Help for a Veteran Cob

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thebarn1

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My little boy who is a lw/mw 14.3hh Irish Cob has just turned 17 and although in good general health, I have noticed that he is a little stiffer when he is ridden. This has not been helped by the weather recently, but I just wanted to ask all of you what supplements you would recommend for use. He has had a fairly hard life, from the age of about 6 he was in a riding school and did some RDA work. I bought him about 6 years ago and since then he has done a bit of dressage, showing, hunting, been on several horsey holidays with me, but mainly hacking and a bit of schooling. He has access to 24/7 turnout, but due to the fact that years of neglect have given him awful sores on his cannon bones, he sometimes has to be stabled due to bad mud fever. He is fed adlib haylage when he is stabled, with a tiny feed twice a day of a cool mix. He is ridden about 4-5 times a week, and we always warm up carefully and cooled down properly if schooled. If hacking, we walk until warmed up. Any advice would be welcomed to keep his joints in good knick.
 
i used the codlivine supple joint supplement (designed for horses 15+) and found it worked wonders! Also glucosamine and just cod liver oil i am sure would have the same affect.

The codlivine was reccomended by my vet and also glucosamine, same for arthritic horses
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I have mine on Topsepc 10:10 joint supplement. I actually have no idea if it's doing anything or not as my horse is not obviously stiff all the time but he has had the old incident here and there that has made him stiff in the past. It certainly isn't doing him any harm so i would suggest something similar - glucosamine with MSM included. I have put my 23 yo pony on a maintainence level of it as well just to see if it will help his stiffness. He does seem a bit perkier i guess and has even started playing with our younger horse - have not seen him do that much before!
 
I have a lw cob, rising 18, I've had him since he was five - at about eight, he was diagnosed half a tenth lame on each hind leg, which tends to manifest itself as occasional stiffness, and going a bit short on the right hind. I've tried many supplements (I own a feed merchants) and I've found that joint supplements such as glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM based ones have no effect on him at all - he needs a mild pain killer, as the vet diagnosed that nothing could be done for the long term lameness. I've settled on New Zealand Herbals (sold through Equus Health) Devils Claw Flex, it's a 2:1 tincture, £37.50 for one litre and I use about 10ml a day.
 
my old boy is a 23 yr old Hanoverian, who has also had a hard life! he was a puissance horse in holland, and then came over and did grand prix dressage, so his legs are all a bit knackered!
i have him on NoBute, twice a day, and the difference it has made is incredible - he went from being stiff and sore to being able to hunt at least once a week and go eventing in the summer!
 
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