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Joint Protection?
by David W. Ramey, D.V.M. |
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Inflammation of the joints of the horse (or any creature) is called arthritis. You've heard of it. In fact, the term arthritis can imply many things, from an acute injury that will heal with no long-term problems to a chronic breakdown of the joint that will result in permanent lameness. Unfortunately, there's no sure-fire treatment for every case of arthritis.
Without doubt, you've also heard that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In fact, one of the big questions out there for medicine is, "Can joints be protected from wear and tear and can arthritis be prevented?" (Obviously, you can't prevent joint damage from things like accidents; horses will go on hurting themselves forever).
As a horse owner, you've got a real smorgasbord of treatment options available for your horse's joints. Substances such as oral supplements, Adequan and hyaluronic acid all anti-inflammatory and joint metabolism-promoting benefits, both real and proposed. It certainly is seductive to think that if you could provide those benefits before joint problems happen, you could have a much greater chance of keeping your horse free of arthritis.
It is quite likely that some of these substances may be able to help the horse's joints recover more quickly from the little minor injuries that exercise-induced trauma may do to them. However, they are also frequently prescribed in an effort to prevent joint problems, particularly in high performance horses. The value of the horses participating in events such as racing, jumping and dressage and the potential rewards to the winners of the competitions (both financial and emotional) means that no potential stone that can provide a competitive "edge" will remain unturned. Whether or not there is any demonstrable benefit from the stone-turning-methods.
At this point in time, the use of these drugs in this fashion precedes any real scientific data that they can be effective. For example, there is absolutely no evidence that doing such things as routinely injecting a horse's hocks, keeping him on regular intramuscular or intravenous injections of some compound or feeding him shark cartilage, chondroitin sulfate or glucosamine will do anything at all to keep your horse free of arthritis. In fact, given the realities of such things as bad conformation, accidental joint trauma and the heavy and frequently unnatural work that is asked of horses (such activities as jumping, passage and running at a gallop for miles are not done on a regular basis by horses in the wild) it does seem unrealistic to think that giving drugs to otherwise healthy horses will prevent arthritis from ever developing.
If someone could provide you clear evidence that giving a certain product to your horse would prevent it from having joint problems, obviously, you'd use it. However, the question of whether drugs can prevent cases of joint disease will probably never be answered satisfactorily (it would take a whole lot of time, effort and money to try to conduct a study that might answer the question). Thus, if someone tells you that something will keep your horse's joints healthy, you can be certain that person is overstating their case.
If you can afford to keep your horse on the various compounds it won't hurt your horse. It won't hurt you anywhere except the pocketbook. But it's not necessary and it may not be effective. To the question of, "Can I help protect my horse's joints?", the answer, "Can't hurt; might help," seems to be good enough for many horse people who think they can protect joints by giving medication to the healthy horse. However, false hope is not the same thing as good medicine.
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Vet Talk with Dr. David Ramey
is a monthly column for tips on horse care. Dr. Ramey, author of numerous books and articles, is Dominion Saddlery's resident online vet. Dr. David Ramey is a 1983 graduate of Colorado State University. After completing an internship in equine medicine and surgery at Iowa State University in 1984, he moved to Southern California and began general equine practice, specializing in the care and treatment of performance horses from a variety of disciplines. Dr. Ramey is the author of numerous articles in the lay and professional press, as well as several books, including Horsefeathers: Facts vs. Myths about Your Horse's Health and the Concise Guide Series on equine health care. Look for them at Dominion Saddlery. |
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