Spavin and ringbone in horses: Feeding that truly supports

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

Behind nuvallo are Katja and Andrés. With over 20 years of practical experience in equestrian sport, we know that diagnoses like spavin or ringbone can initially pull the rug out from under you as a horse owner. In this article, we give you scientifically backed and practical answers on how you can optimise nutritional support for joint wear and tear.

Foundation of knowledge: What you need to know about the topic

To understand how best to support our horses, we need to take a quick look at the joints. Put simply, spavin refers to cartilage wear (osteoarthritis) in the small, tight joints of the hock. Ringbone, on the other hand, is the common term for osteoarthritic changes in the toe joints, mostly the pastern or coffin joint.

Imagine your horse's joint cartilage as the shock absorber of a car. It ensures that the bone ends glide smoothly against each other with every step and that shocks are cushioned. The cartilage is surrounded by the joint capsule and the synovial fluid – the engine oil, so to speak, that keeps everything moving smoothly.

With increasing age, through athletic strain, misalignments, or simply wear and tear, this cartilage can become thinner and brittle. The cushioning diminishes, and in the worst case, bone rubs against bone. The body responds to this with inflammation and tries to stabilise the joint through bony growths – this is the moment when mobility suffers and the horse shows pain reactions.

Many of us wonder whether equine spavin can be treated naturally or if this process can be stopped. The honest answer is: osteoarthritis cannot be cured. Worn cartilage does not simply grow back. But we can provide the horse's organism with the exact building blocks it needs through its feed to keep the synovial fluid viscous (i.e. thick and lubricating) and to optimally support the remaining cartilage and connective tissue. Particularly when hay alone does not provide all the necessary nutrients in sufficient quantities, targeted supplementary feeding becomes essential.

What does the science say?

When you are looking for the best feeding for a horse with ringbone or spavin, you will inevitably come across active ingredients like glucosamine, MSM, or hyaluronic acid. But what is pure marketing and what can be scientifically proven? Let's take a look at the research.

a) What has been proven in studies

Biochemical research has gathered a great deal of knowledge over recent decades about how joint building blocks work. In so-called in vitro studies – i.e. in the laboratory under the microscope – the evidence is incredibly strong. Researchers there can, for example, bring horse cartilage cells into contact with glucosamine or hyaluronic acid. The result is often clear: the cells are stimulated, produce more synovial fluid, and the degradation processes in the cartilage tissue slow down.

Universities such as Utrecht University are also researching the mechanisms of equine joints intensively. In a test tube, these substances work fantastically well. But we all know: a laboratory result cannot always be translated exactly to a living, 500-kilogram horse in the field. The journey through the gastrointestinal tract is complex.

b) What has been investigated on the living horse

It gets more exciting with in vivo studies, meaning research on the living horse. This shows that the supplementary feeding of specific nutrients definitely has measurable effects. For instance, there are studies (such as by researchers at Texas A&M University) that have looked at nutrient absorption and the effects of joint supplements in riding horses.

However, as informed horse owners, we must remain honest: many of these equine studies have methodological limitations. Often, the sample sizes of 10 to 15 horses are quite small, or there is a lack of a completely independent control group. That makes it difficult to demand absolute proof. We therefore additionally rely on human medicine, where the study data on substances like collagen and MSM is very robust, involving thousands of test subjects. Organic sulphur (MSM), for example, is indisputably essential for the regeneration of tendons and ligaments, as it plays a key role in the formation of amino acids.

c) An honest conclusion

The biological foundation for feeding joint nutrients is absolutely solid and not esoteric. However, there is no miracle cure that makes joint wear disappear overnight. Research clearly indicates that ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or glucosamine are valuable building blocks that can support the horse in maintaining its mobility. It is a highly sensible component in your management alongside adapted training and hoof care. This component becomes particularly valuable when you move away from isolated nutrients and rely on intelligent combinations.

Dosage and practice

When it comes to feeding horses with spavin, it is not enough to simply sprinkle a pinch of powder over their oats. The dosage determines whether the nutrient can unfold a noticeable effect in the tissue at all.

Figures vary in the scientific literature. For example, if you feed pure glucosamine as a mono-preparation (i.e. as the only active ingredient), studies often assume high amounts of between 5 and 10 grams per day for a large horse. But in feeding practice, the concept of an initial high-dose course followed by a maintenance dose has proven successful.

One of the biggest problems on the market is transparency. According to the EU Regulation 767/2009 on the placing on the market and use of feed, manufacturers are not strictly required to state the exact amounts of active ingredients per kilogram (how many mg of glucosamine or hyaluronic acid are actually included) on the packaging. This is legal, but makes it almost impossible for you as a consumer to evaluate whether you are buying a highly concentrated product or mainly expensive filler material.

Patience is also required. Cartilage tissue has no blood supply; instead, it is nourished exclusively and passively by the synovial fluid (like a sponge that is squeezed out during movement and then soaks up fluid again). That is why metabolic processes take significantly longer here. Consistent feeding for at least 8 to 12 weeks is necessary to build up the nutrient levels in the joint in the first place. Gentle initial changes are often only noticed after about 4 to 6 weeks.

