Supplements for arthrtic horse

[Riven]

Does anyone have a horse they have on joint supplements? My husband's horse has arthritis in one front leg, with all the cold lately it's really been bothering him.

There were a lot of options in the store. What would be ideal is a supplement treat to we could feed just to him. The horses all are grained out of a trough type feeder and even if we use buckets they play musical buckets, you know everyone else's grain is better! That would make the treat easier to make sure he got everything he needed.

I have also considered making him treats with the supplement in it if there is a really good supplement.

Anyone have any options or suggestions?

A little background:
The horse is abt 15 years old and we got him last year. They said they never had any issue with him, but we noticed if ridden a while he'd start to kind of limp, the farrier checked him and didn't see anything wrong, and then we had him looked at and they said he had some arthritis in that knee. When he was younger he was used for 4-up roman and trick riding, so I'm sure that may have been harder on his legs. His legs are a bit crooked anyway, and he does have some scars on that leg that looks like some sort of long past injury may have a part in this as well as it's only on one front knee. We use him for trail riding on flat areas, so it's necessarily challenging, but we would like to try to make him as comfortable as possible. He does run and play with the other horse in the pasture.

 

[starleomach]

We give our 40 year old Maxflex. It seems to help him

 

[Riven]

I'll have to see if that's around, I think it was one that they had at the feed store. I sounds familiar.

I feel bad for him because he's still a pretty young horse, so we want to try to make it easier on his and try to prevent any more damage to the joint. I'm not against any recommended meds or anything either, I just thought we'd try the supplement first. We talked about bute, but would rather try to ease the pain on a long term basis than "cover it up" on a short term.

 

[mercynursie]

My old friend that had to be put down this fall had ringbone and arthritis.He was not ridden at all because he would stumble on occassion and I did not want to make him even more uncomfortable with the weight of even a child(he was always very gentle).Up until the day he died, I kept him on a liquid supplement called STP(stop the pain)by Cox labs.It had a variety of herbal supplements in it.I rotated this every month with buffered horse aspirin and he stayed pretty comfortable right to the end.What you may want to think about is actually giving him his supplement and grain ration in his own private little munchie feed bag which you can just attach to his halter.That way you know he gets his meds and his feed because eventually he will probably get pushed out of the way by his more aggressive pasture mates.It won't take a time or two before he's poking his nose in the feed bag before you can even hook it onto his halter!:thumbsup:

 

[Riven]

We only have two horses and he's the boss. I don't keep halters on my horses due to strangulation concerns. My husband usually stands with them while they eat when he's home, he loves his "old" horse.

Where did you get the buffered horse aspirin? I've not heard about this.

Part of me says that either the pain is not that bad ( I originally thought maybe it was more of a range of motion issue) because he will run and play in the pasture, or he's had it so long he's used to it. When it warms up a bit we're going to get him into the chiropractor here and get his opinion also, and see if there are any stretches or anything we could use to help keep his muscles working well in that leg.

 

[mercynursie]

Here is one type of the aspirin,just search around on the horse supply sites and you may be able to find a different brand/price.EQUI-SPIRIN™ Microencapsulated Aspirin Granules

 

[Encantadora]

Check out springtime Inc. They have a website. Wendell herbs is also good from my experience. You can also look at their products to get an idea of what works.

 

[lilchinchilla]

Recovery is used alot here by horse owners and dog owners. http://www.recoveryeq.com/horses.htm

 

[Riven]

Great stuff, I have a lot of researching to do!

When we got him I knew he was limping, the price was right. I asked them if they knew why he was limping and they said they didn't know, he didn't normally do it, but they hadn't ridden him much in the last three years... I think they knew. Oh well, he has my husband wrapped around his hoof, nothing is too good for his horse, he gives him a treat everyday and pets him while he eats. And he loves to ride, we live on the edge of town so we just head out a block or two and we're in the country, there are some fields and we follow the creek usually. Anyway... it seems to be a good night for me to ramble so I best go continue to do that elsewhere!