wonder if the test horses had any need for chondroitin (cartilage issues). There are lots of things that mammals eat that will be excreted immediately if not needed by the body.
āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹āā¹
I have my horses on MSM after reading that horses on 10000mg MSM per day had fewer inflammatory cells in their joint fluid after a hard work (jumping was used as the hard work) than those not getting MSM. MSM is very inexpensive.
I added glucosamine for my older horse when he was sixteen just to see if there was a difference and a week or so later his ridden walk to ready to trot warm up had gone from 10-12min to 5-6min. It took me several days to figure out why he was ready to trot so much sooner.
But it must have been my imagination, because you know horses donāt break their food down into component building blocks and then use those blocks to build the tissue structure of their bodiesā¦
1 Like
Take a look at Equithrive joint. Iāve used this product for years and have had no problems with it. It is one of the only, if not only, supplement that has clinical studies that shows it does what it says it does.
1 Like
Yep this, for joint supplements that supposedly send āsupportiveā compounds to the joints. Waste of money.
āSupportive compoundā joint supplements are different than anti-inflammatory supplements, though. MSM is a well-known one for horses, as is Tumeric (curcumin). Devilās Claw is also a good one, but is not show-legal.
Various forms of Hyalauronic Acid, especially injectable, can be effective. But expensive. I used an HA gel that was top dressed on the food that worked on a senior for a number of years as an alternative to monthly Legend injections until the arthritis progressed, products were Hyalaronex and Lubrisyn. Just HA, nothing else in it. They were expensive but work for many, popular at the track but does not help all horses. Depends whats going on within the joints. HA is also used for many human arthritic conditions, injectable and oral. Wont cure anything but provides reliefā¦
There are a number of less expensive products with not much HA and lots of other ingredients, celebrity endorsements and pretty pictures that are geared towards making the owners feel lime they were doing something. Expensive piss. Never had much luck with oral Gluc. Chondriitin etc.
You also need to do things people do not want to do to manage arthritic changes. Diagnostics including imaging, farrier care, footing and workload need careful planning and management or anything is a waste of money. But owners often prefer the quick fix so they dont have to forgo any if their plans and lay off or backoff their schedule and activity.
Lot of trainers dont speakup to protect the welfare of the horse or are too worried about income to speak up when Suzie needs to keep showing twice a month at 3ā but 12 year old Dobbin in his 8th year showing over fences needs to drop to 2ā6 and cut show and lesson schedule in half. No supplement or Med will fix that in the long run. Just put a band aid on it.
2 Likes
I would say the injectiblesare best - adequan and legend.
