Ellie, a pretty little bay Quarter Horse, recently celebrated her 14^th birthday. She is owned and loved by Brooke M.; they’ve been partners since Ellie was just a five-year-old. These two have been in and out of the hunter jumper show ring together, love to trail ride in the woods around their Massachusetts farm, and will jump anything in their path.

A few years ago, however, Brooke started to notice stiffness in Ellie’s back end along with occasional lameness. The vet came out to assess Ellie and prescribed a COX-2 inhibitor, a type of NSAID, recommending one tablet a day be administered with morning feed. No doubt, this helped: Ellie was moving better, happy to swap her leads on the fly and turn tight to the next jump once again.

Relieved to see her mare comfortable, Brooke continued to keep Ellie on that prescribed regiment. She has always been a bit skeptical of the daily administration of an NSAID, though. “I want Ellie to be comfortable and feeling her best, but I question whether keeping her on a drug for the rest of her life is the best solution,” Brooke says.

She’s right to think twice about this; long term use of NSAIDs, even COX-2 inhibitors, have routinely been linked with negative effects on gastrointestinal, kidney, and liver function. Ellie has many good years ahead of her, and Brooke would hate to put anything in jeopardy by medicating her long term.

Fortunately, holistic, alternative solutions for pain relief have been gaining a lot of ground in recent years. Natural ingredients backed by science and results are offering new ways to address pain in the long term without the fear of scary side effects.

Enter Bute-Less^® Performance, which piqued Brooke’s interest when she saw the word curcumin. “I’d heard of the natural antioxidant having great health benefits for humans, and was curious as to what it could do for horses,” she says.

Bute-Less^® Performance has taken all those health benefits, including inflammation support, muscle recovery, and digestive support, and optimized them for ideal absorption in horses. The result is powerful, natural relief from the inflammation that so often comes with training and competition.

The type of curcumin in Bute-Less^® Performance is key, here: Longvida^® SD optimized curcumin, a breakthrough formula developed by Verdue Sciences and UCLA neuroscientists. Clinical data has shown that Longvida^® is at least 65 more times bioavailable that unformulated curcumin, allowing free curcumin to be most efficiently delivered and best absorbed within the body for optimal results.

And those results were clear. Bute-Less^® Performance was put to the test during a clinical study* at Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine. Off-track thoroughbreds who were administered Bute-Less^® Performance daily over a month’s time showed significantly higher peak vertical forces in the tested limb as measured by a force plate. And all while maintaining stomach health.

With that kind of proof, Brooke was more than just interested. “Why don’t we give it the 30-day try too?” she wondered.

So, Brooke and Ellie are making the switch to Bute-Less^® Performance over the next 30 days, as they get back into spring training for a full season ahead. Brooke will be working Ellie consistently, watching closely for any changes in Ellie’s range of motion, or any signs of lameness, discomfort, stiffness or irritability. If Ellie remains sound and happy, she’ll switch permanently to Bute-Less^® Performance, kissing the daily tablets goodbye.

We’ll check in with Brooke and Ellie at 15 and 30 days on the supplement to see how it’s going. Enjoy your daily scoop of Bute-Less^® Performance, Ellie!