How can I keep my horse’s joints healthy?
Early investigation and treatment can lead to better recovery in cases of arthritis, so if you’re concerned about your horse’s mobility, contact your vet for advice.
Maintain a healthy weight
Being overweight puts excessive strain on the joints so it’s vitally important to manage your horse’s weight throughout his life. Weigh tapes can help you to monitor any changes, and online tools can help you to assess body condition and fat scores.
Exercise
Keeping your horse fit with a regular exercise regime is important and regular turnout is also helpful to promote gentle exercise. Ensure that the workload is appropriate and try to keep it consistent — it’s better to do some work every day as opposed to nothing during the week, then heavy exercise at the weekend.
It’s important to thoroughly warm up and cool down, bearing in mind that every horse is different and yours may require more warming up as he gets older. Consider the surface you’re riding on and adapt the work accordingly — hard surfaces, such as roads, can cause a jarring shock to the joints, while deep surfaces or thick mud may increase the risk of twists and strain on the joints. It’s good to do a variety of exercises, avoiding repetitive activities and limiting those that could put strain on the joints, such as lungeing. A horse with joint disease may no longer be able to perform at the level he used to, but he may be happy and sound with a less intense workload. It’s important to understand, though, that even with good management and appropriate treatment, the signs of arthritis are likely to progress over time and factors such as the weather or other health conditions may affect how your horse copes.
Nutrition
A balanced diet will help to keep your horse in the best possible shape. As horses age, their digestion may become less efficient, so your horse may require changes to his feed in order to keep him in tip-top condition.
Joint supplements are popular and can be useful to support joint health by providing a dietary source of key nutrients that help to maintain normal joint function. Supplements containing green-lipped mussel extract provide glycosaminoglycans (including chondroitin sulphate) to help support joint health.