California Riding Magazine • March, 2009

Joint Supplements
Are you ready to scream yet?

by Nick Hartog

Ten years ago there were three joint supplements for horses on the market. Today there are currently over 250 choices available, all claiming to be the product that you need. No wonder consumers and feed stores are confused. I will try to make some sense of the myriad choices out there and what types of products will best suit your needs.
To be able to make a decision we first need to understand why we might need to feed a joint supplement in the first place.

People feed joint supplements for many reasons: some as a way of reducing the risk of joint problems, others who are trying to help a horse that is starting to exhibit some early signs of stiffness and, lastly, for horses that have developed serious and debilitating loss of movement and fluidity.

What is the process that occurs that causes these problems in the first place? The articular joint is a truly amazing piece of engineering—particularly for horses. When we consider the stresses that we place on those legs, particularly in tough riding disciplines, it is a miracle that the joints continue to perform year after year.
The key with healthy joint function is in two main areas. First of all, the synovial fluid, which is a viscous liquid that acts as a barrier between the opposing layers of cartilage that protect the bone. If this synovial fluid is healthy it protects the cartilage, much like oil in an engine. It also lubricates the joint capsule, allowing for smooth movement. Synovial fluid also carries nutrients that feed the cartilage tissue.

If the synovial fluid is degraded the second part of the problem begins to occur and that happens in the cartilage tissue itself. If the cartilage is not receiving the right amount of nutrients, the structural integrity of the cartilage will start to break down. This is a cumulative process which does not occur over night and that is why well formulated joint supplements can be so helpful in supporting healthy joint function.

Be Suspect of Speedy Results Claims

One of the first issues that is important to understand is the fact that these products are supplements, not drugs. We are trying to provide support to the joint. Anyone who has taken vitamins and mineral supplements themselves knows that you do not feel relief in a matter of days.

Many products are marketed based on speed of results, which I strongly believe is wrong. Before the advent of all these products, if your horse was lame, the first thing you did was rest the horse. The idea that you can take a lame horse, provide a supplement and that, in a matter of days, the horse is ready to be ridden is one of the most disturbing aspects of the joint supplement marketplace.

The products that offer these fast results are generally loaded with various different pain blocking or anti-inflammatory agents. The primary ingredients that fall into this category are MSM, Devil’s Claw, Boswellia, Bromelain and Yucca. It is important to understand that these ingredients are not bad ingredients, you just need to know what they do. There are a number of circumstances when it may be necessary to use products with these ingredients, perhaps for a short term or, in the case of a severely debilitated horse, for an extended period of time.

As I indicated above there are different circumstances for every horse. The ideal approach, if given the choice, is to use joint supplements as a way of reducing the risk of joint problems. If you have an aging horse or you are riding in challenging disciplines, be proactive. Acknowledge that there is a risk and provide a well-designed joint supplement.

Glucosamine is widely recognized as the key ingredient in a good joint supplement, however glucosamine on its own diminishes its effectiveness. It is important to provide crucial co-factors that work together to enhance the effectiveness of the glucosamine—manganese, zinc, copper, vitamin C, methionine are some of the ingredients that will make the glucosamine work better. These products take time to work. It takes two to three months for a joint supplement to work, so be realistic.

A joint supplement as described above will be an excellent choice for both purely proactive support or in the case of early signs of a problem. I like to think of climbing a ladder with joint supplements with the strength and ingredient mix changing as circumstances dictate. Therefore one should look for around 5000mg of glucosamine in this initial product for proactive or early signs of a problem. There are a number of other ingredients in the marketplace: chondrotin sulfate, perma mussel and hylauronic acid, but for various reasons I still feel that glucosamine is the best choice in the first stage.

In the case of a horse that is clearly having a problem then we can again try a basic joint supplement, but if that proves to be ineffective, we can look at higher levels of active ingredients or look at oral hylauronic acid. While there is very limited research on oral HA the field evidence is quite strong that HA appears to have a different action and can offer better support in some cases than products that are glucosamine based. One of the key concerns about HA is its bioavailability as it is a very large molecule and many biochemists question whether it can pass into the bloodstream. If considering an HA product ask the manufacturer what evidence they have that their ingredient is bioavailable.

We have seen marked improvement with oral HA products that did not contain anti-inflammatory/painblocking ingredients. The next step on the ladder if a horse is not responding would be to incorporate one or more of the anti-inflammatory/pain blocking ingredients short term to try to make the horse comfortable, but recognizing that any short term improvement is not an indication of improved joint function.
There will, of course, be cases where there has been severe damage to the joint and joint support ingredients alone will probably not be sufficient to help the horse. It may be necessary to provide a product with the combination of both joint support and anti-inflammatory/ painblocking ingredients together.

Ethical Matters

Ethics play an important part in this equation and we are fortunate to now have a much more transparent and accountable industry as a result of the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC). The NASC has in the last few years changed the face of the industry and I would highly recommend that you look for the NASC Seal on supplement products as this indicates the manufacturer is conforming to quality manufacturing practices. This is the first time there has been any kind of independent quality assurance for consumers in equine supplements.

In closing, I hope this piece helps you negotiate the bewildering array of choices. Make sure you can read and understand the ingredients, look for the NASC seal and remember that more is not necessarily better and ignore the claims on speed of results.

Author Nick Hartog is president of Grand Meadows.