Arthritis and care for older ponies... advice please! (also in Vet.)

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My old pony (who's now 21) is coming back to me soon having been away on loan for the last few years. As she's getting more creaky in her old(er) age does anyone have any advice about how to give oldies a good life? I'm planning on doing most things the way I used to but thought that there might need to be a few adjustments now, given her age.
The vet thinks she has arthritis in her legs (nothing serious yet) and has suggested we go down the 'bute route' but before I commit to that, has anyone tried and tested alternative routes?
I've heard good things about Suppleaze and I think I might try that as a supplement, but come winter I was wondering if anyone had any advice about the pros/ cons of legwraps etc. She's out all of the time at the moment and come winter will be out for as long as she's happy during the day and in at night.
I outgrew her donkey's years ago (hence her being on loan - I'm a wimp and couldn't bear to sell her...) and as she's not being ridden at the moment I'm going to reassess the exercise issue when she's come home; I do have a small, lightweight friend who's happy to give her some gentle work to keep her ticking over (or do more if my pony's up to it!)
I'm on a fairly limited budget (and also have another horse...) but I'd like my pony to have the best I can give her.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.
 
I have a 24 yr old and a 28 yr old. Both quite clicky!! I don't give any supplements as I don't feel its needed unless absolutely necessary. A glob of cod liver oil in the feed if you feed hard feed) maybe a good idea.Keep arthritics out as much as possible......they stiffen up when in. Mine live out 24/7 365 days a year.....but I'm lucky,I have plenty of land to be able to do this. I have brought them in when really nasty (driving,freezing rain) but tbh they'd rather be out!!

Plenty of supplements on the market if you want to though,but I would ask your vet their advice first :)
 
I have a 22 year old with arthritis. I try to keep him out as much as possible but in winter he is in at night as I don't think he'd cope well being out in the cold and rain (he is not very hardy!) He wears magnetic leg wraps overnight in winter which really help him, on the rare occassion I take them home to wash you can really see the difference as he will come out of his stable in the morning really stiff if he hasn't been wearing them.

He is still in a moderate amount of work though I have reduced it as he's got older, I ride him 5-6 times a week a mixture of hacking and schooling which he copes fine with. Try not to school two days successively as he sometimes feels it if I do (he is trained to fairly high level dressage so I sometimes get abit carried away doing half pass, collected paces and changes etc which can make him stiff if I do too much!) I rarely jump him as his techniques gone downhill somewhat and I don't think it's fair to push him in it but we do sometimes pop a few fences just for fun!

I feed him Extra-flex HA supplement by feedmark which I think works well. I also give him devil's claw (devil's relief by NAF) which also works well. The vet originally advised Bute but I am not keen on keeping him on that long-term, devils claw works just as well.

Vet did advise that he stay in work as it is best for him to keep moving.
 
Last year my old horse Charlie (who has since passed away) got really arthritic I put him on NAf Jointeze (think thats what it is called) it did make a difference. I bought magnetic boots and a rug and it really made a difference to him he loved it and he walked so much better after would highly recommend them. I put them on for an hour each night but some people put them on overnight.

He loved hacking out so would definatley try to keep them as active as possible.

my sis sheltie is 21 and we are just starting him on supplements.
 
We specialise in keeping oldies, lol! Our 28 yr old does benefit from a joint supplement, we use Equimins, and our farrier is always very complementary about her level of suppleness, when he trims her. I don't feed codliver oil as horses are meant to be vegetarian. She doesn't need them but we have used magnet boots with spectacular success. They gave a really lame mare who was due to be pts some extra quality field sound time. I would avoid jumping or trotting on hard surfaces to avoid extra stress on her joints but some gentle hacking should benefit her. As said by others living out 24/7 if you have the facilities stops them stiffening up over night. Regular farrier and dentist visits are of course still a must and as they get older they tend to need more easily digested feed, we use grassnuts atm with dried grass as a hay replacer because she seems not to get much from hay, although she is perfectly capable of eating it. We also give her pink powder, so that she can make the most of the feed that she gets. I also feel that they benefit from being in a settled herd as they get older as this is less stressful.
 
Ive just had hyonate injections for mine , the change has been amazing, just unsure how long itll last. Also theres a thread on here somewhere in NL a girl did with the best arthritis supplements and costs. worth a look, Ive changed to riaflex from synequin due to the costs.


If its just general creakyness, I dont think you can ever go wrong with a bute alternative and oils in feed, glucosamine is good for non laminitics which is in the supplements listed above.
 
Plenty of turnout, make sure you spend more time warming up (especially during the winter or after she has been stabled.) We used to have to do 20 minutes work in walk to loosen our old boy up before we could do any work in trot and canter. Remember that she may struggle more around corners, turns and circles. She should be fine to do light schooling and hacking if she isn't too stiff but as the arthritis is most likely to get progressively worse with age, there may come a time where she is happiest just hacking out gently in straight lines. One of my horses has mild arthritis in his hocks and he wears stable chaps during the winter when he is stabled to keep his legs warm. I have found this very beneficial to reducing the stiffness in his legs and would highly recommend using them. He also has a scoop of cortaflex in his feed each day which seems to help.

Hope this helps. :)
 
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