Technical joint supplement questions

[poiuytrewq]

I'm pretty sure there was an amazing thread on here about this but I wonder if anyone can advise.

When choosing a joint supplement what are the key ingredients to look for? and so I can compare products what's the optimum amount of each product per dose?

I'm not really wanting replies of "ive been feeding XXX for years and its great" (sorry!) just the science please!?

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I had similar thoughts & questions regarding joint suppliments. I have a Hann x Tb who is 16 years old now & also an 11yr old Hols x Selle Francais who is a big lad & decided that I needed a joint suppliment to help them. There were so many out there & all had endless lists of ingredients that really ment nothing to me. In the end I decided to speak to my vet. He's highly regarded, he writes for various magasines & is appearing at Your Horse this year. He told me that many of the ingredients put in many suppliments have no scientific proof underpinning their presence at all. He went on to say that his surgery actually sells a joint suppliment, I know you may say he's biased, but he said it includes only scientifically prooved compounds. I checked it against other preparations & decided to buy it. It was competitively priced so why not.

Now. does it work, well I don't really know. There was nothing wrong with my horses before I started using it & there's still nothing wrong with them. I am using it as a preventative measure to help them in the future. I suppose I'll never kniow if I'm wasting my money or not but if I am I am wasting less than buying another suppliment.

Here is a link to the vet website: http://www.poolhousevetsequineshop.co.uk/products/joint_supplement.php

 

[poiuytrewq]

Thank you. That's interesting as even if I don't buy it, I can compare amounts of a vet endorsed product with stuff I can source locally and the one I currently feed.
Yes, I too often wonder if these supplements are actually doing anything!

 

[happyclappy]

Thank you for posing this question, and for your reply Toby-Zaphod.

 

[NU ABO]

Just thought I'd add my two cents here.

My boy's suffered with mild arthritis for a couple of years now and nothing on the shelves really seemed to be helping, apart from AlphaBute by Global Herbs if he went unsound.
So I went for a look on the internet and read up about what was good for joints, everything went back to the same few ingredients:

Glucosamine HCL (almost all joint supplements have this in them)
MSM (as above)
Boswelia / Boswelia Serrata
Turmeric
(There are mixed reviews about the effectiveness of Hyaluronic acid)

So looking back at what was available to buy there are only very few supplements with all of these in them. The best I could find was Challenged Joints by T.E.N.

So I looked around a bit more and eventually came across this website called 'Hack Up Ltd'for bespoke supplements and thought I'd give it a try.
The idea is you provide them with all the information they require about your horse, they will then suggest a formulation based on your circumstances. If you disagree and think you might want more of one ingredient, less of another etc etc you just phone them and let them know.
Also Alex is really nice to talk to over the phone.

My particular supplement (which has worked wonders on my boy) has a lot of Glucosamine and Boswelia in it for anti-inflammatory purposes, slightly less MSM and Turmeric, then a bit of Zeolite to keep everything settled in his stomach.

This is their website: http://www.hackup.co.uk/ if you wanted to have a look

As for optimum amounts, it's sort of difficult to say as every on the shelf joint supplement will tell you they include the 'optimum amount' and they all have differing versions of what the 'optimum amount' is.

 

[Darcydoo]

Have a look at Nutraquin