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

When you look at the joint capsule, the cartilage, and the tendon attachments, it becomes clear: this is a highly complex system made up of completely different types of tissue. A single active ingredient can never address all the problem areas.

This is exactly where the so-called synergy effect comes into play. A well-known crossover study by the British Animal Health Trust impressively corroborated that the combination of different joint building blocks in horses is significantly more effective than administering high doses of individual active ingredients. When the ingredients work together optimally, you no longer need astronomically high (and often stomach-irritating) amounts of an isolated powder.

A scientifically backed and practically proven daily ration for a horse weighing approx. 500 kilograms ideally looks like this:

• Glucosamine (1,500 mg): The classic building block for cartilage structure. It can directly support the joint's natural shock absorption.
• Collagen (2,550 mg): An essential structural protein. It is largely responsible for the tensile strength, elasticity, and stability of connective tissue, cartilage, and tendons.
• MSM (2,250 mg): This organic sulphur is an important factor for the regeneration of tendons and ligaments and supports the body's own metabolic processes.
• Hyaluronic acid (150 mg): As the main component of synovia (synovial fluid), it contributes significantly to viscosity.

With a well-balanced combination product, you provide your horse with holistic support. However, the best nutrient combination is absolutely useless if it fails at the toughest hurdle in the stable: the feed trough.

The biggest challenge in practice: Feeding

We can philosophise for hours about laboratory results and milligram measurements. When you are standing at the stable in the evening, only one thing counts: will your horse eat the supplement or not? And here we come to the emotional heart of our everyday stable life.

a) The feeding problem

The reality with most joint supplements looks like this: you open an expensive tub of powder. A cloud of dust meets you, it often already smells strong, and to sensitive equine noses, it has a distinctly bitter or unpleasant taste. You mix it carefully into the hard feed. Your horse sniffs it, turns up its nose, and starts sorting. It eats meticulously around the powder.

Then begin the tricks we all know: we dampen the feed. We painstakingly mix up mash in the hope of masking the taste. We laboriously hollow out apples or mash bananas to hide the powder inside. Sometimes this works for a few days. But with many horses, you stand in front of the stable in the evening, look into the trough, and see the damp powder residue sticking to the bottom of the bowl.

This is not only incredibly frustrating because you are literally throwing money into the muck heap. It is also emotionally draining. You know that your horse with its spavin urgently needs exactly these nutrients right now, but you simply have no chance of reliably getting the full dose into the horse. Even if it eats some of it: has it now consumed 20%, 50%, or 80% of the required amount? The uncertainty remains.

b) "Why we abolished the powder"

Out of this constant frustration with our own horses and after talking to hundreds of desperate horse owners, we at nuvallo have taken a completely new approach. We didn't ask ourselves: "How do we make a slightly tastier powder?" Our crucial question was: "How do we ensure that every horse ingests the full, exact dose completely stress-free every single day?"

The answer to this is the nuvallo move Snacks. We have simply abolished classic joint powders and liquids and instead developed a functional joint snack that you feed conveniently straight from your hand.

Our base consists of stomach-friendly linseed cake, rice bran, and linseed, supplemented with natural ingredients such as banana, apple, and carob powder (free from wheat and maize, and with no added sugar). This ensures an extremely high, natural acceptance. Without any artificial flavourings.

For a horse weighing around 500 kilograms, you feed exactly 6 snacks daily (which is about 30 grams). The best part: you don't have to weigh anything out, mix anything up, and there is no more leftover powder in the trough. For acute problems or as an initial course, we simply recommend double the amount for the first 2 to 3 weeks, after which you return to the normal daily ration. Lighter or heavier horses can easily be dosed with 4-5 or 7-8 snacks respectively.

Your horse no longer experiences feeding as a forced, unloved "medicine time" in the trough, but as a tasty reward to greet them at the paddock or after grooming. Customers constantly write to us saying things like: "Since we started feeding the snacks, we can see that he appears less stiff in the mornings and moves with more joy."

Because at the end of the day, the best supplement on the market isn't the one with the longest and most complicated ingredient list or the highest abstract laboratory value. The best supplement is the one that actually ends up reliably in the horse every single day.

Sources

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

Forsyth R.K., Brigden C.V., Northrop A.J. — Double blind investigation of the effects of oral supplementation of combined glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate on stride characteristics of veteran horses (Equine Veterinary Journal Suppl., 2006) Link

Marañón G. et al. — The effect of methyl sulphonyl methane supplementation on biomarkers of oxidative stress in sport horses following jumping exercise (Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 2008) Link

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

Bergin B.J. et al. — Oral hyaluronan gel reduces post operative tarsocrural effusion in the yearling Thoroughbred (Equine Veterinary Journal, 2006) Link

Conclusion

So that you know exactly what you are holding in your hand, here is our nuvallo move quality promise at a glance:

• ADMR-compliant: Safe for competition, can be fed without any withdrawal period.
• No added sugar: Stomach-friendly thanks to linseed cake, rice bran, and linseed.
• Made in Europe: Highest quality and safety standards in production.
• 30-day satisfaction guarantee: Because we know that true conviction only comes from trying it yourself.