ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] MSM, Adequan IM, Chondroitin Sulfate

[endurance] MSM, Adequan IM, Chondroitin Sulfate

Kathy Myers (kmyers@collagen.com)
1 May 1996 11:00:25 U

Oral Chondroitin sulfates work. I got an e-mail from someone, in
England I think, who is in the midst of an ongoing study to finally
give some scientific background to the fact that feeding Flex Free
*DOES* help arthritic horses.

I have used this myself on an old arthritic lame... head bobbing lame
horse. A real sweetie. There was NO DOUBT but that it helped him.
He went sound in 3 days. I did NOT expect it work. I thought it
was voo-doo. 3 days later I was convinced. Then... after the cold
winter, I cut back on the amount in the warm spring weather. Oops.
He was much sore-er without it. (Is sore-er a word?)

The horse in question was 27. He'd been developing arthritis for a
long time and that November he finally went dead lame. We had some
teanage girls who loved him and would take him out for little rides
and take him to a schooling show or lessons. He was in 24 hour
pasture. The other thing that helps arthritic old horses a lot is
getting them out and keeping them moving. Pasture is great. Light
work / riding is good for them. It helps their joints.

I would say the work helped, but he had been consitantly ridden all
along. Even by me if he didn't get out for a week. He was a great
horse, died of cancer last December and was never that lame again.
We kept him on Flex Free until he died.

The "It doesn't get absorbed" and "It's inactivated by the acid"
arguments from vets who have not used it irks me. Try this stuff
FIRST... before someone wants to invade your horses joints with
a needle.

That said, I have also used the Adequan IM injectable to enhance the
flex free in my TB (He's on it now... to ward off degeneration as
much as we can in that old ankle injury). It is a different
compound, but does a couple things. It gives him a once a month
*blast*; one helps lubrication, the other works on the actual
cartiledge; and my vet like to see both at work (a daily influx
as well as the once a month mega-dose). He had originally told
me doing both was overkill. That was *before* we saw the x-ray
of that old injury. That x-ray had him scratching his head and
wondering why Magnum horse passed the flexion test he'd just done.
He looked at me and said "Well... he's sound. (He left out the
I-dont-know-why part) Ride him. He'll last longer at slower
speeds. I'd pass him on a 3-day event." That's a lot coming
from Dr. Mike. So anyways, we're doing both now. ($$$$)

MSM... I put Magnum horse on this when he was recovering from an
abcess. I'd heard it would help the wound heal... and nothing is
too good for my baby. That wound healed up good and fast. So
what the heck. Then I found out that it's primary use is to decrease
swelling. Since swelling is damaging to joints and tendons and such,
Magnum is ALSO on a light dose of MSM... mostly because it's the
cheepest of the bunch.

I feed the pure Maximum strength Flex Free. Just like the label
says... 1/2 teaspoon daily. Don't over feed. It's too expensive
for that and works at this dose.

There has been some discussion about whether or not this stuff is
legal. Just like I cannot do NATRC because I need boots to protect
that old fractured sesamoid, I'd have to quit Endurance if this
is illegal. What the heck... first horse. He's a love, a lot
of fun and worth it. My husband says the next one has to be "free
of old football injuries" though...

:) - kat
and Magnum horse the TB ex-racer in No. Cal.