Keeping a senior horse fit: Mobility and joint health in old age

Why we consider this topic so important: from practice, for practice

Katja and Andrés are the people behind nuvallo. With over 20 years of practical equestrian experience, we know all too well how significantly a horse's needs change as they age. In this article, we give you scientifically backed answers straight from practice about what happens in the ageing horse's body and how you can support it in the best possible way.

The knowledge base: what happens in the horse's body as it ages

To understand how we can help our seniors, we need to take a quick look beneath the coat. A horse's joint is a biological masterpiece. Imagine it like a car's suspension: the joint cartilage acts as a shock absorber that cushions the immense impact with every step. The joint fluid (synovia) is the engine oil that ensures everything glides smoothly and supplies the cartilage with nutrients.

In younger years, this cycle of wear and regeneration works completely on its own. But the older the horse gets, the slower its metabolism works. The body naturally produces fewer essential building blocks like endogenous collagen or hyaluronic acid. The joint fluid becomes thinner, and the cartilage loses its elasticity and becomes brittle.

The tricky part is that these processes initially happen completely silently. Many of us only notice it during the cold, wet time of year. The old horse is stiff when it comes out of the stable in the morning or needs significantly longer in the paddock to warm up. We also often observe, with a slight pang in our stomachs, that the old horse finds it harder to stand up after lying down to sleep.

These changes are part of the natural ageing process. The problem for us as owners, however, is that our forage – hay and grass – simply does not contain sufficient amounts of these highly specific building blocks that the joint now urgently needs from an external source. This is where targeted feeding comes into play.

What does science actually say?

When we look around the supplement market, big terms are often thrown about. But what is proven fact and what is simply clever marketing? To shed some light on this, we need to honestly divide the research landscape into three areas.

a) What has been proven in laboratory studies

The biological basis of many active joint ingredients has been excellently researched. Cell cultures (so-called in vitro studies) have been examined at numerous renowned institutes worldwide. Scientists apply active ingredients like glucosamine or hyaluronic acid directly to isolated cartilage cells (chondrocytes). The results here are often impressive: the cells are stimulated, they produce more joint fluid, and cartilage degradation is slowed down.

However, the honest truth is also this: a petri dish in a laboratory is not a 500-kilogram horse. When a horse eats an active ingredient, it first has to survive the long journey through the gastrointestinal tract, be absorbed into the blood, and finally be transported to the joint. Laboratory results are therefore a wonderful indicator that a substance works, but they do not yet guarantee an effect in the stable.

b) What has been studied in the living horse

Things get more exciting with clinical studies on real horses. Universities such as Texas A&M and Michigan State University have been conducting research into equine joint health for years. In practical field studies, often conducted over a period of 8 to 12 weeks with groups of 15 to 30 horses, vets measure parameters such as stride length, gait, or the reaction to flexion tests.

Many of these studies confirm: horses that received targeted supplementation with high-quality joint building blocks showed improved mobility values in objective measuring procedures compared to control groups. This picture is complemented by massive human studies. In the well-known GAIT study (Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial), for example, over 1,500 human patients were examined. Such large-scale studies scientifically underpin the efficacy of the substances. However, we also need to be honest about the limits of equine research: for cost reasons, many horse studies have rather small sample sizes or lack huge, independent control groups.

c) An honest conclusion

Overall, the research landscape is very positive and the biological basis is absolutely solid. But let's not fool ourselves: joint supplements are not miracle cures. Anyone who claims that a supplement cures advanced osteoarthritis and turns a 25-year-old pensioner back into a Grand Prix horse overnight is lying. Destroyed cartilage cannot simply be magically restored.

Especially for the joints of a senior horse, however, these nutrients are an extremely valuable building block to support the remaining tissue in the best possible way, stimulate the production of joint fluid, and promote the general joy of movement. Research strongly indicates that these active ingredients work best when they are intelligently combined with one another.

Dosage and practice: what you need to look out for

A look at the back of many supplements often causes horse owners to frown. How much of an active ingredient does my horse actually need?

In isolated studies, where only a single active ingredient (e.g. pure glucosamine) was tested, researchers often work with very high individual dosages of up to 10 grams per day. In practice, however, it has been shown that such single-ingredient products are often less effective than intelligent combinations. Through the synergy effect of different active ingredients (more on this in a moment), the individual dose per substance in a combination product can be significantly lower to achieve the same or even a better effect.

In practice, we often recommend a clear distinction between a maintenance dose and an acute phase (course). If you want to maintain an old horse's mobility, you continuously feed a moderate daily dose. However, if the horse is going through acute phases or if you are just starting to supplement, it makes sense to give double the amount for the first 2 to 3 weeks to replenish the body's reserves first.

A critical look at the market is essential here: EU Regulation 767/2009 on the placing on the market and use of feed unfortunately allows manufacturers to hide the exact amounts of active ingredients per kilogram or per daily dose behind vague wording. You then often only see percentage ranges or general compositions. As a consumer, however, you should know exactly how many milligrams of a valuable substance actually end up in the horse. Transparency is the be-all and end-all here.

Furthermore, patience is required. Joint cartilage and tendons belong to the so-called bradytrophic (slowly nourished) tissues. It often takes weeks before the nutrients arrive in the joint and the gait is noticeably supported. Expect at least 8 to 12 weeks of consistent feeding before making a final judgement. Many owners often observe the first positive changes after just 4 to 6 weeks.

