One of my horses has arthritis, What do you think is the best supplement for her to take?
Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at
8:50 pm
Lizz asked:
My 23 year old Morgan mare some times gets a limp when trotting. The vet diagnosed her with arthritis, but its not to bad. What do you find to be the best supplement for arthritis and or do you have any suggestions?
My 23 year old Morgan mare some times gets a limp when trotting. The vet diagnosed her with arthritis, but its not to bad. What do you find to be the best supplement for arthritis and or do you have any suggestions?
Tagged with: Arthritis • horses • Morgan Mare
Filed under: Arthritis
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Well, ask your vet what he/she would suggest and try it.
Or try loads of different supplements and see which one works better on your mare.
Cetyl-M is probably your best bet.
It is great for horses with arthrits. It’s also used by people and on dogs with great effects. It has MSM in it, which is another great supplement.
MSM is very good. If you can’t afford Cetyl-M, then MSM would be the next best thing.
Glucosamine is good too, but not as good as cetyl-M.
ADD– AHH, the third poster is completely wrong! DO NOT give bute to treat arthritis! Bute causes stomach ulcers and liver damage in high doses… doing it every time you ride will probably kill your horse.
Bute is NOT a supplement, it is an anti-inflammatory. You use it when the horse is injured… not as a daily fix!
chondroitin sulfates, msm, give her some bute before you ride her.
* I didnt suggest she use it as a daily supplement, if you read what I wrote, I stated that she could use it as an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever _before riding_
I highly recommend SmartFlex Senior from SmartPak Equine. My 19-year-old TB developed arthritis in both hocks very quickly, and he had a hard time even trotting. After being on the SmartFlex for two months, he now has his swinging trot and rocking horse canter back. This supplement has MSM, chondroitin, glucosamine, and hyaluronic acid which plays a huge part in joint health. It also contains Devil’s Claw which is a natural pain reliever and anti-inflammatory. And it also has various other ingredients to help senior horses. It’s definitely the best supplement for the price. Read all the reviews-
What’s really nice about the SmartPak system is that you can set it up to auto-ship, so you never have to worry about putting in an order every month or running out.
Aside from supplments, Thermaflex Liniment increases circulation wherever it is applied, so if you rub it on wherever your horse’s arthritis is, it will warm up the joints and make moving more comfortable- I always put it on my horse’s joints before riding. I noticed today that about 6 hours after I applied it, my horse’s joints were a lot cooler than the rest of his leg, so it’s nice to know that after the “warming cycle” has passed, it’s also cooling his joints down to help with swelling. A word of advice though- if you do use it and get it on your own skin, it’s going to tingle and get red! (but at least you know it’s working
)