MSM or general joint supplement

[Toffee44]

My mare has torn her manica Flexoria (a sheath attached to DDFT) she's had steriods and fingers crossed all heat gone, swelling gone and appears sound now 1 week post injection.

Currently she is fed
Top spec lite (was on Baileys performance before box rest)
Gut balancer and 1 bute
Turmeric
Speedibeet

Im tempted to scrap the turmeric and replace with a stronger joint supplement or MSM. Shes an 18yr old good doer. The world of joint supplements is vast these days, any suggestions? Or is it just as good to go to MSM

We are hoping she can return to normal but no longer jump :-(

 

[Shay]

I used to use a joint supplement but switched to MSM alone on the advice of an equine nutritionist. (And Boswelia becuase we were on box rest at the time.) The oldie - who is not the one that was on box rest - is doing far better on MSM alone than he was on the more general joint supplement. There is some research to suggest horses with mild arthritis may benefit from Glucosamine (the other primary ingredient in most joint supplements.) But it hasn't been my personal experience.

 

[Griffin]

I think joint supplements are a bit of trial and error, some seem more effective with one horse than another.

You could start off with a basic MSM and Glucosamine one and see how it goes but remember that you will need to give it several weeks to show any improvement.

If you want to try a more general supplement first, I have found that Equimins Flexijoint or Feedmark's Extra-Flex HA have both made a difference to different horses in the past.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I have been using boswellia and msm for the arthritic one and he seemed ok on it but have noticed lately being a bit stiffer at the start of a ride, I used to use Riaflex on my old mare which really helped so I have ordered it to try on him, I do use just msm for my other horse but he doesn't have arthritis but has had soft tissue injuries and I think it really help him.

 

[AFB]

I went for a straight Glucosamine option on the advice of my physio - so far so good.

If you're tempted down the route of one of the all singing all dancing joint supplements, do some real research - some are a total waste of money (inc. some of the big branded ones) when you look at the amount of ingredients and they all list in different measurements just to make comparisons simple for us...