Complete Guide
PEA for Horses
Daily joint, mobility and wellbeing support for active and ageing horses. Pure micronised PEA in a tasteless powder.
Pure PEA — No Fillers Micronised for Absorption Australian Made
What Is PEA?
Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is a fatty acid amide the body makes for itself. Horses produce it in their own tissue, and it also occurs naturally in food. The body makes more of it in tissue that is working hard or under stress.
The idea behind feeding it is straightforward: when demand outruns what the body is producing, you top it up.
Why Owners Choose PEA
- Supports joint health and normal mobility in older horses and horses in regular work.
- One ingredient only. Micronised PEA. No fillers, flavourings or additives.
- No loading dose. You feed the same amount from day one.
- Tasteless powder. It goes over the feed and most horses do not notice it.
- A different pathway. PEA is not a glucosamine, not a plant extract and not a marine product.
It is a daily nutritional supplement, fed alongside your horse’s normal diet.
Feeding Guide
How Much To Feed
Start at the lower end of the range for your horse’s weight and introduce it gradually.
| Horse weight | Daily amount |
|---|---|
| 300–400 kg | 3–6 g |
| 400–500 kg | 4–8 g |
| 500–600 kg | 5–10 g |
| 600–700 kg | 6–12 g |
| Over 700 kg | 7–15 g |
Pour the powder over the feed, once or twice a day. There is no loading dose. The amount you feed in week one is the amount you feed in week twenty.
Value
How Long A Bag Lasts
Most owners start on the 200 g bag and move to the 1 kg pack once they know how their horse responds.
| Pack | At 5 g a day | At 10 g a day |
|---|---|---|
| 200 g | 40 days | 20 days |
| 1 kg | 200 days | Over 3 months |
The 1 kg pack works out around a third less per gram than the 200 g bag. For a 500 kg horse on the standard 5 g dose, one pack covers most of the year.
What To Expect, And When
PEA is not a fast-acting painkiller. It works gradually.
Most owners who notice a change see it somewhere between two and five weeks. Some horses respond sooner — if a horse’s own PEA production is only a little short of what it needs, topping it up does not take long to show. By five weeks, most owners have a fair idea whether it is doing anything for their horse.
Give it a full five weeks before you decide, and feed it every day in that window. Skipping days makes the answer harder to read.
Write down what you are watching before you start — how the horse moves out of the stable in the morning, how it picks up its feet, how it is on hard ground. Changes at this pace are easy to miss otherwise.
Why Micronised Matters
PEA does not dissolve well in water. The smaller the particles, the more of it the horse can absorb. Micronised PEA is ground far finer than standard PEA, which is why the two are not interchangeable at the same dose.
Read This First
Competition And Racing Horses
If your horse competes under FEI or Equestrian Australia rules, or races, read this before you buy.
The FEI lists palmitoylethanolamide on its Equine Prohibited Substances List as a Controlled Medication, under the definition Analgesic.
- Banned substances must never be present in the horse at any time.
- Controlled Medication substances have accepted therapeutic use. A horse may be given them at home, but must be clear of them at a competition.
The FEI publishes no detection time for PEA. There is no stated withdrawal period to work back from, and under FEI rules the rider carries strict liability as Person Responsible.
Australian racing rules define prohibited substances by their action on the horse’s body systems rather than by name, so an analgesic would be captured.
What this means in practice:
- For a retired, spelling, paddock or pleasure horse that does not enter swabbed competition, none of this applies.
- If your horse competes, talk to your veterinarian before you start, and check the substance yourself in the FEI Equine Prohibited Substances Database.
- Rules change. Check the current list each season rather than relying on this page.
The classification above is the FEI’s, for competition purposes. It is not a claim by us about what this product does.
We would rather tell you this up front than sell you a bag you cannot use.
Who This Is Not For
- Horses competing under FEI, EA or racing rules, unless you have cleared it with your veterinarian and allowed a withdrawal period. See the section above.
- Pregnant and lactating mares. We do not recommend it, and the reason is a lack of data rather than a known problem. PEA occurs naturally in mammalian milk, but no safety study has been done in pregnant or lactating mares, so we will not tell you it is fine when nobody has checked.
- A horse that needs a veterinarian. PEA is a daily nutritional supplement. It is not a substitute for diagnosis. If your horse is lame, get it looked at.
What The Research Says
We would rather show you the evidence than tell you it exists.
In horses, there is one published clinical report. Gugliandolo and colleagues (2020), in the journal Animals, followed four jumping horses given 2.5 g of ultramicronised PEA daily. All four improved over two to four months. It is a case report on four animals, not a controlled trial, and we are not going to describe it as more than that. Read the paper
In other species, the evidence base is larger. PEA has been studied in dogs, cats and people across several hundred publications, including placebo-controlled trials in dogs. Those results do not automatically transfer to horses, and we are not claiming they do.
How it is understood to work. PEA acts on a receptor called PPAR-alpha, which turns down the production of inflammatory signals inside cells, and it settles mast cells — the tissue cells that raise the alarm when something is wrong. That is a different pathway to glucosamine, to rosehip extracts and to green-lipped mussel products.
Safety. PEA has a wide safety margin in published toxicology work and no known drug interactions. Occasional mild digestive upset is the most commonly reported effect.
Common Questions
Can I feed it alongside my horse’s other supplements?
Yes. PEA works on a different pathway to glucosamine, rosehip and marine-based joint supplements, and there are no known interactions. If your horse is on prescribed medication, check with your veterinarian first.
My horse is already on a joint supplement and it helped a bit, then stopped. Is this worth trying?
This is the most common reason owners try PEA. Because it works on a different pathway, it is a reasonable thing to test. Give it five weeks and judge it on what you see.
Can I use it on a competition horse?
Not without veterinary advice and a withdrawal period. PEA is an FEI Controlled Medication. See the competition section above.
Will my horse eat it?
It is a tasteless powder and most horses take it without a fuss. Introduce it over a few days rather than all at once.
How do I store it?
Cool, dry and sealed, out of direct sun.
What if it does nothing?
Some horses do not respond. Five weeks on the 200 g bag is a fair test, and it is the reason we sell that size.
Also in the range: PEA for Cats · PEA for Dogs
Support Your Horse Every Day
One ingredient. No loading dose. Made in Australia.
This product is a nutritional supplement fed as part of the daily diet. It is not a veterinary medicine and is not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any disease. Competition and racing bodies each set their own supplement and prohibited-substance rules, and they change. Check the current rules with your body before using any supplement. If your horse is unwell or lame, consult your veterinarian.
