My vet recently had me add Myristol to my horses diet because he was sore in his hocks from over-exertion. I was already feeding Acti-Flex & a Vitamin E/Selenium mix. He also had me double up on the Myristol dosage for the 1st few days (morning & night) to give him a jump-start on it. I tried to compete on him a week later, & he was totally uncontrollable, acting like he was on a sugar-high or high on speed. It was almost impossible to hold him to a walk...and he ran away with me 3 times. He was more nervous & agitated than he's ever been - he reared up & cut his head twice on the roof of the barn & even ran circles in the 10x10 stall, trying to jump out of it at every opportunity.

He has NEVER exhibited this sort of behavior before I doubled up on the Myristol in addtion to continuing the regimen of Acti-Flex & the Vitamin E/Selenium. I have been told everything from my horse being crazy & unsafe to ride, to him needing his vision checked, to one or more of the ingredients of 1 joint supplement causing adverse effects on the one or more ingredients of the other joint supplement.

Any thoughts on whether or not this could be a potential cause of the dramatic change in my gelding's behavior? Everything was all fine & dandy until the Myristol was added to his diet regimen. Not that the Myristol itself was the problem, but perhaps the doubled-up dosage? For example, I calculated & he was getting almost 20,000mg of glucosamine.

Where are you from? Fort Worth, Texas

How did you locate this forum? Google search

Hello Melissa,

Thank you for your patience and I hope by now your horse is doing better. If you've tried cutting back on the Myristol and it's made a difference in his behavior, then you've found the problem. It does appear as though he is sensitive to something in one of the supplements, assuming that there were no other changes in his environment (e.g., new location, loss of a buddy, addition of a new horse, etc.) that would cause him to have a stressful reaction.

I do not recommend giving him Actiflex in addition to Myristol since there is too much overlap. If you'd like to add hyaluronic acid (which is in Actiflex but not Myristol), consider Hylamotion. Or if you want to use a stronger cetyl myristoleate preparation, I recommend Cetyl Flex H/A.

About the vitamin E/Se... just make certain that your horse is not getting selenium from a variety of sources. Supplementing extra selenium is only appropriate if your horse is not getting selenium from a commercial feed, other supplements, and your hay and/or forage is low in selenium.

Keep me posted on how he's doing.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO

The vet recommended that I discontinue all supplements for a week, then start him back on 1/2 dosage of the Myristol. So that's what I did. I have not had the opportunity to compete on him again yet, so I do not know how the change will affect him. I will let you know once I try him out in another competition.

Where are you from? Fort Worth, TX

Hi Melissa,

Yes, please do keep me posted.

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO

I took my horse to a competition this past Saturday (10-3). It was his first time back in an arena since he ran away with me. It was ironically at the same arena. While I was a nervous wreck going in the arena with him, not knowing how he would react....he did just perfect...behaving like he always had prior to the overdose or whatever it was with the joint supplements. He actually ran his best time ever in barrels & placed 3rd. I am now feeding him the Myristol only...plus I just started supplementing his diet with the Hylamotion as you suggested. His performance this past weekend was like night & day to the time when his system was flooded with the multiple supplements. It was such a drastic change, I'm sure everyone wondered what happened to cause the change. Thank you so much for your input & suggestions.

Where are you from? Ft. Worth, TX

Hello Melissa,

Congratulations! Sounds like he was definitely sensitive to some ingredient. Glad to hear you have your ol' fellow back!

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO