Answer

By Your Horse

Vet Stephen Ashdown replies:

Bute gives temporary relief but is best not given in the long term. There are a great number of herbal preparations on the market that attempt to reduce or replace the amount of bute horses may be having. Most of these are based on devil’s claw, an African plant with some anti-inflammatory properties.
However, the most important supplement to give is one to improve the mineral intake of your horse, as many arthritic problems are related to mineral deficiency. Seaweed is a very good means of providing minerals, and chelated (protein-bound) mineral formulas, such as GlobalVite, are best.
For more immediate relief use formulas containing herbs such as ginger, frankincense and turmeric. You should also consider supplements to rebuild worn joints. Glucosamine is the best known supplement for helping regeneration but some herbs will do a better job.
The Soluble Superflex you are using will provide some good support. Cortaflex from Equine America is perhaps the best known supplement for joints but, if you prefer to use a purely herbal approach, you’ll find that the all-in-one product from Global Herbs called MovefreePlus can provide some quite surprising results.