Helen Jacks-Hewett - McTimoney Animal Chiropractor

06/05/2026

I’m sure most animal musculoskeletal practitioners will agree it’s hard to find the time to treat our own animals!

Today it was my stallion’s 6th birthday so I made sure I found some time to give him some well earned therapeutic TLC 🙌 🧡

RAMP-Register of Animal Musculoskeletal Practitioners
McTimoney Animal Association
Denwyn Cardi Bach denwyncardibach

22/04/2026

Thinking of feeding a joint supplement to your horse? Then you might want to read this…

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬? 🦴🐴

Equine osteoarthritis is one of the most common chronic conditions affecting horses (Baccarin et al., 2022). So naturally, we’re always looking for ways to manage it, especially in our equine athletes and aging horses who experience higher joint strain.

One of the most common questions I get during consults is about oral joint supplements. They’re appealing for good reason: non-invasive, easy to feed, and widely available. But they’re also expensive and the science behind them has been mixed.

In fact, one study found 48% of horse owners felt there wasn’t enough research to support joint supplement efficacy, yet 90% were still willing to use them for prevention or treatment (Swirsley et al., 2017). That gap likely comes from the mindset “They might not help, but they won’t hurt.”

And that’s understandable when you’re dealing with a condition as common and impactful as osteoarthritis, doing something feels better than doing nothing.

But here’s the good news 👇
Researchers at Michigan State University have been working to give us clearer answers, and a newly published study is helping move the conversation forward (Harbowy et al., 2026). Article linked in comments!

➡️ Let’s break down what this new research actually tells us…

🔬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬!)
Researchers at Michigan State University evaluated 40 horses with chronic lameness (AAEP 2–4) associated with osteoarthritis.

Horses were carefully balanced by age, body condition, weight, and anticipated workload, then assigned to:
• A joint supplement group (Cosequin ASU)
• A control group (placebo; all-purpose flour)

To strengthen the study, each of these groups were further divided into two sub-groups and assigned different colors and scented additives to keep the treatments blinded and also create the perception there were four treatments to rule out any bias.

This is a strong experimental design addressing common issues seen in supplement research such as small sample sizes, lack of controls, and bias. This is important because the quality of the design determines how well we can interpret and ultimately trust the results.

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬
Horses were evaluated every other week over 6 weeks and numerous variables were considered at each timepoint:

Lameness Grade: Treatment did not impact lameness grade (P>0.05) but all horses showed improvements between day 0 and 28 (P=0.045).

Forelimb Vector Sum: Horses on the oral joint supplement had greater forelimb asymmetry than those in the control group (P=0.042).

Pelvic Height: Treatment did not impact minimum or maximum pelvic height.

Stride Length: The stride length at the walk and trot did not differ between treatments.

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏?
Overall, the oral joint supplement did not contribute to any positive changes in horses with osteoarthritis. These findings are not surprising and do align with previous research. While in vitro (cell culture) studies showed promise, studies completed in vivo (in the horse) had unclear clinical implications.

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓?
Joint supplements are a huge supplement category and historically have contributed to 34% of supplement sales (Oke et al., 2010). This is likely because equine osteoarthritis is the leading cause of lameness in horses (McIlwraith et al. 2012). This degenerative joint disease has been shown to affect an estimated 50% of horses over the age of 15 and up to 90% of horses 30 years and older (van Weeren et al., 2016).

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬
Overall, the evidence suggests that joint supplements may not be a worthwhile investment. Instead, focus on:

🥗 Balancing the diet to ensure nutrient requirements are met and the horse maintains a healthy weight.

🏡 Ensuring housing emphasizes adequate turnout time instead of prolonged stall confinement

🐎 Building exercise programs that include warm-up and cool down-periods and focus on consistent low impact movement, strengthening exercises, cross training, and proper conditioning

𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞: While feeding a joint supplement may be easy, a well-rounded and holistic management approach is more likely to support your horse’s joint health in the long run.

* I’ll add that, yes, this study evaluated a single supplement. However, many joint supplements on the market contain similar ingredients, often at even lower inclusion rates. While I’ll continue digging into the literature, there currently isn’t strong, consistent evidence identifying a specific ingredient or combination that reliably improves osteoarthritis outcomes in horses. And realistically, if a clearly effective option existed, it would be widely recognized and supported by the research at this point.

But now I am curious - Do you currently feed a joint supplement and will this impact your decision to use one in the future?

Cheers,
Dr. DeBoer

Baccarin, RYA, Seidel SRT, Michelacci YM, Tokawa PKA, Oliveira TM. Osteoarthritis: A common disease that should be avoided in the athletic horse’s life. Anim. Front. 2022;12:25–36.

Swirsley N, Spooner HS, Hoffman RM. Supplement use and perceptions: a study of US horse owners. Journal of equine veterinary science. 2017 Dec 1;59:34-39.

