When to Start Your Horse on Joint Supplements

SARAH: "For joint supplements, should you give them starting at a particular age or type/intensity of activity? How do you determine whether or not to give supplements and what type?"

DR LYDIA GRAY: That was really well-worded. For the first sentence I would say yes, and yes, and yes. When I got my horse, and he wasn't in work yet, I got the best horse-warming present. I had a vet friend at Nutramax, and she sent me a jar of Cosequin.

SARAH: Oh.

DR LYDIA GRAY: I thought that was so sweet. And so that was 12 years ago. And he has been on ever-increasing levels of joint support since then, because you want to get your horse on something-- the basics, the foundations-- early in their process, when they're being started. And then as the work load-- I think she asked-- as the age, as the intensity, as all those things increase, then you begin to add higher levels of those basics, and you add other ingredients in.

So what are some basics? Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, I think of. Then I think of MSM and HA, or hyaluronic acid. That's something that I think all horses probably ought to have on board as they're working, because we found a study back in 1999 published in Equine Vet Journal that-- these researchers, they surprised themselves. They found joint changes in wild mustangs that were just on the range. And then they hypothesized that, well, if we find changes in those horses, imagine what we are finding in horses that are being ridden and trained and competed and shown. And so it really makes sense to have something on board if you're going to stress your horse's joints out.

The next things I think, I see, and I recommend in joint support are when you're at the stage of moderate to heavy to intense work is, get something for the soft tissue. So now we're talking about collagen and about silica. And then for the horses that are the elite athletes, the ultras, is things like resveratrol. It's super hot now as an antioxidant. Turmeric, also, has some antioxidant. ASU is a big one.

And then for the older horses-- so now we've gone the whole gamut, we're getting to the sunset years-- we begin to throw in some herbs. The devil's claw and the yucca and the boswellia, and those kind of things. So it absolutely depends on age and workload intensity and those things. And I believe that, given the research in the mustangs, that horses that we are stressing, with some unnatural horses, need some support. It's our onus to do that.

SARAH: Yeah. There's a Chinese proverb that I actually really like when I think about joint supplements and also things like hoof supplements. And it's, "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is right now."

DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.

SARAH: And so it's great to be able to start joint supplements as early as you can when you get your horse, if you have a very nice friend who gets you a joint supplement and gets you on the right path, but it's never too late. It's never not a good idea to start a joint supplement for a horse that you're working or that you want to see be comfortable.

DR LYDIA GRAY: Maybe you just bought one, and he's, you know, whatever, already going.

SARAH: Yeah. It's always a good time.