Text Goes heOsteoarthritis (OA) is one of the leading causes of poor performance and lameness in horses. Therefore, proactively maintaining your horse’s joint health can improve his athletic longevity and comfort throughout his lifetime. The type of work the horse does, his conformation, hoof health, body condition, and nutrition can significantly impact his joint health.  

“Lameness is the most common reason for younger horses to lose training days, and degenerative joint disease is a virtually guaranteed companion to healthy aging,” says Wendy Pearson, PhD, associate professor of equine science at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada. “Prevention of joint disease through targeted nutrition and active surveillance of joint health with your veterinarian can go a long way in extending your horse’s health and quality of life.” 

Nutritional Considerations for Equine Joint Health 

Meeting your horse’s nutritional needs through a balanced diet supports optimal equine joint health. Maintaining this balance throughout his entire life, not just during his performance career, remains crucial. In fact, postnatal growth offers one of the key windows to influence long-term skeletal health.  

Feeding horses for optimal joint health should begin at birth; do not wait until they are in work. Poor nutrition and rapid growth rates correlate with developmental orthopedic diseases (DODs). Feeding your horse inappropriate energy (calorie) levels for his growth stage and activity level can have a negative impact on skeletal development. The Nutrient Requirements of Horses: Sixth Revised Edition (2007) provides feeding recommendations for horses during these developmental years. 

“Start with clean, fresh water, good-quality grass hay or pasture fed at 2% of body weight and a plain salt block,” says Steve Adair, MS, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, ACVSMR, CERP, professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, in Knoxville. “Then you either add a concentrate or ration balancer depending on the age and use of the individual. Some horses will also need calories from concentrates or fat supplements due to their breed, age, or workload, but others only require hay/pasture and a ration balancer.” 

If you maintain your horse on a balanced diet, supplements can be an effective way to further support your horse’s joint health. “There is not one treatment that promotes optimal joint health,” says Adair. “We should direct our efforts to prevention. There are several areas to be considered: proper hoof conformation, proper shoeing, postponing training/work until a horse is skeletally mature, not letting a horse get obese, not allowing a horse carry too much weight (rider and tack) are just a few examples,” says Adair. Preventing OA remains crucial because you can’t reverse it. Once a horse begins to display clinical signs, irreversible damage already exists. “Depending on the case, we can slow down the progression of disease, but we are never able to return the joint to normal,” Adair adds.  

Evaluating Supplements for Equine Joint Health 

Joint trauma inevitably occurs as a daily part of a horse’s life. Whether it involves normal wear and tear, or regular high-impact work, throughout the horse’s life, joint degeneration will occur. “Targeted nutrition to help horses with preexisting osteoarthritis can be one of the best ways to slow progression of the disease,” says Pearson. “Products which slow down cartilage loss in the face of inflammation are an essential part of a balanced diet in these horses.” 

When evaluating supplements that target joint health, compare and review the science behind them. “The adage ‘you get what you pay for’ is appropriate,” says Adair. “The higher the price the better the quality of the product in most cases. Try and purchase from a reputable company that has some research to back their claims. If you find related products, but there are significant differences in price, look at the quantities of the active ingredients. Oftentimes the cheaper product has less active ingredients.” 

When reviewing the literature on joint supplements, look for research about each specific product. “It is less about specific active ingredients and more about products with sound evidence for efficacy,” says Pearson. “There are plenty of ingredients that have been shown to benefit cartilage, but there is huge variability in potency of individual ingredients. Additionally, many ingredients will interact with each other and, therefore, have differing effects on cartilage health when they are fed together. So, the best strategy for horse owners is to support companies who invest in research on their products. These products might cost a little more, but the added cost is far outweighed by the added benefit.” 

Pearson recommends asking joint supplement companies: 

1. What is the company’s policy on quality control? For example, some companies are Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certified, while others are not.  

2. What is the company’s policy on research? Some might have a portion of their budget allocated to product research each year. 

“There are very few products that have undergone the expensive process of testing, and it is not to say that only tested products are efficacious products,” adds Pearson. “But without research, it is just a guessing game in which horse owners are donating their own horses as research animals.” 

Equine joint supplements often include anti-inflammatory ingredients. “Joint supplements that include chondroitin sulfate, glucosamines, avocado-soy unsaponifiable (ASU) and additional additives such as MSM, omega-3 fatty acids, resveratrol, and hyaluronic acid have been historically recommended,” says Adair.  

Take-Home Message  

Joint degeneration ranks among the leading causes of lameness in horses and almost inevitably affects them, especially with age. Because progresses and cannot be reversed, prevention becomes critical. Although a variety of factors contribute to the development of OA, managing your horse’s diet with an understanding of how nutrition impacts joint health can be a key factor in prevention. Additionally, when considering a supplement, ensure quality research supports it.