How to support a foal joints?
The breeding of future agonistic foals, get them exposed to a heavier mental and physical stress than horses bred just for passion or as pet. Some of theirs physical efforts leads to strong strain on the musculoskeletal system and especially on joints, often suffering of cartilage inflammation and strong pain and lameness. The most involved foals joints are fetlock, back limbs phalange region, stifles and hock regions. Finding a way to support foal joints is crucial.
Nowadays foals are more and more suitable to the disciple they will be involved in, thanks to breeder’s work. To support their effort, caring about foal’s health and well-being from their first life weeks is essential. This means following a good nutrition, necessary to guarantee a correct joints and skeleton growth (read our article about), training judiciously avoiding too hard efforts. It is also better switching between firm and elastic ground with more soft soils to get the different advantages from both of them. It is also good to schedule periodical checks with professional veterinarians and farriers to be sure the horse have a good balance from the first year of life and then periodically together with shoeing, to avoid wrong postures. Finally, the animal stress should be consider, since it can affects a balanced and healthy growth.
Physiologically, foals joints don’t reach the full development till their third year, so before that time joints are still weak and the ossification is not completed. Foals taming usually starts more or less when they are one years old and training even before the third year for some disciplines, causing intense joints stress. Training combined to the high energy feeding, usually selected for future sports foals, trend to increase fast their muscle mass and so their weight. This impacts on joints, which are not yet strong enough to stand a heavy weight and an intense exercise.
Balance is the key both in training, which should be effective but not too hard and nutrition, choosing a good feed and following its recommended dose. This allow the progressive muscle mass growth and so a progressive adjustment of joints and skeleton to a healthy weight increase and train progression.
Sadly a breeder tend to make up late to bad habits and decision affecting foal joint, when only medicines can solve nasty diseases. Instead, it would be better to prevent these problems with good habits and natural feeds and supplements, which are also effective and have no sides effects.
Equibar Mobility answer these needs being a daily natural horse bar doping- free without side effects, which provides a joints support and healthy growth and limits intense exercise inflammation. Equibar Mobility can be feed to foals 1/3 bar per day from the weaning beginning, directly as a treat or crumbled down into the manger. Starting training, it is better to increase the dose up to 1 bar per day, to help joints facing intense exercise and to ease the post- exercise recovery, preventing at final stage injuries and diseases dangerous for a future champion.