Joint Supplements as a prevenative?

Lissie

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Jan 18, 2016
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I'm thinking about starting Lottie on a joint supplement as a preventative but is it worth it, do they work and does anyone have thoughts on which ones are best?

Lottie has hunted every season from 4, she works hard and she has huge movement, she stomps along. She has no joint problems but I'm thinking maybe feeding her a joint supplement may reduce the risk as she gets older, she's only 8 now so not old but I want to keep her fit, healthy and enjoying the job for as many years to come as I can.
 
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I haven't used as a preventative but I started Storm on nutraquin plus and omg the difference!!!!! It is worth it's weight in gold and has honestly given her a new lease of life. Due to her tendon injury she ended up having to stay in overnight and it wasn't doing her any favours. But since she's been on nutraquin she strides out of her box nicely in a morning. I would recommend to anyone with stiffness issues. But as I say, I don't know about preventative measures. May be worth asking your vet their opinion? Nutraquin is a vet only item and it came recommended to me a while ago by my old vets.
 
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I asked the vet horsepital when Jess went lame, their opinion was the only thing with any research on it was glucosamine but its effectiveness was pretty unproven. They did suggest it can be useful once the fluid lubricating the joint starts to reduce (normal old age thing) but until then it is not utilized as not needed.
 
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What they don’t need just gets expelled so I’m not sure if things like that would work as a preventative.

Wouldn’t cause any harm to give but I’d probably go for something like synequin, cortaflex or superflex as they seem to be the ones that I’ve seen make the most difference to horses with joint issues. They are expensive but the difference when Kia was on superflex a while back was night and day. He’s too old now for me and not in full work for me to justify the costs and I get great results with my concoctions which are more anti-inflammatory response now instead of joint care at a cheaper cost to myself.

Hope that make sense lol
 
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I will have to look more into it I don't want to waste my money but I do want to keep her in tip top condition. Cortaflex and superflex were the first 2 I thought of.
 
I will have to look more into it I don't want to waste my money but I do want to keep her in tip top condition. Cortaflex and superflex were the first 2 I thought of.

My dressage instructor swore by synequin for her advanced medium horse who had fused arthritic hocks, you would never have known to look at him when moving :)
 
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I think it is a very individual thing too - as I've had success in the past using Cosequin (but not on Storm, it didn't do anything) and Supaflex didn't do a lot either. Trouble is, it can all be a very long expensive journey. I've just read an article on joints in Horse and Rider mag and it does seem to lean towards joint care in the form of supplements at any age or stage. (I haven't read all of it yet just skim read really).
 
I am using superflex on my ten year old tb used for dressage for preventative reasons not sure I notice any difference tbh bit to scared to stop it in case it is doing something
 
I don't, but mainly as the majority seem to cobtain glucosamine. I'd rather not feed glucasamine to Pete - just in case, with his history of a lamimitis bout.
 
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