ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
This article is part of the Research TopicBiomarker Identification and Novel Therapies in Equine MedicineView all 6 articles
Natural eggshell membrane supplementation for chronic lameness in Warmblood horses: A 12-week prospective before-after study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Kyungpook National University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Surgery, Daegu, Republic of Korea
- 2Jeju National University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jeju Province, Republic of Korea
- 3Ari B&C Co Ltd, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea
- 4Cheongdeok High School, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea
- 5Vivian and Stanley Gangnam International Scholars, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 6Seongdong Bio Co., Ltd., Goyang-si, Republic of Korea
- 7Wonkwang University, Iksan-si, Republic of Korea
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Introduction: Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of equine lameness, yet pragmatic evidence for nutraceuticals in horses remains limited. Methods: We prospectively evaluated 12 weeks of daily natural eggshell membrane (NEM; 12 mg/kg, orally) supplementation in Warmblood horses with chronic lameness using a single-arm before–after design. Ten horses were enrolled and prespecified paired contrasts compared visit 3 (V3, week 12) with baseline (V1). Outcomes included rider-reported under-saddle function (walk and trot), examiner-graded lameness (rest and walk–trot composite), simple joint-angle kinematics (degrees), and owner-rated palatability. Results: Rider-reported function improved by approximately half a grade at both walk and trot, and owner-rated palatability improved markedly. Examiner walk-trot scores showed a small trend toward improvement, while rest lameness remained unchanged. Statistical inference supported these patterns, with 95% confidence intervals excluding zero for rider scores (Δ=−0.50) and palatability (Δ=−1.50). Moderate changes were observed in right-fore joint angle (Δ = +3.06°) and examiner composite grades (Δ = −0.11). These effects were supported by small-sample inference (permutation tests, bootstrap CIs) and complementary Bayesian estimation. Discussion and conclusion: NEM showed potential short-term improvements in owner-reported function and examiner-graded gait, but larger controlled studies are needed.
Keywords: Equine osteoarthritis, Joint range of motion, kinematicassessment, lameness evaluation, natural eggshell membrane, nutraceutical supplementation, rider-reported outcomes
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 19 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Kwon, Jeong, Kim, Kim, Chun, Yang and Kim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: ByungKwon Kim
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.