Harbowy RM, Robison CI, Tillman I, Manfredi JM, Nielsen BD. Efficacy of an oral chondroprotective joint supplement on stride length and gait symmetry in aged geldings with chronic lameness. Animals. 2026;6(8):1230.

Oke S, McIlwraith CW. Review of the economic impact of osteoarthritis and oral joint supplement use in horses. AAEP Proc. 2010;56:12-16.

McIlwraith CW, Frisbie DD, Kawcak CE. The horse as a model of naturally occurring osteoarthritis. Bone Joint Res. 2012;1(11):297–309.

van Weeren PR, Back W. Musculoskeletal disease in aged horses and its management. Vet. Clin. N. Am. Equine Pract. 2016;32:229-247.

14/04/2026

This!!! Absolutely 100% agree with this post.

When I visit a new client and so much is being attempted to try and improve posture, then I turn up and take one look at the feet…

You cannot force posture onto a horse when the hoof is telling the body to stand differently!?

One of the biggest misunderstandings in modern equine therapy is the belief that posture can simply be “corrected” by manually placing the horse into a new shape. I see it all the time, body work and veterinary treatment being done to a horse while I look at its feet and just sigh.

Stretch it.
Massage it.
Mobilise it.
Strengthen it.
Train it into position.
Jab it with steroids.

And whilst all of those things may have value, there is a fundamental truth people keep missing.

You cannot sustainably change posture if the horse’s proprioceptive system is still demanding the original compensation.

Why?

Because posture is not something the horse consciously chooses.

Posture is the visible output of the nervous system’s constant attempt to organise the body in response to incoming information.

That information comes from everywhere, but one of the richest and most mechanically important sensory inputs in the entire horse is the hoof.

The hoof is not just a block of horn at the bottom of the limb. It is packed with mechanoreceptors, proprioceptive structures, vascular structures, and deformable tissues that continuously feed information into the nervous system regarding load, pressure, deformation, balance, and orientation. 

Every time the hoof meets the floor, it tells the horse’s nervous system something about where the body is in space.

It tells the horse whether the limb feels stable.
It tells the horse whether the load is symmetrical.
It tells the horse whether one side feels overloaded.
It tells the horse whether the system feels comfortable under compression. And this information can be distorted by imbalance.

And the nervous system uses that information to organise posture accordingly.

This means posture is not simply muscular habit. It is an adaptive response to sensory input.

Let me put that another way.

If the hoof is repeatedly telling the nervous system that a certain position reduces discomfort, improves balance, or better distributes force, the body will organise around that signal. In a webinar with Dr Gellman we discussed the horses understanding of upright..

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/proandpos

The horse will stand in the way the nervous system believes is safest.

So if you manually straighten the horse, stretch the horse, or try to train the horse into a new posture without changing the proprioceptive and mechanical signals that caused the compensation in the first place, what happens?

The horse simply returns to the original posture.

Because from the nervous system’s perspective, nothing meaningful changed.

You altered the output temporarily.
You did not alter the input.

This is precisely why so many practitioners see temporary changes after treatment, only for the horse to revert days later.

Because unless the underlying sensory and mechanical drivers are addressed, the nervous system will keep returning to the same solution.

My upcoming book discusses this as a closed loop.

Hoof mechanics alter proprioceptive input.
That proprioceptive input alters muscle tone and fascial loading.
That altered tone changes posture.
That posture changes limb orientation and movement.
That movement then changes loading back into the hoof. 

It is a self-reinforcing system.

Once established, it will continue feeding itself until the dominant driver is changed.

This is why I have repeatedly said hoof balance and posture cannot be viewed in isolation.

If the hoof is imbalanced enough to create altered loading, altered proprioceptive feedback, or altered comfort under load, then the body will compensate around that.

And until that signal is reduced, you are asking the horse to ignore its own nervous system.

That is not rehabilitation.
That is fighting biology.

Imagine trying to stand perfectly upright whilst one foot is on a slope and one foot is on flat ground.

Could you force yourself straight for a moment? Yes.

Would your body naturally stay there? No.

Why?

Because your nervous system would constantly reorganise your body to accommodate the information coming from the feet.

The horse is no different.

This is why I often say, you cannot expect to change the architecture upstairs whilst the foundations downstairs are still crooked.

Now to be clear, this does not mean every postural issue is hoof derived.

Far from it.

The relationship is bi directional.

Higher limb pain, saddle fit, rider asymmetry, visceral tension, autonomic stress, trauma, and pathology can all alter posture first, which then changes loading into the hoof. The hoof may then adapt secondarily. In the same vane, farriers can struggle with the same perpetuations when higher postural drivers are not addressed!

But the principle remains the same.

Once the hoof becomes part of the compensatory loop, it becomes one of the drivers maintaining that loop.

And if you ignore that, you will struggle to create lasting change.

This is why multidisciplinary work matters.

The farrier cannot always fix posture alone. Or hoof balance for that matter!
The physio cannot always fix posture alone.
The vet cannot always fix pain alone.

