Dose Matters
If you had a major headache, would you expect one baby aspirin to take care of it? If you have an infection, would you expect to be able to skip doses or cut the dose of antibiotics in half and still have it control the infection? Of course not. It's no different for joint supplement ingredients.
Dosages in individual products vary tremendously, from very generous to so low that about the only reason to include the ingredient is so that it can appear on the label. Below is a list of the major joint supplement ingredients, and usual effective doses.
Glucosamine Sulfate or Glucosamine Hydrochloride
- Loading dose, dose for horses in regular work: 10,000 mg (10 grams) per day
- Maintenance dose when not in regular work, dose in combination products: 5,000 to 7,500 mg (5 to 7.5 grams) per day
Chondroitin Sulfate
- Loading dose, dose for horses in regular work: 3,500 to 5,000 mg (3.5 to 5.0 grams) per day
- Maintenance dose when not in regular work, dose in combination products: 1,750 to 2,000 mg (1.75 to 2.0 grams) per day
Hyaluronic Acid
- Single ingredient product, acute conditions: 100+ mg per day
- As part of a combination product: 20 mg per day
What to Expect
We still don't have a solid grip on what to expect from these products. Can they be used to prevent arthritis? Do they actually help healing? What types of problems are best treated this way, and at what stages?
We don't know if feeding joint supplements will prevent or delay arthritis, but there are many people who use them for exactly that reason. And whether or not they actually help heal diseased joints has been debated as well.
Dr. Jason Theodosakis' 1997 book, The Arthritis Cure, claims that supplements do work. And some recent reports seems to support that assertion. A study published in March of this year in the journal Physiological Research created cartilage defects in rabbit joints and then compared healing in unsupplemented rabbits and in rabbits given a glucosamine/chondroitin/antioxidant supplement. The supplemented group had less joint swelling, better quality joint fluid and superior healing.
However, most studies in naturally occurring arthritis have been done with people. The majority of these do show relief of pain, better movement and, in some cases, a slowing of arthritic progression. It is generally agreed that the sooner supplements are started, the better the result will be.
The same holds true for horses. Best results will be seen when the problem is identified before extensive joint changes have occurred, and also when careful attention is paid to meticulous foot balance, regular but controlled exercise (the equivalent of physical therapy for your horse), and local joint care.
Selecting a Product
Liquid and gel joint supplements are more expensive and have a shorter shelf life, but tend to work more quickly and sometimes at lower dosages than powders. The more ingredients a product has, the higher the price tends to be. Potency/dose also influences price, so be sure to check the dosages of ingredients against the guidelines in the dosing sidebar above. Older or relatively inactive horses may respond well at lower dosages than horses being ridden regularly.
If you are using a joint supplement for the first time, start with one based on glucosamine or glucosamine and chondroitin in combination. Feed enough to provide the loading dose on the chart for seven days.
The first sign of a positive response is usually an improvement in how freely the horse moves overall. You may see better stride length, a more relaxed way of going, and more fluid movement. Any swelling or heat in problem joints should begin to improve.
If you are not seeing any difference after seven days, 10 at the most, try adding hyaluronic acid or MSM to the program, or switch to another product that contains one or both of these ingredients. If you are dealing with a long-standing problem, and the horse really only seems to respond maximally when given pain-relieving drugs like phenylbutazone, adding devil's claw (or using a combination product that contains it) may be your best choice.
Once you have found a product that works for your horse, stay with the loading dose until no further improvements are seen. At that point, you can try reducing the dose to see if you can maintain those improvements on a lower dose. However, while most products talk about both loading and maintenance doses, in reality many horses need to stay on the higher doses to get good relief.
