Hello,
I was hoping to get some opinions on good supplements for tendon repair/rehab.
My horse has some wear and tear to his DDFT. I am currently planning on giving him a few years off to let his body relax and repair and was hoping to find some supplements that could aid in repair in the mean time.
Thank you!
Solid base diet. What’s he eating now?
When I did a consult with Dr. Gillis, PhD in tendons, she never mentioned supplements. JB is right, you want your nutrition to be top notch and tight and then it’s about your horsekeeping.
Soft tissue is bothered by hills. Etc.
I just attended a presentation by a vet specializing in rehab and we do know now that things like bodywork and laser/red light therapy really are legitimate and do good.
That’s what I’d pursue. I’ll be curious to hear what others say.
Oh, and your hoofcare MUST be impeccable. Your trim. No long toe. Shoot xrays and confirm you have a perfectly balanced foot That was the #1 recommendation by this vet.
My yearling had club foot surgery last summer where they had to cut his check ligament to help his DDFT. I was not told about any tendon supplements per say, but his surgeon did want him on a glucosamine/chondroitin powder for life. It was no problem for me as all of my guys are already on it since we make this product at my work.
I did purchase a red light therapy leg wrap for him in December and I’ve been religiously using it every day ( I throw it on him when he’s eating his grain) and have noticed the “bump” from his surgery has gone down. Now I’m not sure if its gone down due to just normal healing and growing time (as the surgeon did say the swelling goes down as they continue to grow) or if the red light wrap has been helping. I emailed the surgeon pictures of his foot the other day and mentioned I’ve been using the red light therapy wrap on him and she told me to continue to use it.
My paddocks are fairly flat and he’s been out on long turnout every day after his 5 weeks of stall rest (about 14-18 hr/day), 4 acre grass paddock in the summer and a 1 acre sacrifice paddock in the winter/wet months. He gets hay and the grain according to his weight/age (fat supplement, W3 oil, timothy hay cubes and a cup of ration balancer) though I also do add a hoof supplement (vitamin E and biotin), salt and the glucosamine/chondroitin/vitamin c.
I was doing a search to see if Dr. Gillis does have anything to say about supplements. This is a good article.
https://practicalhorsemanmag.com/health/tendon-injury-faqs/
Do you have a link for these wraps?
These are the ones that I bought. I am in Ontario though 
https://www.equiglowtherapeutics.ca/product-page/red-light-therapy-leg-wraps-2-0
I’m dealing with an old suspensory injury bothering my 6 yr old OTTB. He will get prostride next week in the suspensory if he tolerates it, worst case it goes in the hock if he doesn’t cooperate. I’ll ultrasound again at fall vetting & see where we go.
I kind of felt like I needed something else in addition. He is on Adored Beast Jump 4 Joynts & down to once a day. I had a consult with Gloria Garland at Whole Horse Herbs. He is on day 18 of Tendon Supprt, come Sunday we go down to 1 tablespoon a day. The 26 ounce bag should last for the 20 day loading dose. You can use it for 6 months. He will not eat supplements in food. I use a 150 ml syringe & add water, he takes it by syringe without an issue. Sometimes I will add unsweetened apple juice with the water. I would say after 12ish days I noticed he feels much better & I had to pull them out of the pasture for a time out because I caught him at a gallop. Yesterday he was better for the farrier, it’s his right hind & he gets uncomfortable being moved around on the back end.
He does get trimmed every 3 weeks, on tribute wholesome blends balancer & their senior. I also give vitamin e & 30ml KER EO3. If you look at TCM, the root cause is the liver. Jiaogulan will help to increase blood flow if you want a different option.
Right now he’s on just the timothy alfalfa pellets, he gets Arizona Copper Complete, TC ground flax seed, and cosquin asu. I’m going to switch him off the AZ copper complete and replace it with the pro-elite grass advantage
I put my horse who suffered a front proximal suspensory injury a year ago on Tendon EQ pellets. We just started back in full work this month and I started him on this Dec 2023.
I have no idea if it does anything but the science of this supplement is reasonable and it makes me feel better that I’m doing something.
I think that’s a good move, as the protein and amino acids are beneficial to healing.
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