As I sit here in the office, knee deep in products for upcoming field trials, I think about how incredible it is that there are so many joint products available. It must be a very lucrative market! And there’s so much to know in order not to waste your money.
There are manufacturers who stretch the truth and others that push the limit on FDA medical-claims rules. Some vets will tell you the products have no value (often because they haven’t kept up-to-date on research or because they’re so trained to think “drugs”). That makes it tough to get unbiased, educated advice. And then there’s “barn talk”—usually the result of ads or endorsements that originated from a top marketing department. I’m not even going to discuss the customer opinions printed on retailer websites.
In order for your horse to benefit from a joint product, I’ve learned that you need to figure out what you’re dealing with first. Then you must determine if a joint product can help at all. Finally, it’s important to check that the ingredients included are at levels that can actually be effective. Otherwise, you’re just throwing your money in the manure pile. (I’ve seen product labels that plug ingredients as “leaders,” which are advertising gimmicks to get you in the door or, in this case, to the cash register.)
We especially love our joint-product trials, because they are one of the greatest services we provide to our readers (they’re also a lot of work!). But one bucket of the wrong joint products costs well more than a subscription to Horse Journal, so we feel like we pay for ourselves (yeah, I’m plugging Horse Journal, but it’s difficult not to when you believe in something so wholeheartedly).
The trial we’ve started this summer under the direction of our Dr. Eleanor Kellon will include more products than ever before, and it will give you solid information on the ingredients you need—and what you don’t. We would be happy to hear from you about your concerns and what you’re trying to accomplish when you feed your horse a joint product.
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