Can type II collagen help equine arthritis & suspensory ligament tears? One horse owner says yes, with Grand Meadows’ Grand HA Synergy

Stephen Biddlecombe of Equine Management wrote this feature in Local Rider magazine – we hope you like it…

 Can type II collagen help equine arthritis and suspensory ligament tears?

 A recent peer-reviewed study carried out at America’s Murray State University in Kentucky by Ramesh C. Gupta confirmed that type II collagen can be effective at treating arthritic horses. Type II collagen is a form of collagen in the cartilage that lines the ends of the bones found inside moveable joints, and may be found as an ingredient in high-quality equine feed supplements.

The study used the traditional placebo method, whereby a patient’s signs or symptoms aim be alleviated by an otherwise ineffective treatment; in humans, placebo treatments may work because the individual expects that the treatment will work, however in animals there’s no such perception – hence, the technique is widely used in animal studies.

The study, published in the Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, evaluated arthritic pain in horses, and divided the animals into a group that received a placebo; three groups given differing levels of type II collagen; and a further group given glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate.

Significant improvements

Horses were evaluated for overall pain, pain upon limb manipulation (flexion tests), physical examination, and liver and kidney functions. Horses receiving the placebo showed no change in arthritic condition. The horses supplemented with glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate showed a significant decrease in pain. However, this group’s improvement in condition was not as profound as the horses with all three doses of type II collagen, which showed significant improvements in their condition.

(The study is entitled: “Therapeutic efficacy of undenatured type-II collagen (UC II) in comparison to glucosamine and chondroitin in arthritic horses” and the abstract is available on http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.)

 Case study

Mel Wiles owns Charlie, a coloured 17hh Gypsy Cob x ID with conformational issues in his hind legs. “He was bought as my only horse to do low level dressage and hacking, but in September 2010, a week before our first dressage test, he went lame,” she says. “After a full lameness work up by a very experienced vet, including full x-rays and ultra sound scans, he was found to have suspensory ligament tears in his left hind and severe arthritis of the fetlock joint in both hind legs. The vets were sceptical of a full recovery due to the nature of the injury and his size and breed.

 “I was instructed to keep Charlie on box rest and immediately started looking for a joint supplement to ease the arthritis. In my vast search, I found Grand Meadows’ Grand HA Synergy product, available from www.worldwidetack.com. It immediately appealed to me due to the ligament injury Charlie had, as it contained ingredients including BioCell Collagen II™, which contains type II collagen.

 “Charlie started the supplement at the end of September 2010. We followed the exercise programme to the letter, and he was not medicated by the vets whatsoever. By March 2011 Charlie was showing great progress and I was instructed to begin riding again – by June, I was doing short schooling sessions.

 “In August we had our final lameness work up and scans showing that the ligament had repaired to that of a “normal” horse. The vet commented with regards to the arthritis that “His injections have lasted for a long time, haven’t they?”, to which I responded that he hadn’t had any injections or medication of any kind. The vet was astounded!

 “Since Charlie has not been medicated in any other way, I believe wholeheartedly that his rapid and full recovery was due to the Grand HA Synergy supplement he has been having and the excellent rest and recuperation programme that I was given by my vets.

“We are shortly attempting our first dressage test, all due to the Grand HA Synergy supplement. Thank you so much for giving me my horse back!” Mel concludes.