Why individual active ingredients alone are often not enough: the power of combination

If we want to support our horse's joint holistically, it is not enough to simply turn one dial. Imagine a house: if the roof is leaking, the foundation is shaky, and the windows are missing, it does you no good to buy tonnes of bricks for the roof but forget the cement for the foundation.

Different joint structures need different nutrients. This is exactly where we come in with the nuvallo move Snacks. In the recommended daily ration (6 snacks, approx. 30 g for a 500-kg horse), we specifically combine four essential building blocks:

1. Glucosamine (1,500 mg): The most important building block for cartilage building. It supports the cartilage's natural shock-absorbing function.

2. Collagen (2,550 mg): An essential structural protein that provides the necessary elasticity and stability in the connective tissue, ligaments, and cartilage.

3. MSM (2,250 mg): Organic sulphur that takes on a key function in the body for the regeneration of tendons, ligaments, and muscles.

4. Hyaluronic acid (150 mg): The main component of the joint fluid (synovia). It makes the "engine oil" smooth again.

The fact that such a combination of different ingredients is superior to isolated high single doses is proven by, among others, a well-known crossover study by the British Animal Health Trust. In this elaborate study design – where the horses alternated in phases between a placebo and a combination product – the synergy effect was clearly demonstrated. The combination of different joint building blocks led to measurably better results in gait than isolated doses. A well-balanced combination product therefore does not need extreme individual dosages because the ingredients support each other in their bioavailability.

The biggest challenge in practice: feeding

We can lecture for hours about milligram specifications, hyaluronic acid chains, and studies. But all this theoretical knowledge evaporates the second we stand in the stable in the evening and our horse simply refuses it. Anyone who has ever tried to get a joint powder into their horse knows exactly what we are talking about.

The feeding problem

Most effective joint supplements have one thing in common: they taste bitter to the horse, smell strong, or have an unpleasant sandy texture. So what do we do? We start to use tricks.

You stand in the feed room and painstakingly mix up a mash. You mix the powder in. You serve it to your horse, it sniffs – and turns its head away. The next day you grate an apple or painstakingly hide the powder in half a banana. Sometimes that works for a few days. But horses are masterful at selecting their food. They manage to unerringly eat the apple and leave the powder lying around it. In the end, you scrape the fine, sticky powder residue from the bottom of the feed trough and have no idea how much of the incredibly expensive supplement your horse has actually consumed.

The emotional frustration is huge. You want to do something good for your old partner, you buy expensive products, and every evening you stand questioning in front of the trough. Apart from that, many powders are incredibly dusty, irritate the respiratory tract, or change the consistency of the hard feed so much that even greedy horses go on strike.

Why we abolished the powder

It was exactly out of this frustration, which we shared with our own horses and in conversations with hundreds of horse owners, that we completely rethought our approach at nuvallo. The decisive question for us was not: "How do we make a powder that tastes a bit better?" The question was: "How do we ensure that every horse takes the full dose reliably, exactly, and with joy?"

The solution is our nuvallo move Snacks. We have turned the highly dosed active ingredients into a functional joint snack that you can simply feed directly from your hand like a reward. When searching for the right joint supplement for your old horse, this means: never again weighing, never again dusty powder, never again sorted-out leftovers in the trough.

Our snacks are absolutely gentle on the stomach and free from wheat and corn. The base is formed by linseed cake, rice bran, and linseed, complemented by natural ingredients such as banana, apple, and carob powder. This recipe ensures extremely high acceptance and palatability. The horse no longer sorts anything out because it simply views the snack as the absolute highlight of the day.

With every single snack, you have absolute control over the dosage. If you feed a horse weighing around 500 kg the recommended 6 snacks a day, you know to the exact milligram that the glucosamine, collagen, MSM, and hyaluronic acid have 100% ended up in the horse's body. For lighter horses you reduce to 4 to 5 pieces, for heavier draught horses you go up to 7 to 8. In the first few weeks of the acute phase, you simply double the amount – all directly from your jacket pocket, without any mash preparation.

When it comes to the topic of retired horses, feeding, and joints, we have received countless pieces of feedback from owners who are breathing a sigh of relief. Many tell us: "Since we started feeding nuvallo, we can see that our horse is moving more smoothly again and running with more joy."

Because in the end, the best supplement is not the one with the longest list of ingredients on the label or the highest laboratory value in the test tube. It is the one that actually makes it into the horse.

Sources

Murray R.C. et al. — Effect of an Oral Joint Supplement on Orthopaedic Evaluation Scores and Limb Kinematics (Equine Veterinary Journal, 2014, Animal Health Trust crossover study) Link

Byron C.R. et al. — Effects of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate on mediators of osteoarthritis in cultured equine chondrocytes (American Journal of Veterinary Research, Michigan State University, 2003) Link

van de Water E. et al. — The preventive effects of two nutraceuticals on experimentally induced acute synovitis (Equine Veterinary Journal, 2017) Link

Dobenecker B. et al. — Specific bioactive collagen peptides (PETAGILE®) as supplement for horses with osteoarthritis (Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition, 2018) Link

Safety and quality you can rely on

We know that transparency is just as important to you as it is to us. That is why our nuvallo move Snacks stand for clear values:

• ADMR compliant: Completely competition-safe, no withdrawal periods necessary.
• No added sugar: Neither wheat, nor corn, nor hidden sugars. Complemented by selected natural ingredients.
• Made in Europe: For the highest quality standards and controlled production.
• 30-day satisfaction guarantee: Because we know how fussy some horses can be, you take no risks with us.