Equine Joint Supplements and Research

Inside the Joint

• A horse's joints are naturally lubricated by the synovial fluid, a lubricant containing hyaluronic acid (which is responsible for the jellylike consistency of the fluids and aids in shock absorption) and a protein called lubricon. Synovial refers to the joints that are most susceptible to damage due to their wider range of motion, such as the shoulder, knee or hock. Without those ingredients, these joints experience too much friction, which leads to the destruction of the cartilage, then to pain, inflammation and reduced range of motion.

  Signs of joint pain are stiffness, shortening of the gait and unwillingness to perform. Horses that have been injured, have abnormal stress on their joints due to conformation faults, are older and experiencing normal wear and tear on their joints or that suffer from arthritis are all susceptible to the kind of joint disease that could be helped through the use of joint supplements.

How Joint Supplements Work

• Joint supplements work to encourage the body to produce more of the lubricants that enable a joint to move more freely and to replace the cartilage lost through friction or disease. Supplements also work to slow cartilage breakdown while they heal the damage caused by inflammation.

Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate

• Glucosamine, the "building block" of chondroitin sulfate, promotes cartilage growth and slows its breakdown. It also has anti-inflammatory qualities. Chondroitin sulfate stimulates the production of hyaluronic acid and works with glucosamine to slow normal degeneration of cartilage.

Herbal Steroids

• Many joint supplements on the market contain herbs that are reported to decrease inflammation and pain. Yucca and Devil's Claw both contain a steroid that can slow the production of the naturally occurring chemicals that lubricate the joint tissues yet do nothing to correct the underlying problem.

  Snake root contains chemicals that mimic NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) in their ability to decrease inflammation and mask pain but have been known to also induce ulcers in people and horses.

Research

• The discovery that consuming connective tissue could help arthritis sufferers began about 50 years ago and sparked the idea of eating gelatin and cartilage, which contain chondroitin. Twenty years later, scientists discovered the much smaller and more absorbable ingredient glucosamine within chondroitin but it was the addition of sulfur (sulfate) that made the difference---without it, the production of connective tissue grinds to a halt.

  According to an article written by Dr. David Davenport. DVM, Dr. Jim Blackford, DVM and Dr. Michael R. Bishop, MD, recent studies have determined only glucosamine containing sulfate effectively reaches the joint tissue. Even chondroitin sulfate contains molecules too large to be readily absorbed, reducing the amount of nutrient that actually reaches the joint.