Joint disease, especially wear and tear of the cartilage which covers the articular surfaces of bones within the joint is one of the most common causes of reduced performance and ultimately lameness in performance horses.

In a healthy joint, cartilage is continuously undergoing repair to micro-damage, but as cartilage doesn’t have its own blood supply, it relies on the bone underneath and the synovial or fluid bathing the joint to supply nutrients and key compounds to complete these repairs. As the horse ages, or the daily impact of training and competition increase, the ability of the underlying bone and synovial fluid to provide these nutrients may not be enough to keep up the rate of repair needed, and damage, with the resulting pain, loss of performance and eventually lameness becomes evident.

So it is vital that high-performance horses receive a dietary supply of these key nutrients to maintain the rate of repair, to ensure the cartilage and joint fluid retain their elasticity and shock-absorbing properties to help maintain peak performance.

Feeding Guidlines:

For 500kg horse: for initial 10 days, 35g per day. Thereafter, may be gradually reduced, typically to 11.5g per day, to maintain the desired response.