Nearly 1,200 readers of TheHorse.com responded to a poll asking, “What concerns do you have about short- and long-term pain management in horses?”

• Side effects, such as ulcers: 84.17%  (989)
  
• Effectiveness (or lack thereof): 63.66%  (748)
  
• Positive drug tests: 8.60%  (101)
  
• Other: 6.81%  (80)

Readers shared their questions about pain management in the comments below.

Results of weekly polls from TheHorse.com are published in The Horse Health E-Newsletter. Published every week, this e-newsletter offers news on diseases, veterinary research, health events, and in-depth articles on common equine health conditions and what you can do to recognize, avoid, or treat them. Sign up for our e-newsletters using the form above or on our e-newsletter page.  

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• We had a horse that might have needed it but then we had to just give him back due to them money 🙁
  
• Masking the symptoms and not addressing the cause.
  
• Does my horse really need it? How will it help my horse top heal?
  
• Is Leg pain the worst?
  
• With poor management of pain in humans, can we be sure our horses are the best pain relief available?
  
• Masking pain for strenuous athletic endeavors is a dangerous thing to do.
  
• Should I give my paint horse Bute for shoe boil?
  
• What’s best besides Bute? Also give a natural painkiller for arthritis every other day.
  
• Cure for colic
  
• I’m looking for the best pain relief with the least side effects.
  
• Why are alternative natural analgesics more commonly used?
  
• Administration of pain meds
  
• Alternatives to products that may cause ulcers
  
• Is there a better way to regulate supplements?
  
• Knock on wood…I’ve been very fortunate to not to use it often at all; therefore, I have none.
  
• My friend’s horse has arthritis and is permanently on Bute. She still rides her.is that ok?
  
• Safe use in pregnant mares and use in foals with pain management issues
  
• I don’t want a bunch of drug-addict horses
  
• Arthritis
  
• Is there a drug to help with possible nerve damage & inflammation for horses?
  
• Safe procedures while awaiting vet
  
• Drug reactions are a concern, too
  
• Is there anything that can be used during AQHA competition that won’t ruin the horse’s health?
  
• Seems crazy to dull pain in one area only to create it in the stomach!
  
• Other-Am I doing what is best for the horse?
  
• None, horses don’t feel pain, unless I give it to them
  
• Over long-term pain management, how do you know it is still effective or needed?
  
• Increasing injury by masking pain, continuing the causative activity. Treating symptom, not cause.
  
• – If they can’t feel the pain they can get WORSE injuries…care is needed with pain meds
  
• Side effect, such as skin lesion, thrombophebitis
  
• Are pain meds being used to mask performance and training issues that should be addressed first?
  
• Damages to the horse due to lack of sensing…
  
• Why can’t this medicine be buffered like it is for humans?
  
• Quality of life.
  
• What about the concern when pain management is not what’s best for the horse?
  
• Can natural remedies work sufficiently without the side effects?
  
• That Bute given regularly is very hard on the stomach.
  
• My biggest concern tends to be the reasons that an animal needs long-term pain management.
  
• Does managing pain increase the likeliness of reinjury or exacerbating the existing injury?
  
• Managing pain but masking the real problem
  
• Should it be administered an hour before performance or after?
  
• Preventing ulcers in miniature horses on Bute
  
• WHAT’S ENOUGH? EASE PAIN, BUT NOT ENCOURAGE OVEREXERTION OF STRAINED
  
• MUSCLES.
  
• When will affordable COX-2 inhibitors be available in the U.S?
  
• Always keep Bute and banamine in tack room.
  
• My boy got “hooked” on ACE on 30 days of stall rest.
  
• Stiffness before & after exercise treatment
  
• Cost
  
• In too many cases, pain management treats the SYMPTOM, not the cause.
  
• The damage to the digestive system with prolonged use.
  
• What do people use besides Bute for pain mgmt not joint related. I use devils claw.
  
• I don’t know what is healthy for long-term management
  
• Allows continued movement w/pain meds allows further damage-get vet diagnosis before give pain meds
  
• Bute kills. That’s why it was taken off the market for humans.
  
