Best recovery supplement?

[okggo]

I have been reading thread upon thread about the various products and am getting nowhere, lol. Horse with shoulder injury - was injected, and given Equioxx. I'd like to find something that will help with recovery (vs a pain killer). Horse is on MSM right now...

Recovery EQ seems to come up quite a lot. Smart Pak has their version...are any of these worth the money?

[JB]

What was injured? Bone, muscle, etc? What was injected?

[okggo]

What was injured? Bone, muscle, etc? What was injected?

Joint - bone; joint injection with hyal. acid and amikacin.

[appychik]

Not sure if it'll help you, but MSM (10,000 to 20,000mg) daily along with HA (I use Flex Force HA - 100mg/daily) works WONDERS on my very arthritic guy. This fall you could barely tell that he'd literally torn the ligaments and meniscus in his stifle.

For pain, I use Previcox when needed. I can't remember exact dosage, but I give 1/4 of a 227mg tablet (canine tabs) daily when needed. He's not needed anything for a while... I use it as a preventative when the farrier is out as he really cranks on his hind legs and Gus hates that :no:.

I did use Recovery EQ for Gus for a while, but because of the glucosamine my vet recommended discontinuing it when he was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance (even though the Recovery EQ peeps say it's safe for IR horses). I did notice a slight improvement while on Recovery EQ, but Gus was only on it for about 6 weeks... I prefer to go about 2-3 months before quitting/giving up on a supp.

I've also used SmartTendon on Gus, but honestly I couldn't tell you if it worked or not, as he was still lame while on that. He's now nearly 100% sound on just the MSM and HA, FWIW. I've never used the SmartRepair (which is basically a high glucosamine/MSM/chondroitin/HA with some other good stuff thrown in there)... I did for a while supplement with grape seed extract and silica (purchased thru herbalcom.com) and again, couldn't tell you if it worked or not as he was still lame.

So, not sure if I'm of any help. I really feel that the HA and MSM (and MSM at a higher dosage every two weeks) really helped my boy turnaround for the better. And time. Lots of time. And patience :winkgrin:.

[ZiggyStardust]

Some cheaper options are Vitamin C and Lysine, which SmartPak has available individually. Besides all the usual joint supplements, of course. Vit C enhances the effects of MSM, and probably whatever else you supplement.

I had a friend who used Recovery EQ and didn't notice much of a difference. I recently used SmartTendon (has Lysine and collagen) with my horse, who was recovering from ligament desmitis and changes in a fetlock joint. We did shockwave and IRAP in addition, but the vet was extremely pleased with how well/fast he healed, so the supplements definitely didn't hurt, at least! SmartTendon is not super expensive, either.

Lysine can be a common deficiency, depending on what your horse is fed.