Boswellia or Devils Claw, or both?

J

JenHunt

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Brief history - Tom is 16.1hh Welsh x Hannoverian. He was out of a pony mare to a 17.2 stallion, so he's a bit of a funny shape (read overgrown welsh pony!). He's 18 this year. He was diagnosed with sidebone aged 5, had remedial shoeing and has been largely sound since, with the occasional bit of bute on off days to help him be comfortable (this was maybe once a month!). We found that deep ground was worse for him than hard ground, so just picked and chose what he was doing.

When my sister went to Uni he was more or less roughed off as I don't get on with him to ride, and he's quite a sensitive soul! I'd take him out ride and lead once a week just so he was kept moving to some extent. He had about 3 years roughed off.

Then when OH learnt to ride and my sister decided he could ride well enough he was allowed to hack Tom out gently so that he could be a bit fitter. At this stage he was getting a low level of bute (like half a sachet) daily as he started to show signs of spavin in both hocks.

Last year he had steroid injections into both hocks after a bout of stiffness after he'd been larking about in the mud in the field. Since then he's only had about 4 sachets of bute in total. All in all he's had about 6 years of easy or no work.

So what's changed?

My sister has realised that Tom needs work to be mentally happy and sane, and to keep him more sound. As a result (and a change in things with the hunt) OH has been allowed to get Tom fit, with the aim of having a few lessons on him and then taking him for some short days hunting this winter.

So we're looking for bute alternatives to help him stay comfortable (if he's not sound he won't go. simple) that won't risk harming his insides over a period of time.

Now, we're not people who do really long days, we tend to head for home at 2nd horses, and Tom is inclined to look for a verge to canter on rather than stomp along the road. But it's the deep mud that I'm concerned about hurting his legs.

So, can you feed devils claw with boswellia, or would you lovely people recommend one over the other?

Fruit salad or flapjack for replies! :)
 
My old lady has Equimins Mobile Mover and 'No Bute' daily, and then danilon as and when she needs it (she is retired). Danilon has been found to be gentler on the stomach, so may be a better medication than traditional bute?

I think I may have to go and work for equimins....I seem to big them up on a regular basis! lol!
 
ah ha!! I shall go and look up the effects of DC more closely!

it's interesting that the farrier saw him yesterday and said that it's the loosest he's felt his legs to be since my sister went to uni, so the work alone does seem to help him, we just need to make sure he stays that way! :)
 
Echo the advice to be carefull of weight gain with linseed oil, we use it to add weight to the elderly retired cob mare. Devils claw caused some problems for this old lady when we used it when she was in work, she was always messy when in season but got much worse when we were feeding DC, mind you not a problem for tom lol.
 
thanks folks!

looks like Boswellia and a joint supp is the way forwards. He's a porker at the best of times, so no need to risk more weight with the linseed! I know I can feed the soya meal with no problems with his weight so will stick to that.
 
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