Because the horse is an integrated system.

But equally, anyone trying to change posture whilst ignoring hoof proprioception is working with one hand tied behind their back.

Because no matter how good your treatment is, the horse will always listen to the signals coming from the ground.

The hoof is the horse’s interface with reality.

And reality always wins.

Something discussed in depth in both my webinars with Celeste-Leilani Lazaris

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/bundles/yogi-sharp-and-celeste-lazaris-webinar-bundle

13/04/2026

The 5 Domains Model developed by Professor David Mellor and updated most recently in 2020, is a comprehensive framework for assessing animal welfare.

It focuses on four areas of an animal's life that each contribute to the fifth domain (mental welfare).

The first four domains capture both the internal physical states and external circumstances of the animal, and the affects (subjective experiences) they generate are accumulated into Domain 5, which represents the animal's overall welfare state.

If these are lacking, not only do negative welfare states arise, but training efficiency diminishes significantly.

The 5 Domains can be studied in depth, and we encourage all horse owners to do so, but for simplicity this diagram shows 5 key needs for the horse, derived from the 5 domains;

🏇 Communication & mental stimulation (clear, logical training adhering to the principles of equitation science; mental stimulation)

🌾 Foraging behaviour (the need to forage, with gaps no longer than 4 hours)

🐎 Movement & exercise (space to move, adequate exercise - a few kilometres per day especially if the horse isn’t kept in a field.)

🐴 Social behaviour (interaction with other horses, touching/grooming other horses)

⛑ Physiological & veterinary care (good health, shelter from the elements, safety)

These are not just things the horse wants — they are things the horse is hard-wired to need.

Does your horse have these 5 needs fulfilled? Share your practical tips to achieve them!

Particularly if you have to work harder to achieve them based on location/situation - not everyone has access to fields and herds of horses.

09/04/2026

25 hours of CPD uploaded and successful renewal application - that’s this year’s RAMP registration approved ✅

Maintaining and upholding the gold standard of care within the animal musculoskeletal therapy industry 👌

RAMP-Register of Animal Musculoskeletal Practitioners

19/03/2026

It means you uphold a gold standard of practice by:

✅ Putting animal welfare first
✅ Following the RAMP code of conduct
✅ Maintaining high professional standards
✅ Continuously developing my skills and knowledge

Being a RAMP registrant is about more than a title, it's a commitment to providing safe, competent, and trusted care for every animal.

Share this if you’re proud of the standard you practice to!

08/03/2026

25/02/2026

Some excellent points here about an interesting case study!

Following on from a previous post about behaviour and pain, how interesting is this? A recent paper describes a 14-year-old Welsh competition pony presented for explosive, dangerous behaviour in canter, just three weeks after a change of ownership. She was referred for investigations and later found to have malformed spine and an extra rib!

Previously, the mare had competed in low-level dressage and showjumping. On arrival with her new owners, a mild hindlimb lameness was noted, which didn't resolve with rest - what escalated was her behaviour under saddle. On examination she had:
• Marked epaxial muscle atrophy over the mid-thoracic spine
• Visible right-sided scoliosis
• Severe restriction in thoracic flexion and extension (T9–T12)
• Pain reactions on palpation and mobilisation
• Stiffness and difficulty maintaining canter leads
• No neurological deficits

Radiographs revealed abnormal vertebral bodies, partial fusion between T11–T12, an additional malformed spinous process, and mild kyphosis.

Postmortem CT confirmed complex congenital thoracic malformations, including:
• Scoliosis centred at T10
• Partial vertebral fusion
• Abnormally shaped vertebral bodies
• A malformed additional rib with altered rib-to-spine articulations
• Degenerative changes in multiple articular and costovertebral joints

In simple terms: the spine was structurally abnormal from birth. Over time, altered biomechanics likely increased mechanical stress, restricted motion, and contributed to pain, particularly at canter, where spinal motion demands increase significantly.

What makes this case especially important is the timeline: the pony had worked previously - she had competed. The behavioural escalation followed a change in ownership and management which the authors suggest could be due to compensatory mechanisms gradually failing, or that subtle discomfort had previously been attributed just to temperament.

This paper reinforces several key points:
• Not all back pain is kissing spines.
• Not all pain presents with neurological deficits.
• Structural abnormalities can exist in mature, functional horses.
• Behavioural change (especially after changes in rider, workload or management) deserves investigation.

Importantly, the authors stress that severe imaging findings alone are not an automatic indication for euthanasia. Findings should always be interpreted in context and with correlation to clinical symptoms. But when behaviour changes, particularly in a previously “coping” horse, it’s certainly worth asking why. This paper also highlights how sometimes the story starts long before the behaviour becomes impossible to ignore - right back when the horse was developing in the womb!

If you have any concerns about your horse's behaviour or think a work-up is needed, do feel free to contact us to discuss and we can arrange a visit with Emiliano!

Read the full paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0737080626000365?dgcid=author

31/01/2026