Keeping older horse sound - bute substitutes?

EmmaB

EmmaB

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Hey all, my horse is a 17yo tb x welsh and a few years ago he damaged his collateral ligament, but he came back into work and was mostly sound, the Vet said he was not even 1/10ths lame, but you could occasionally see some unlevelness. They said they were happy for me to ride him as usual and could jump him like before (I only do small stuff anyway) so he was fine for ages.

I've moved yards closer to home now so have ridden a lot more, he is looking a bit skinny but I put this down to the long winter and more riding, and I decided to put him on devils claw to make him a but more comfortable.

Recently he felt a bit off so I loose schooled him this morning and looks more unlevel than usual and just not happy :( I was thinking o putting him on glucosamine or something for his joints now that he's getting on abit! But the devils claw hasn't made much difference. Also his top line looks awful now!

He is going to te vet Wednesday for jabs so ill ask them what they think but just thought I'd see if you guys had any suggestions of what I could put him on to help him? I don't know if the vet will just say put him on bute but it's a pain getting him to eat it!

Sorry for the ramble I just don't know what to do, I don't want to retire him as he loves going for a gallop and loves to jump, and it seems too early to retire him as he is not old in himself. I'm hoping when the grass comes he will look better but I jut want him to be comfortable even if I have to give him something everyday. Has anyone else's horse had no reaction to devils claw? What other supplements do people reccomend?

Thanks :o
 
My elderly horse responded really well to Equine Anerica's Buteless which doesn't have devils claw in it. She had no relief from two bute a day but as significantly better when on Buteless. She is also on cider vinegar for her joints. The thing that had the biggest impact on her stiffness as she got older was turning her out 24/7 and as she is no longer standing still overnight she looks really sound and not at all stiff.
 
You could try Boswellia, which is supposed to be effective and the main ingredient in vetrofen. Other than that I'd ask the vet for a regular supply of bute if he needs it.

Boswellia and devil's claw will supposedly work on pain, but to protect joints from further damage then things like glucosamine, msm, HA, and green lipped mussel, linseed, cider vinegar are all said to help; or you could try something such as superflex?
 
I gave my 23 yo devils claw, but stopped when I switched her to Topspec senior which has glucosamine and msm included. She has not looked so supple in ages, and it was just within a week of feeding it. Unfortunately she started to put on too much condition with the Senior balancer so On Thursday I swapped her on to Topspec Antilam - she has started to show stiffness again (stifle). I've bitten the bullet and ordered some Topspec 10:10 supplement which has high doses of glucosamine and msm (it's in the senior balancer) as I now know it was making a real difference.

I have tried cortaflex (for a long time), supplease gold, vetvits equiflex (prob the best of the bunch) and none of them have shown as good an effect as the Topspec.
 
Hi, my horse is also 17 and I've noticed in the last year or so he's not holding his condition as easily and is certainly feeling his age. I've recently upped his feed to help him maintain condition, which is doing the trick.

He recently went lame in front and I immediately started to worry it was past issues flaring up, again the lameness is never severe but it's usually something major causing it.

Like your horse he has past injuries which don't help, in his case suspensory ligament issues in both hinds and as a result of those issues with both fronts.

If i was in your situation before resorting to bute substitutes i would get him checked over by your vet just to be on the safe side, just have a chat with them as you have posted here. I know you probably don't want to go down a route of more tests because of insurance restrictions, but in my experience vets are quite used to dealing with these situations. You never know the "new" lameness might be something else completely.

You mention you've moved yards and upped his exercise, his weight loss could be due to stress from the move and from the increased exercise, and just feeding a supplement would not really make a difference to his weight, i'd be thinking of trying something more than just a supplement to increase condition. If you approach any of the feed manufacturers they usually have a nutritionist that is more than willing to help. For example I recently contacted Allen and Page and they were extremely helpful.
 
Thanks guys, I've heard good things about the equine America products so could try the buteless! And have been looking at glucosamine/msm products but there are so many. I didn't realise that you could get feed with them in though (doh!), the topspec seems expensive but I suppose if it works then it isn't so bad! I think I need to take a trip to the feed store and have a mooch at the oldie feeds/ supplements...I guess it is trial and error to see what works for my horse, I would rather try and find something like this than have to put him on bute! :)
 
Benjamin bunny - thanks, yep I have upped his feed and he has put a bit of weight on, the weight isn't so much what I was worried about as I know he will probably pile it on when the grass is here, he was a fatty last summer! It's more the pain relief/old age I was worried about but I'm goin to see if I can find some better feed anyway. And yes I'll get the vet to give him a trot up and a look over, I'm hoping its just the old injury not anything new, eek!
 
I hope it's nothing serious too - keeping all crossed for you....

I feed my boy Cortaflex which i know you said wasn't that successful for yours, but for him it's the HA (hylauronic acid) that does him good - it was that which the vets injected him with directly into his navicular bursa - by feeding him it i'm hopefully preventing the need for any further injections - 3 years its done the trick so far..... I know you can get an added HA one but it's double the price and as of yet i've not felt the need to use it as i've got results from Cortaflex the normal one....

I have in the past tried just straight glucosamine and that was just useless....
 
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