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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
   
Location: Oklahoma | Oral Joint Supplement Efficacy Tested in Senior Horses
By Natalie DeFee Mendik, MA Mar 26, 2014 Topics: Arthritis & Degenerative Joint Disease Muscle and Joint Problems Joint Supplements Older Horse Care Concerns
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Oral Joint Supplement Efficacy Tested in Senior Horses
Improvement in the control group’s way of going might be attributable to benefits of or acclimation to exercise, which would support implementing an exercise regimen in older horses, the researchers said.
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Keeping aging equids comfortable and sound is a top priority (and, often, a challenge) among senior horse owners. To help their older horses along, many owners reach for one or more of the available supplements designed to alleviate joint issues. But just how effective are these products?
Researchers at Utrecht University’s Department of Equine Sciences in the Netherlands recently sought to find out, as they investigated the efficacy of one oral supplement in improving gait stiffness in older horses during a three-month, randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled study.
The researchers separated 24 senior horses, ranging in age from 25 to 34, into two groups: one received the manufacturer’s recommended dose of a compound oral supplement comprised of glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), while the other received a placebo.
The team used a kinematic gait analysis system to objectively measure locomotor characteristics on a treadmill at walk and trot, before and after treatment. They focused primarily on the horses' stride length, but also measured carpal (knee) flexion, fore fetlock extension, and tarsal (lower hock) range of motion.
The team found that the group receiving the oral supplement showed no significant improvements in stride length by study’s end compared to the control group. However, they said the control group did exhibit improved carpal flexion, and both groups displayed positive changes in fore fetlock extension. Improvement in the control group’s way of going might be attributable to benefits of or acclimation to exercise, which would support implementing an exercise regimen in older horses, the researchers said.
“We have proven that in veteran horses, exercise seems to have a beneficial effect on the status of their locomotor apparatus (more suppleness in the fetlocks and more animated gait from the carpus),” explained study co-author Wim Back, DVM, Cert. KNMvD (CKRD), Cert. Pract. KNMvD (Equine Practice), PhD, Spec. KNMvD (Equine Surgery), Dipl. ECVS. “For the evaluated standard nutraceutical, we could not demonstrate any clinical locomotor effect in the assessed set of four evidence-based outcome parameters.”
The team concluded that in this case oral supplementation of glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate, and MSM did not improve stiff gait in senior horses.
The horses in the current study were stiff, albeit sound, Back said. “Further research in a similar set-up would use other groups (i.e., lame horses) and/or would test also other nutraceuticals,” he explained.
Additional in-depth evaluation is currently under way.
The study, “The effects of three-month oral supplementation with a nutraceutical and exercise on the locomotor pattern of veteran horses,” was published in the Equine Veterinary Journal. |
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3314
 
Location: Jersey Girl | That is precisely why I don't do feed thrus. Injectable only for joints. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Too small of sample size, to be reliable. I would like to know what they list as their limitations of the study and if it has been published into any scholarly journal, and if the research has been peer reviewed. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 972
Location: Texas! | There has been more peer reviewed research that oral joint supplements do not work well enough to support their use then for using them from the research I've done. I recently started my gelding on exceed 6 way with a $100 off coupon but did it mainly for all the added perks to hoof health and gut. If it helps his joints great if not I didn't expect it to. We will see after two months if I will buy again or just go with added biotin and omeprazole. |
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Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | cheryl makofka - 2014-03-26 9:23 PM
Too small of sample size, to be reliable. I would like to know what they list as their limitations of the study and if it has been published into any scholarly journal, and if the research has been peer reviewed.
It tells in the last line where it was published. I got it off Horse.com. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| dianeguinn - 2014-03-26 9:33 PM
cheryl makofka - 2014-03-26 9:23 PM
Too small of sample size, to be reliable. I would like to know what they list as their limitations of the study and if it has been published into any scholarly journal, and if the research has been peer reviewed.
It tells in the last line where it was published. I got it off Horse.com.
I see that now thanks for pointing it out |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | I love when these come out. I don't care what the research says..I only care what works and doesn't work for my horses. I know the THE Equine Edge Joint Plus works for my horse. I had him on it for quite awhile and decided to give him a break and use something else for a few months and tried something else and within 3 weeks I could see he wasn't getting around as well and gave my farrier trouble so he is back on the THE. I'll see if my farrier says anything next time he shoes him.
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 Famous for Not Complaining
Posts: 8848
Location: Broxton, Ga | From what I've been told from a equine vet the horse cannot absorb joint supplements due to size of molecule of the ingredients. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1367
Location: mi | Nevertooold - 2014-03-26 11:34 PM I love when these come out. I don't care what the research says..I only care what works and doesn't work for my horses. I know the THE Equine Edge Joint Plus works for my horse. I had him on it for quite awhile and decided to give him a break and use something else for a few months and tried something else and within 3 weeks I could see he wasn't getting around as well and gave my farrier trouble so he is back on the THE. I'll see if my farrier says anything next time he shoes him.
^^^This^^^
I have a broodmare with a knee that is 2 sizes too big. To the point that it will no longer hold her up while the farrier is doing her good foot. Put her on Actiflex and she is now able to get a decent trim and runs and bucks and plays with the rest of the gang. Ran out for about a week and could tell by the end of that week that the knee was bothering her again. I am always skeptical too but this one seems to work for her and she will be on it until it's her "time". |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | The only oral supplement I feel for joints is MSM. I have seen positive results with them in my ringbone horse, though. However, he was not over 25. He was around 7 years old.
