The senior horse in the open stable: Staying mobile through the winter

Winter is often a love-hate relationship for us horse owners. On the one hand, there is nothing more beautiful than a snowy paddock and horses with "icing sugar" on their coats. On the other hand – and we have to be honest here – it is the hardest time of the year. Especially when, like me, you have an older horse kept in an open stable.

My gelding is now over 20. He is enjoying his retirement in a wonderful herd, with 24-hour hay and fresh air. It is basically paradise. But as soon as the temperatures plummet and the ground gets wet and cold, his age starts to show. In the mornings, he often seems stiff; his first steps out of the shelter look a bit wooden, and it simply takes him longer to get going. It breaks my heart to see that in wet, cold weather he prefers to stand still rather than wander over to the hay feeder with the others. You can just tell: his joints really don't like the winter.

The daily struggle with powders

Naturally, I wanted to support him. I've rummaged through all sorts of tubs and buckets: glucosamine, devil's claw, green-lipped mussel extract – you know the shelf in the tack shop. But that's where my real problem began.

In an open stable, feeding powders is the ultimate nightmare. I can hardly separate him three times a day to give him his feed in peace. So I often stood there in all weathers, trying to sneak some white powder into him. I hid it in soaked mash – he eats that, sure, but preparing mash every day is time-consuming, and in winter, the leftovers in the bowl freeze faster than you can blink. I tried hiding the powder in hollowed-out apples. The result: he takes a bite, shakes his head, and the expensive joint powder ends up in the mud. The worst was trying to simply sprinkle it over a handful of oats. He meticulously picked out the grains, and the powder remained stuck to the bottom of the manger as a dusty residue. If he doesn't eat it, the best active ingredient is completely useless. It was frustrating and a waste of money.

The discovery: nuvallo move

Searching for a solution that really works (and in my case, that means one that ends up in the horse and not in the sand), I came across nuvallo move.

What appealed to me straight away: it is neither a powder nor a liquid. They are functional joint snacks. Not treats, even if they look like them, but high-dose supplements in snack form. That sounded almost too good to be true, especially for my situation in the open stable.

Why nuvallo move Snacks make all the difference for us

So, I ordered a tub. The base of the snacks consists of linseed cake, rice bran, and linseed – completely free from wheat and maize. That was important to me, as my old boy also has a somewhat sensitive stomach and I don't want to stuff him with wheat or maize.

The application is almost ridiculously easy compared to my previous powder drama. My horse weighs approx. 550 kg. The recommended dosage is around 6 snacks per day (approx. 30 g). Since he visibly struggles more in winter, I fed him double the amount for the first three weeks, so about 12 snacks, to top up his reserves.

The scenario now looks like this: I arrive at the stable, greet him, and feed him his nuvallo move Snacks straight from my hand. He inhales them. He loves the taste. No bucket, no soaking, no picking out grains. And above all: no food envy drama within the herd, because it happens so quickly that the others don't even notice there was anything.

Yet packed into these little things is exactly what I previously tried so hard to feed him as a powder:

• Glucosamine & collagen: The classics for the cartilage.
• MSM: Organic sulphur, which I highly rate.
• Hyaluronic acid: Essentially the "oil" for the joints.

My verdict after the first third of winter

I have been feeding nuvallo move Snacks consistently every day for a good eight weeks now. They say you should give supplements at least 8 to 12 weeks to work, but after just six weeks I already felt I was noticing a change.

Of course, it is not a magic cure that turns a 23-year-old back into a yearling. But my subjective impression is clearly positive. When I watch him in the mornings, he seems more supple. He stands around looking "parked" a lot less and is moving around the paddock with more joy again, even when it is wet and cold. Last week I even caught him breaking into a little trot when feed arrived – he hadn't done that all November.

For me, the biggest relief is knowing: the active ingredients are actually getting into the horse. Every day, exactly dosed, without any stress. Since the snacks are ADMR-compliant, this would also be interesting for competition riders, but for us in the retirement gang, one thing matters above all: quality of life and the joy of movement in old age.

So if you also have a candidate who turns their nose up at powder or lives in an open stable, I can wholeheartedly recommend nuvallo move Snacks to you. It makes life easier – for me and for my old boy.