• For chronic issues, there doesn’t seem to be a treatment that provides truly effective relief
  
• It doesn’t seem like there are really good, effective long-term pain relief solutions yet!
  
• How to know what pain medications to use for different types of pain such as arthritis vs. other
  
• I don’t use for long, I want the horse to know it has pain so as not to reinjure.
  
• We need a positive list (by days) and side effects warning in short
  
• I question if pain is in relation to an injury, if masking the pain would result in further injury?
  
• What’s the best way to counteract adverse effects of log term Bute for arthritis?
  
• They need to reformulate Bute to include buffering against ulcers
  
• Quality of life
  
• Worried about pain management in pregnant mares.
  
• Osselets treatment
  
• Possibility of damaging side effects from the long-term use of antinflamitory drugs…kidney problems
  
• What pain relief is safe for pregnant mares?
  
• We have NO concerns in this, as we own Sumerel Therapy,which naturally and effectively relieves pain
  
• What product is the best for simple, long-term usage?
  
• liver damage
  
• availability, cost of dosages,
  
• bute long term too common
  
• I worry that the pain mgmt drugs still in their system when they’re processed for food.
  
• With uveitis one is stuck giving pain meds!
  
• Pain is a healing response, always worried about taking too much pain away , poss causingmore damag
  
• why dont horse owners use natural herbal pain killers instead of using bute
  
• Need long-term pain control with minimal side-effects.
  
• Reducing pain is important but masking it does little to determine causes and preventing recurrence.
  
• When pain is relieved, horse may move around more causing more damage.
  
• masking real problems, exacerbating concerns.
  
• Other: the concern that many horses are horrible patients and can be dangerous to treat.
  
• We are in need of more choices for affordable equine pain management
  
• pain support for the geriatric horse is a large concern, especially reproductive mares that
  
• allergies
  
• Overall effect on horse and expense.
  
• are we just treating symptoms, what’s really going on to cause the pain?
  
• 1. IR horse medications restrictions 2. Effectiveness 3. Side Effects
  
• How do you know how if you can stop using drugs
  
• Layperson’s recognizing signs of pain in particularly stoic horses
  
• On pain meds my mare ran in the field and re-injured her tendon–because she didn’t feel the injury?
  
• I am using Duralactin for arthritis on one of my horses. Does it really work to alleiviate the pain
  
• safety of 1 gram of bute a day for maintenance
  
• Isn’t there an alternative to bute?
  
• WHAT IS A SAFE DAILY DOSAGE OF BUTE FOR A LA,E HORSE THAT BECOMES SOUND ON A
  
• 5MG DOSE?
  
• What pain relievers can be given to a horse that can’t have bute or Banamine due to colonic ulcers?
  
• masking symptoms
  
• How often and how much Butte can you safely give a 1200 pound horse?
  
• We use non-drug methods like ice and massage when possible.
  
• My horse goes to physical therapy for a torn ligament, should I treat him afterwards?
  
• Having a horse in a condition where he needs pain management.
  
• drug tolerance and bute ruining the stomach lining
  
• what are the best natural pain meds for horses that are in very light work/semi retired?
  
• How do you know if pain meds are effective
  
• aggravating damage by removing theprotective nature of pain and failing to treat the root cause
  
• Ulcers and the pain after treatment
  
• how it affects the horses over all physiological state.
  
• Kidney and Liver damage.
  
• Masking further symtoms or horse injuring itself further due to pain relief
  
• Addicted horses can be extremely aggressive. Ouch!
  
• Long-term negative impact on health with older products
  
• Short term, is it effective (enough) and long term damage are concerns….
  
• Animals are not human, treating long term pain without a return to usefullness is wrong.
  
• What works the best is the most important question to me
  
• I worry that the pain mgmt drugs still in their system when they’re processed for food.
  
• I dose probiotics generously to mitigate
  
• Adequan and Legend are really miracle drugs
  
• That the horse maintains a good quality of life!
  
• back pain medication
  
• how can you tell its really benifiting your horse?
  
• how do we know what works?