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RE: [RC] Joint Supplements as a Preventative Measure for a Sound Horse? - Chastain, Shannon L.Karen, Our main MOTDRA vet says all competitive horses should be on a joint supplement. When I damaged my shoulder last year I asked my physical therapist what he thought of joint supplements. He said they were great as a preventive but worthless once the damage had already been done??? My horses are both on them. Shannon -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Karen Koch Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 8:44 PM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Joint Supplements as a Preventative Measure for a Sound Horse? Hi all! Thanks again for all your suggestions and advice for moving my horse to Arkansas from Minnesota this summer. I'm in the middle of a multi-way discussion at my barn about the use of joint supplements in healthy sound horses, and I figured if anyone would have the tested answers it would be all of you here. My trainer firmly believes that all horses should be on them as a preventative, even if they are currently sound. All of her horses are on them. Most (actually, I think all of her clients) except me are giving them to their horses. My vet is in the might help, probably won't hurt anything camp. His horses are on them. My mother tried them on one of her Morgan geldings who had a stifle and some other hind leg issues dating from his days as a pasture breeding stallion at the urging of her vet - he actually got worse on the supplements. She almost put him down before she decided to take him off everything, at which point he improved. He's still stiff, but the addition of a couple of new mares to his life has him flying around the pasture and better than he's been at 29 than he has been in years. None of her horses are on them. To date, my position has been that if the horse is sound we shouldn't muck about with systems that are not totally understood, and should save the supplements for when the horse actually shows signs of needing them. Not sure if there's any research indicating if they build tolerances, etc. but that is a concern. And, these things are not cheap. I also have to admit that I tried taking them when I got back into riding at 33 after a several year hiatus and really couldn't tell that they made any difference for me. But I've been reading more articles indicating that they are a good preventative - the last one being in the Equus issue that just came out. And that led me to more articles indicating that horses are really good at hiding discomfort until it is serious. My horse is a 14 yr old Morgan gelding. I had the chiropractor/accupuncture/massage equine therapist give him a once-over last summer. The therapist wanted to borrow him to demonstrate a sound flexible horse. He did have an odd reaction to his last two sets of spring shots, including some stiffness and swelling and stocking up of hind legs and/or hocks. (I have the vet checking into titers before vaccinating as we speak - I'll report back to the list on that.) And the vet is going to take a look at his hocks in the next week or two because I was concerned about the vaccine reaction. So, assuming everything checks out fine, am I being a bad mother and possibly limiting the length of his active career by not giving him supplements, or am I being a good mother by not mucking about with his joints when things seem to be going fine? Thanks in advance for any comments! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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