What You Need To Know About Equine Joint Health

In this article I would like to talk with you about equine joint health. More specifically I want to talk with you about joint supplements for horses and how to ensure that your horse's joints are healthy and strong.

Over the past few months while reading various horse related magazines I have noticed that the amount of companies selling different types of joint supplements for horses has increased by a lot. Literally just few years ago there were maybe two or three companies, but now there are dozens and each of them make ridiculous claims about how their supplements can potentially help your horse's joints.

Let's slow down for a minute and talk about horse joints in general. When talking to my friends I like to compare horses to human athletes. They are similar in a way that they are constantly moving and the constant pounding and twisting of the horse's joints can put them under a lot of strain and leave them vulnerable to injury. In addition to this as our horses get older their tendons and ligaments get weaker each year and the chances of your horse suffering from a joint problem increase by a lot.

To minimize the risk of joint related problems a lot of people decide to use equine joint supplements, but as I have mentioned earlier - with so many different companies selling joint supplements sometimes it can become pretty difficult to choose a high quality supplement.

Instead of telling you which supplement companies are good and which ones are bad I will instead tell about which ingredients you should look out for in good joint supplements for horses.

The first and probably the most important ingredient in any kind of joint supplement is Glucosamine HCL. It is important that you look for supplements that contain Glucosamine HCL and not Glucosamine Sulphate, because Glucosamine HCL is primarily derived from herbs unlike Glucosamine Sulphate which is primarily derived from shells, which were known to cause allergies to horses. So what does Glucosamine do? It aids in the renewal of the connective tissue in and around the joints. It also aids in the renewal of the synovial fluid in and around the joint.

In addition to looking for supplements that contain Glucosamine HCL you also want to look for supplements that contain MSM (methyl-sulphonyl-methane). MSM is very effective when it comes to relieving inflammation and it's also aids in ligament and tendon repair.

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