Is MSM making my horse anxious/spooky???

[RhythmNCruise]

This is interesting. I’m currently dealing with a normally level-headed 12yo gelding (that I raised, broke, trained myself) who has turned into an absolute hot mess since moving to a new barn and getting switched onto their grain (Tribute’s Seniority GC Plus) and then having that grain increased several times due to him losing weight. I figured it’s the grain…which some quick research I found has a super high NSC (main ingredient is oats). He’s always eaten forage-based diets in the past and has actually never had real grain/oats. But the new feed also contains Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and…MSM.

I recently(like last week) bought him a joint supplement (trying to be a good mama to keep him comfy in increasing work) that also has…MSM.

He has been a raging lunatic lately and cannot handle anything being out of the norm. Things he used to take in stride are suddenly panic-inducing. His sleepy, quiet demeanor has been replaced by a wild-eyed, uptight, nervous wreck of a horse that I hardly recognize.

He’s getting switched back to his old feed (Triple Crown Senior) and I’m stopping the joint supplement. Fingers crossed that “cooler” feed and removal of MSM will bring him back down to earth.

[VTMorgan06]

Has anyone noticed a horse suddenly having a problem with MSM making their horse anxious when they’ve been getting it for a year or so? My gelding has been on MSM but I’m dealing with some pretty significant behavioral issues with him right now that are completely out of character for him.

[MsM]

Horses seem to have sensitivities to different ingredients and it sometimes results in spookiness. I have had my last two horses on msm with no issues. But my old horse could not tolerate alfalfa. Anything more than a trace and he was a nervous, jittery mess. Not just excess calories, it was that useless nervous energy and ADD behavior. So while I havent experienced it, I fully believe that some horses can react that way to msm!

(And you would think I would defend it, given my user name! :winkgrin: )

[BatCoach]

Yup - my TB turns into a super agitated, tin-foil-wearing hat nut on MSM. I’m not talking extra energy, but a more frantic, wide-eyed demeanor when given a simple MSM supplement (nothing else in the feeding program changed). I took him off the supplement and he went back to his charming ole self.

[candyappy]

Just about anything you feed has the possibility of affecting them negatively. My mare does fine on MSM, but was a spooky mess on alfalfa mix hay. You just never know until you start feeding it to them.

[ParadoxFarm]

Gave mine the runs. :nonchalance:

[Roos2r]

Hey guys i know this thread is a few years old but i just stumbled across it tonight and I’m really hoping this is what could be wrong with my daughters OTTB. We purchased him Nov ‘24 and he was foot perfect until we moved him to a new barn. However simultaneously we started him on MSM. He has become increasingly and dangerously anxious and spooky in the indoor. We are pulling him off of it tomorrow and going to see how his personality changes. Praying it does. Didn’t know if anyone on here could update me on how their horses changed (if any) after removing it from their horses’ diet. Thanks!

[DarkBayUnicorn]

My gelding goes flat-out paranoid on MSM. When it started, we did an elimination diet process over a month to figure things out. Slowly re-adding one thing at a time. As soon as we reintroduced the MSM, he started getting anxious, and as soon as we stopped it again, he came right back down.

[Roos2r]

Thanks for the reply! It never crossed my mind that this could be the culprit. I’ve been feeding it for years to our other horses and never had an issue. We are pulling it today and going to strip his diet down and hopefully we will have our chill guy back.

[Kyrabee]

I had one that went bonkers on MSM. She got very spooky and reactive. I quit the MSM and her level good acting demeanor returned. Just to make sure…I rechallenged her with the MSM. Yep, she went off the rails again. So no more MSM for her.

My current mare is just fine with it (although she is not on it currently). No alteration in behavior.

[Roos2r]

Wow! I am blown away by all of this. I never would’ve thought in a million years that MSM would be causing this issue. Thanks for sharing! Very hopeful that we will soon have the horse we purchased back again in a few weeks. Curious how long was she on it and how long did it take for you to see a difference once you pulled her off of it?

[DarkBayUnicorn]

Mine is homebred and the entire rest of the family does MSM with no issue at all. It’s like having the one gluten-free kid at Christmas dinner.

[Kyrabee]

My mare returned to sanity fairly quickly. MSM is water soluble so it ought to leave the system pretty quickly.

[GoodFortune]

Most don’t seem to have an issue, but there is a small subset that gets very anxious and spooky on it. Take him off it and see if there’s a difference!

[beowulf]

@jlphilli

Does anyone know why this would happen physiologically?

MSM typically isn’t given unless there is a reason - stiffness, lameness, maybe to help because the horse is in increased work, etc. I have wondered if the correlation between MSM and spookiness isn’t the MSM as the root cause, but the underlying issue attempting to be addressed.

[islgrl]

Years ago I put a gelding I owed on MSM. In a few days he went from fairly chill to a full on crack addled spider monkey. Took him off MSM and he returned to his former personality…

[ParadoxFarm]

@fooler

My mare does not tolerate MSM. First tried MSM in the 1990’s and it upset her stomach so she quit eating. Tried again a few years ago with Grand Complete, hoping it would be buffered with the other ingredients. Nope. Took longer but she reacted again.

How old is your horse??

[JBCool]

That post is from 2013

[ParadoxFarm]

@JBCool

That post is from 2013

Ha…what dork I am. Thanks.

[JBCool]

We’ve all done it. Hey, I opened the thread to see what possible update there was…