Supplements for tendons and ligaments: how to strengthen your horse

The most uncomfortable truth about tendons first: once they are injured, healing takes six to twelve months – sometimes longer. That is why everything you do beforehand is vastly more valuable than any treatment afterwards. The good news: you control three of the most important factors for tendons and ligaments yourself – training, ground conditions, and feeding. That is exactly what this is about, including the question of what a supplement can and cannot achieve in this process.

We – Katja and Andrés – have experienced both in over 20 years at the yard: the months-long walk-only rehab and the horse that moves soundly and remains resilient well into old age. The difference is rarely down to chance. It lies in prevention.

How tendons work – and why they are so sensitive

Imagine a tendon as a strong, elastic rope made of wavy collagen fibres. This wave-like structure allows it to stretch under load and then spring back like a rubber band. Tendons connect muscle to bone, whilst ligaments connect bone to bone and stabilise the joints.

The critical weak point: tendon tissue naturally has a poor blood supply and a slow metabolism. It repairs itself extremely slowly. However, as long as everything is intact, you can actively shape its resilience – through the stimuli you provide and the material you supply. A tendon that is evenly challenged and well-nourished can handle more than one that is alternately under-exercised and suddenly overloaded.

Factor 1: Training and warming up

The most common avoidable mistake happens right at the start of every session: warming up too briefly. Tendons and joint fluid need at least 15–20 minutes of active walking to reach operating temperature and develop their full elasticity. A cold tendon is prone to injury – if you go straight into a trot or canter, you are working against your own horse.

Building up training over time is just as important. Fitness builds up in weeks, but tendons need months. Increase intensity gradually, plan for rest days, and avoid two hard days in a row. Tendons adapt to strain – but only if there is enough time to adapt between sessions.

Factor 2: Ground conditions and hooves

The surface is the most underestimated risk factor. Deep, heavy, or uneven ground forces the tendons into uncontrolled compensatory movements. If you have no influence over the arena surface, the simple rule applies: adjust the training intensity to the conditions, not the other way around.

Then there is hoof balance. Underrun heels or overly long toes shift the axis of tension on the flexor tendons and significantly increase the continuous strain – often without the horse showing any immediate signs. Regular hoof care every six to eight weeks is therefore not a matter of cosmetics, but active tendon protection.

Factor 3: Feeding from the inside

Training and ground conditions dictate the strain – feeding determines whether the body has the building materials for ongoing repair and adaptation. After all, even a healthy tendon is a constant construction site: micro-damage from everyday life must be continually repaired. If the building blocks are missing, this micro-damage accumulates.

Four nutrients work together here, each with its own role:

• Collagen is the direct building material for tendon fibres and provides tensile strength and elasticity.
• MSM (organic sulphur) creates stable cross-links between the collagen fibres – without sufficient sulphur, the connective tissue loses its strength.
• Glucosamine supports cartilage and the surrounding matrix.
• Hyaluronic acid keeps the structures supple and is the main component of joint fluid.

The key lies in the combination, not in an extreme single dose. These substances target different parts of the same system and reinforce one another. We explore what the studies say about these active ingredients – and where their limits lie – in our overview on joint supplements for horses.

One issue that often sabotages prevention: a lack of transparency. EU feed regulations allow for rough quantities rather than exact milligrams. However, for a preventative supplement that you feed for months, you should know exactly what your horse is taking in daily – otherwise, you might end up paying mostly for fillers.

What really matters in a supplement

When looking for a supplement for tendons and ligaments for the first time, you will find dozens of products with nearly identical promises. Four questions separate them more reliably than price:

• Are the milligrams listed on the packaging? Without a stated daily amount per active ingredient, you cannot compare two supplements – and you do not know what you are paying for.
• Do the building blocks work together? Tendons, ligaments, and cartilage form a system. A combination of collagen, MSM, glucosamine, and hyaluronic acid targets more areas than an extreme single dose of just one substance.
• Will your horse eat it willingly? What is left in the manger does no good. When it comes to prevention, acceptance is not just about convenience; it is the prerequisite for the ingredients getting into the system in the first place.
• Is it safe for competition? If you compete, you need ADMR compliance with no withdrawal period – otherwise, the support drops away exactly during the season when the workload is at its highest.

This includes having realistic expectations: a supplement does not replace a training plan or hoof care, and it does not repair a damaged tendon. Because tendon tissue has a slow metabolism, you should expect 8 to 12 weeks of consistent feeding before the building blocks even reach the tissue. If your horse already has a diagnosis, we explain how feeding fits into rehabilitation in our article on tendon damage in horses.

Why prevention at the feed bowl so often fails

The best theory is useless if your horse refuses to cooperate. And this is exactly where everyday prevention falls apart: you mix a high-quality powder into their feed, your horse turns up its nose – MSM, in particular, has a strong taste – and expertly sorts it out. With an acutely injured horse, the urgency is high enough that you resort to tricks and mixing. With pure prevention, on the other hand, consistency quickly fades: anything that causes daily hassle and gets left in the manger is the first thing to be dropped in a stressful yard routine. Prevention only works if it is effortless.

That is why we developed nuvallo move Snacks, which you simply feed by hand. For a 500 kg horse, 6 snacks (approx. 30 g) transparently deliver 1,500 mg glucosamine, 2,550 mg collagen, 2,250 mg MSM, and 150 mg hyaluronic acid daily – lighter horses get 4–5, heavier ones 7–8, and ponies 3–4. No weighing, no dust, and your horse experiences this daily support as a reward rather than medicine. The base of linseed cake, rice bran, and linseed is free from wheat and corn and is gentle on the stomach; the snacks are ADMR compliant and safe for competition with no withdrawal period. If, contrary to expectations, your horse does not like them, there is a 30-day satisfaction guarantee for your money back.

So, if you want to strengthen tendons, you do not start with the most expensive active ingredient, but with what reliably works every day: warming up properly, keeping an eye on the ground conditions, regular visits from the farrier – and delivering exactly what the tissue needs from the inside for its daily work.