The main reason I do not feed oral supplements is the cost. The injectibles are the same price or cheaper, and they are more effective in my experience. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | Does this pertain to oral supplements such as DMG and or ulcer preventatives? |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | hoofs_in_motion - 2014-03-27 7:52 AM Does this pertain to oral supplements such as DMG and or ulcer preventatives?
It concluded the supplements did not improve gait.. I think she higlighted the main idea above. :) |
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Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | barrelracr131 - 2014-03-27 8:22 AM hoofs_in_motion - 2014-03-27 7:52 AM Does this pertain to oral supplements such as DMG and or ulcer preventatives? It concluded the supplements did not improve gait.. I think she higlighted the main idea above. :)
That darn pup kept me up again LOL, thanks for pointing it out. Tired eyes here lol
I don't feed any MSM, or joint supps. If my mare were to ever get sore, I'd probably have her injected with a joint supplement. |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | hoofs_in_motion - 2014-03-27 8:24 AM barrelracr131 - 2014-03-27 8:22 AM hoofs_in_motion - 2014-03-27 7:52 AM Does this pertain to oral supplements such as DMG and or ulcer preventatives? It concluded the supplements did not improve gait.. I think she higlighted the main idea above. :)
I don't feed any MSM, or joint supps. If my mare were to ever get sore, I'd probably have her injected with a joint supplement.
The only oral joint thing I use is MSM... because it is so cheap. It is supposed to help allerigies (IDK about that though LOL), and otherwise I have seen much better results with Pentosan
I did feed my horse glucosamine, choindrotin, MSM, and something else like 10+ years ago, but I'm not sure if there were better options back then. It did help him a lot, but not enough really for him to be ridden. And it was very expensive |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | I think we saw this evolve in a similar way in humans over 10 years ago. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the same supplements for degenerative joint disease at one time, but studies started to emerge that concluded it was awfully hard to see a significant difference between these supplements and placebo. Some people still swear by them and say it makes a difference. I don't bother trying to change their mind. |
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 Always Off Topic
Posts: 6382
Location: ND | while i agree with the results because of other reasons, this study can be torn to shreds and as far as useful data, is useless..... |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | dhdqhllc - 2014-03-27 10:05 AM while i agree with the results because of other reasons, this study can be torn to shreds and as far as useful data, is useless.....
So I went back and read it and yeah....
agree
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Veteran
Posts: 276
Location: Washington | My dad and I developed a joint supplement two years ago. We work very closely with a company that develops many supplements that we all use every day. They have been open since the 70's. They test and research daily to know how it works, why, correct dosage, etc. When we had our
supplement made it was strictly for us and to sell at our tack shop. Myself as well as a few of our friends started having some amazing success stories with it we decided we had something and probably should introduce it to the public. I had used many of the top joint supplements over the years and never had a ton of success with them and that is why we created ours because I felt I was throwing Money away feeding all these supplements and still injecting. One day we called the company up that makes our product and asked why our product worked so good lol. We are just horse people that had an idea and were lucky it worked. The nutritionist explained it like this.. Most people don't start treating joints until there is a problem, the joint is then inflamed and people start feeding them repairing and joint health ingredients but the inflammation is still there, you have to get the inflammation out before those ingredients can get in there and start repairing. Arthritis is simply inflammation of the joint. Lots of joint health ingredients have anti-inflammatory properties but aren't strong enough or don't have enough to treat the inflammation. That was what made our product different, it had several anti-inflammatory ingredients and that was their main "job". Hope this makes some sense about joint supplements. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | I wish I could read the entire study instead of just the abstract. But anywhere I've seen it online you have to pay in order to see the whole thing. It's quite easy to interpret the results to come up with what you want the abstract to say. Often you will find lot of tidbits in the study itself that can change the meaning of the abstract.
To me, the study is worthless.
The study says that for a stiff horse around 29 years of age (what 29-year-old horse isn't stiff??) that adding a feed-through supplement for 3 months did not help. ..... Why does that not surprise me?
The abstract does not tell us what dosage of ingredients were used.
The abstract (or study) did not test the ingredients individually; only in combination.
The abstract does not tell us what name-brand supplement they used.
The abstract does not tell us what prior treatments/supplements these 24 horses had had earlier in their lives.
The abstract does not tell us what these horses did in their earlier lives (competition-wise).
The abstract does not tell us how their stiffness was exactly the same from horse-to-horse or if they had different levels of stiffness.
The abstract does not tell us how long the horses were exercised for (walk and trot) and what their stabling conditions were like (stall, pasture, etc).
I could go on and on. There are way too many variables they did not address in the abstract, and maybe didn't address in the study either.
What I want to know: If I start my horse on a feed-through supplement at age 6, how will it have helped his joints by age 29?
A feed through supplement is most likely not going to help too much once damage has already been done (Like in the 29-year-old horses tested.). But what about prevention?
Again, I find this study totally useless.
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | all these tests they run on this and that are no different than what the Dr's say... that one minutes eggs are bad for you, the next they are not. That is just one example. I think some people feed things in a hopeless situation expecting a miracle. I do believe in feed throughs as I have used them for over 10 yrs on different horses, they can and do work, depending on the situation. I have a stud with a blown knee. It is full of arthritis. A feed through may alleviate some pain, but in no way shape or form is it going to regenerate soft tissue and prevent the bone on bone. An injectable will be his best bet. Same story with ulcers. A horse may misbehave and they treat for ulcers when it could be something totally different (bad saddle etc). So now all of a sudden the ulcer treatment didn't work. Well of course not, the issue was somewhere else. |
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