🍂 Cooler Days, Different Horses

Could CBD Help Support Both Comfort and Calm This Fall?

There’s something about that first crisp fall morning.

Your older horse walks out of the barn taking a few extra steps to loosen up.

Meanwhile, your younger horse walks out feeling fantastic—head up, tail in the air, and suddenly very interested in things that apparently weren’t there yesterday.

Two very different horses. Two very different responses to the changing season.

So where might CBD fit in?

The body’s endocannabinoid system is involved in regulating a surprisingly broad range of functions—including pain perception, inflammation and responses to stress.

And while equine cannabinoid research is still young, we’re beginning to learn more about how cannabinoids such as CBD, CBDA and CBG may affect horses.

Emerging research is exploring two areas of particular interest to horse owners: physical comfort in horses with osteoarthritis and the potential role of CBD in supporting calmer responses to everyday stress.

The evidence isn’t equally strong in both areas, but the findings are worth exploring—especially as cooler weather brings changes in how our horses move and behave.

🍁 The Older Horse: When Getting Moving Takes a Little Longer

Osteoarthritis and chronic joint discomfort are common in older horses. And as the seasons change, many owners notice their senior horses taking a little longer to get moving comfortably.

Maybe those first few steps out of the barn look stiffer. Maybe your horse needs more time to loosen up before a ride. Or perhaps you simply notice that he seems happier once he has been moving for a while.

Fall is a good time to pay attention to those subtle changes.

Regular turnout and gentle movement can be especially valuable for older horses, and a longer, gradual warm-up can help stiff joints get moving before asking for more strenuous work.

And this is where some fascinating new cannabinoid research comes in.

🔬 CBD, CBDA & Equine Osteoarthritis

A 2024 peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science evaluated 24 adult horses with chronic osteoarthritis.

Researchers divided the horses into two groups. One received CBDA (cannabidiolic acid) and the other received a combination of CBG and CBD for 14 days.

Both groups experienced reductions in chronic-pain scores. The researchers concluded that oral CBDA and CBG/CBD may promote pain reduction in adult horses with chronic osteoarthritis.

No adverse effects were observed during the study, and none of the horses required rescue pain medication.

This was a small, short-term study, and it did not include an untreated placebo group or a conventional pain-medication comparison group. That means the findings are encouraging, but they cannot establish how much of the improvement was caused by the cannabinoids.

Still, it is exciting to see scientists studying cannabinoids in horses with naturally occurring osteoarthritis rather than simply extrapolating findings from humans or other animals.

It is also particularly interesting that researchers are looking beyond CBD alone and studying other naturally occurring hemp cannabinoids, including CBDA and CBG.

👉 Read the full peer-reviewed osteoarthritis study

🍂 What About the Horse Who Gets a Little TOO Happy in Fall?

You know the horse.

The temperature drops ten degrees and your normally sensible partner emerges from the barn snorting, bouncing and convinced that the wheelbarrow he passed yesterday is now a threat to national security.

Can CBD help that horse too?

Possibly—and this is an area researchers are beginning to explore.

CBD is commonly used by horse owners in hopes of supporting a calm response to everyday stress.

In a controlled study published in 2024 involving 12 horses, researchers administered CBD or a placebo twice daily for 15 days, then evaluated responses during novel-object and trailer-loading tests.

They monitored behavior along with physiological measurements, including heart rate and cortisol. The study did not demonstrate a consistent calming benefit from CBD compared with the placebo.

👉 Read the 2023 behavioral study

However, another study published in 2021 in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior examined 17 horses receiving either daily CBD supplementation or no CBD for six weeks.

Researchers reported lower reactivity scores in the CBD group during a novel-object test, although heart-rate measurements did not differ significantly between groups.

These findings are interesting, but the studies were small and used different doses, formulations and testing methods. More research is needed to determine whether CBD reliably influences equine stress responses.

👉 Read the 2021 reactivity study

While research into CBD and equine behavior is still preliminary, it remains an intriguing area of study—and one we’ll be watching closely.

🐴 What Horse Owners Are Telling Us

Research matters to us—but so does what we hear from the people who know their horses best.

Over the years, Doc’s Hemp customers and other horse owners have shared encouraging observations about their experiences with CBD.

Some describe horses that seem more comfortable, less stiff and more willing to move. Others tell us their horses appear calmer and better able to handle everyday stress and excitement, without seeming dull or sedated.

Of course, every horse is different. These are personal observations, not controlled clinical findings, and many factors can influence how a horse feels and behaves.

But hearing these experiences from horse owners, while seeing scientists begin to investigate some of the same questions, is especially interesting to us.

It’s that connection between real-world experience and emerging research that keeps us curious about the potential of hemp-derived cannabinoids.

And it’s why we’ll continue following the science as our understanding grows.

🌿 Why We’re Interested in More Than Just CBD

One of the most interesting things happening in cannabinoid research is that scientists are beginning to look beyond CBD alone.

Hemp naturally contains a family of compounds called cannabinoids, including CBD, CBDA, CBG and many others.

These compounds have different biological properties and may influence pathways involved in pain perception, inflammation and stress responses. Scientists are still working to understand how these compounds act individually and in combination.

That makes the recent osteoarthritis study particularly interesting to us.

Researchers didn’t study CBD alone. They investigated CBDA as well as a CBG/CBD combination.

That’s also one reason Doc’s Hemp has always been interested in full-spectrum hemp rather than simply adding isolated CBD to a product.

Although the potential benefits of combining cannabinoids have not yet been established in horses, understanding the broader chemistry of the hemp plant is an important part of ongoing research.

The plant is more complicated than one molecule—and we’re only beginning to understand it.

🐴 Dr. Harman’s Fall Reminder

Whether your horse is 25 and taking a little longer to loosen up—or 5 and celebrating sweater weather with airs above the ground—fall is a good time to reassess the whole horse.

Pay attention to movement.

Give older horses adequate time to warm up.

Keep horses moving with appropriate turnout and exercise.

Notice changes in behavior as well as changes in physical comfort.

And remember that sudden or significant stiffness, pain or behavioral changes deserve a conversation with your veterinarian.

CBD and other hemp-derived cannabinoids are an exciting area of equine research, but they should be considered one part of supporting the whole horse—not a substitute for good management or veterinary care.

Sometimes our horses tell us the seasons are changing before we’ve even pulled our jackets out of the closet.

Here’s to comfortable seniors, sensible youngsters and beautiful fall rides. 🍂🐴

— Dr. Joyce Harman & the Doc’s Hemp Team

📚 Research Spotlight

Aragona F, Tabbì M, Gugliandolo E, et al. (2024).

Role of cannabidiolic acid or the combination of cannabigerol/cannabidiol in pain modulation and welfare improvement in horses with chronic osteoarthritis

Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 11:1496473.

Eichler F, Ehrle A, Machnik M, et al. (2024).

Behavioral observations, heart rate and cortisol monitoring in horses following multiple oral administrations of a cannabidiol containing paste (part 2/2)

Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

Draeger AL, Thomas EP, Jones KA, Davis AJ, Porr CS (2021).

The effects of pelleted cannabidiol supplementation on heart rate and reaction scores in horses

Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 46, 97–100.

Research into cannabinoids in horses is still developing. Individual experiences do not establish clinical effectiveness. Doc’s Hemp products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. Always work with your veterinarian regarding your horse’s individual health needs.