We recently selected a few bloggers to try out a 30 day supply of Omega Alpha’s popular joint supplement, Sinew-X. These bloggers have received their supply and will be starting their horses on a 30 day regimen, all while blogging about their observations and results! We can’t wait to see how their horses take to the supplement, and we hope you enjoy following along! We caught up with Alison Kennedy and Good Time Contessa, a 12-year-old Appendix Quarter Horse.
Photo by Alison Kennedy.
I love the idea of Sinew-X: an easily-absorbed liquid formula that costs about $1 a day. I appreciate the practicality of the liquid formula, and the cost-effectiveness of the overall supplement. When I got the bottle, I made sure to read the instructions carefully, as I’ve been used to SmartPak supplements. This is my first experience with an Omega Alpha supplement, and I wanted to make sure Tess received the correct dosage.
I’m certainly glad I checked! The bottle gave very specific directions about dosage. 30mL twice a day for the first 7-10 days as a loading dose, then 30mL once a day after that. Sounds easy enough. I did have a bit of trouble when I tried to figure out how to measure the supplement out.
Every powder or pellet supplement I have had in the past has come with a scoop. Nothing that I read on the bottle indicated how I was supposed to measure the liquid supplement out.
My solution was to buy a 35mL syringe from my local Tractor Supply and leave it in the feed room with a very descriptive note. Fortunately, as I was in the process of leaving everything for the barn manager, my trainer, who has previous experience with Omega Alpha supplements, told me that the cap of the bottle acts as a measuring cup.
Even though the cap is not labeled with any markings indicating that a full cap is 30mL, I measured it out in my syringe, and sure enough, 30mL! That makes things much easier for whoever is feeding. I was worried about getting the liquid into the syringe once most of it was gone!
So pleased with our progress!
Other than that initial hiccup, I’m very happy with the supplement so far. Tess has no problems eating it — I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even notice! I’m definitely lucky that she isn’t a picky eater at all.
Before starting the Sinew-X challenge, I took Tess off her other supplement in order to start with a clean slate. During those couple of weeks, she felt a little stiff when I first got on and starting warming her up. Because she is kept on full-time turnout, her joints don’t ever have a chance to really stiffen up, but I noticed that for the first lap or so, she needed to really stretch.
I didn’t see any difference immediately, but after about a week and a half, I realized that she didn’t feel stiff during those first couple of laps anymore. She seemed much happier to be working right off the bat, and I know she was moving better. Part of this may have been that anyone is stiff in the incredible cold we had this winter in Ohio, but I feel like the supplement had a lot to do with it. Getting the extra support to her joints certainly can’t have hurt!
The past few weeks have brought a lot of progress in our lessons! We’ve made some breakthroughs when it comes to contact, and I’m really learning to sit up and down into my tack instead of perching. Show season is on the horizon. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve already started planning (and budgeting!) for the coming spring and summer. We’ve got a couple of local dressage shows on the radar, and the hunter pace series and combined series set for summer. Bring on show season!
