Apple Cider Vinegar - For Joints?

At the last cow sorting I went to last month, a friend of mine tipped me off about using Apple Cider Vinegar to aid in joint health. Now Ive heard of and used Apple Cider Vinegar before for abcesses and it worked like a charm for that, but I hadnt ever hear of it for joint health.

So I did a little google search for using it in horses for joints, and learned, according to this site, that ACV has many uses around the barn including as a fly spray, topically to reduce swelling, and for combating thrush. They also listed all of the benefits to adding ACV to your horse's daily diet:

• Promoting healthy joints
• Enhancing skin and coat health
• Balances the horse's pH.
• Boots immune system health.
• Helps to dissolve calcium deposits
• Improves urinary tract health.
• Stimulates proper digestion.
• Helps horse to resist internal and external parasites.
• Contains beneficial enzymes
• Flushes the body of toxins.
• ACV has natural antibiotic properties.
• Helps to calm a nervous horse.
• ACV makes horse blood unsuitable for insects, and acts as a repellent.
• May help improve and relieve arthritis.

Wow, so many benefits. The ones that stand out the most to me and my particular usage for Milo include promoting healthy joints, boosting immune system, helps to dissolve calcium deposits, beneficial enzymes, natural antibiotic properties, and relieving arthritis. This $2 bottle at Wal Mart may be mine (and Milo's) saving grace!

Now, does this stuff really work? My tip off friend said that it is all they added to their barrel horse. In her late teens she was becoming unsound and was developing arthritis. They simply added ACV to her diet and she is back to running barrels.

Interesting. So if this is so beneficial for horses, what about people? I happened to mention my curiousity of ACV in addition to Milo's diet to Wes' Mom who said that she herself has used it to help with joint pain. She even had a dietary pill form of it and gave me the bottle (but I dont think I need it in the dietary form for either myself or Milo). She said that it really helped to reduce swelling for her.

Very interesting. Now, currently Im giving Platinum Performance Ortho-Chon to Milo twice daily. And as you can see at that link, it is not an inexpensive product. However, it does help Milo's soundness. The one thing it hasnt corrected is the fluid pockets in his hocks. Something I have come to the conclusion of as something that will just be a bleminsh now, as my vet cannot give me any other recommendation as to how to reduce them. But if ACV really does reduce swelling, dissolve calcium deposits and provide antibiotic properties in reducing arthritis, it may very well reduce/remove the fluid in his hocks.

At such an inexpensive price tag for something I can pick up at Wal Mart, why not try it out?

Administering: hmm this could be tricky. When using ACV for abscess soaking, Milo did not care for the smell. So ACV in its liquid form probably will not go over so well simply being dumped onto his grain (nor the taste Im sure). Back to the conversation with Wes' Mom - the ACV in pill form. That may do the trick, especially if I can crush the pills into a powder and put it on his wet grain. What about dosage? "For a healthy horse, use 1/4 cup (60 ml) of unpasteurized ACV on his feed grain per day. Dilute the vinegar 50/50 with water before adding to the feed." (Quoted from this site) Well that may work in liquid format, I just dont think Milo will accept it, although it is worth a try I suppose.

But I am more interested in the pill format. I havent found any sites about ACV in pill format and suggested dosage for horses. Im leary on purchasing those designed for humans, as well Milo is not a human and the dosage conversion may not be accurate or appropriate.

Have you used ACV for your horses/yourself before? What administering techniques have you used for your horse? Do you know where I could find information for recommded dosage (in pill format preferably) for a horse?