Last updated on March 22nd, 2023 at 03:08 am
Horse Arthritis Supplements
Which Joint Supplements Work for Horses
Horse Supplement Ingredients
Joint supplements are crucial in keeping an arthritis-stricken horse happy and healthy, reducing pain and general discomfort in the animal. And while there are nearly countless supplements available on every nutritional website from here to the end of the online web, they don’t all work the same to relieve arthritis symptoms in horses. If you’re giving your horse a supplement, you need to be darn sure it will help your horse move comfortably while controlling the nasty swelling of joints associated with arthritis.
How can you be sure which joint supplement is going to work? Well, it all comes down to the ingredients. Different ingredients have different qualities, and some supplements don’t always do what they claim. The only way to be sure is to read the labels in full and know what you’re looking for in terms of appropriate ingredients.
In a world where horse supplements are not ruled as strictly as human medicines, we have almost 100 different brands, bottles, and supplement plans to choose from. Let’s go through a brief rundown of the best ingredients to look out for in your horse’s supplements.
Glucosamine
Glucosamine is definitely the most popular joint supplement for horses. There are two kinds: glucosamine hydrochloride or glucosamine sulfate. Either one is effective in treating arthritis. Glucosamine is an essential block found inside all living life forms and is used to build connective tissues and cartilage. When we’re talking supplements, you can find three types of glucosamine ingredients. There is either pure glucosamine, isolated glucosamine, or glucosamine harvested from natural sources. You want to stick with either pure or isolated, which often means glucosamine that comes manufactured in its pure form or is isolated from a type of shellfish.
Glucosamine works because it relieves pain, plain and simple in as quick as ten days. Glucosamine is proved to drastically slow down the breakage of cartilage while boosting the healing process. For glucosamine to be effective, you want to feed your horse about 6,000 milligrams every day. If the arthritis is severe or your horse is moving a lot, bump it up to 10,000 per day. It is also helpful to boost the initial few weeks with 10,000 mg per day regardless, since it will flood the horse’s system in a good way.
Chondroitin
The second best ingredient in any arthritis supplement is chondroitin. More specifically, chondroitin sulfate. This is another building block found in basically all living organisms. It’s a component responsible for the development of bone, cartilage, and even the whites of your eyes. And while chondroitin is not as effective as glucosamine, it has been tested as a great preventive solution that can stop cartilage from breaking down any further. It also relieves pain, though not as substantially as glucosamine. You want to aim at around 1,250 to 5,00 milligrams daily.
The best solution is to ensure there is both glucosamine and chondroitin inside of your horse’s supplements. The combination is more powerful than using either on their own. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a supplement that doesn’t utilize both of these ingredients. If the supplement doesn’t have them, don’t buy it.
Make sure you check the dosage on the label. You want to keep inside of the aforementioned daily intakes. If it’s not mentioned on the label, the supplement still may work, but it may not. Stay safe and ensure the glucosamine dosage is correct, allowing your horse to get the pain relief it deserves. You can get the chondroitin dosage as close as possible to what we recommend, but it’s not always possible to get it right on. Still, these ingredients are imperative to any horse suffering from arthritis. There are tons of ingredients that go into a proper supplement, but glucosamine and chondroitin are the most important.
Other Ingredients
There are a few other key ingredients that work very well in your horse’s arthritis supplement. Oral Hyaluronic acid is great to reduce the swelling and heat that comes with unexpected arthritis flare ups. MSMS is another great anti-inflammatory that can be given at 20,000 mg daily doses. Vitamin C is critical to joint health but don’t go overboard. Like with humans, too much vitamin C isn’t great. For minerals, keep in mind copper and zinc. They are both antioxidants that help horses with their arthritis.
Check out hyaluronic acid for horses
Majesty’s Flex Wafers
We recommend Majesty’s Flex Wafers for a high-quality joint supplement. The wafers are designed specifically for horses. They are made to increase mobility while reducing inflammation, thereby lessening the pain and tension felt by your horse.
The ingredients are just like we discussed. The Flex Wafers come with glucosamine from a shellfish source to protect joints and allow new tissues to be grown. There is chondroitin sulfate, which may help when the horse’s joints get too stiff. This also assists in adding more building blocks for cartilage and other tissues. Then there is MSM to increase the mobility of joints while helping to form proteins and amino acids. MSM is also great for maintaining healthy hooves, hide, and hair. The special yucca extract found in the Flex Wafers is excellent for easing pain and giving even more anti-inflammatory benefits to the supplement.
One bag of Flex Wafers is going to last your horse an entire month. There are 30 wafers, one for each day. Everything your horse needs to feel comfortable and pain-free with their arthritis is found inside a single wafer. The other ingredients found in the wafers are quite unique, including apple sauce, oats, and molasses. This makes sure it is a tasty treat the horse wants to eat. Majesty’s is very proud to say that their wafer bars are ingested an entire 98% by the horse. All those nutrients get exactly where they need. This is a bonus over typical power supplements that can go uneaten by the horse. With the Flex Wafer, your horse is eaten every bit of its important supplement.