Supplement dosages

[Greylegs]

I own 19 year old highland. He's a chunky boy, a good 14.2 and well built with good bone. He's fit and well; sound and generally enjoying life. My vet came yesterday to give him his annual flu/tet jabs and generally give him a once over, and feels that he's getting stiff in his back end - hocks/stifles. I'm aware of the stiffness, but as we only do a bit of hacking these days he generally walks it off after 5-10 minutes and is fine to walk trot and canter thereafter. We don't jump, compete or do anything too challenging, although we hack in quite a hilly area so he works hard just hackin. However, vet thinks he may benefit from a joint supplement of some sort to help his stiffness.

I've no idea what I'm going to use at the moment (this isn't a "which supplement" query), but have been to my local feed store this morning to see what they stock, reasoning that whatever I do decide to give him I'll need to be able to actually get hold of it easily. The store stocks 4 or 5 different popular brands of joint supplements which all seem to require different dosages. All dosage seem to be quoted for a 500kg horse and give daily feeding rates at so many scoops per day as maintenance after a loading dose. My lad weighs 590kg, and he's a bit on the heavy side at the moment in spite of us doing everything possible to limit his grass intake! .... he probably ought to be nearer 550 if I'm honest).

So ... if I just feed the 500kg dosage, how much difference on the scale of things will it actually make to the effectiveness or otherwise of the supplement? Do I need to feed a bit more than the recommended dose? Eg, if it says give 4 scoops daily, should I give 4.5? Or is it ok to just think that he's getting a dose so something is better than nothing ..... ?

Sorry if i'm overthinking this - I don't use supplements normally, but all advice gratefully received.

 

[supsup]

If the dose is given as "amount per bodyweight", then I would feed according to bodyweight and increase the dose in proportion (for a 590kg horse and a dose of four scoops per 500kg, that would be 4.72 scoops). A joint supplement may or may not make a difference, but I think unless you feed it at the recommended dose, you're not giving it a fair chance. I'd probably go with what's recommended (loading dose, then reducing). If it does make a difference at the recommended dose, you can always experiment with reducing the dose even more further down the line and see if you can get away with feeding less while maintaining the improvement.