Glucosamine in a Cushing’s Horse?

As soon as my 20-year-old gelding was diagnosed with equine Cushing’s disease, I eliminated glucosamine from his diet.
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As soon as my 20-year-old gelding was diagnosed with equine Cushing’s disease, I eliminated glucosamine from his diet. However, he appears to have become gradually and increasingly stiff and short-strided without it. I really think that it helped him, and I’d love to put him back on the supplement if I could safely do so.

Based on current thinking, would it be at all possible to start him back on glucosamine, perhaps at a lower level? Is the risk of something negative occurring a substantial one or a minimal one? If it makes any difference, my horse’s only symptoms of Cushing’s are a high insulin level and an abnormal cortisol rhythm test. He’s not laminitic and has a normal haircoat.

AYou ask some great, but also very challenging, questions. That is because minimal research has been done regarding glucosamine and how it affects glucose and insulin in the equine patient. I will share some of my viewpoints with you.

The concerns about glucosamine in Cushing’s disease patients have been taken from human medicine, where the supplement has been shown, in some studies, to increase insulin resistance. We must remember that people and horses do not necessarily break down supplements in the exact same manner. The risks of keeping an equine Cushing’s disease patient or insulin-resistant patient on daily glucosamine are really not known

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Written by:

Emily Graves, VMD, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, is the founder and principal of Equine Consulting of the Rockies in Ft. Collins, Colo.

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