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GK
19 Jul 2009 19:30
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Hi has anyone got any good calmers that they swear by? My chap is now turned out 24 x7 but lacks confidence which comes out as tension and spooking in schooling and dressage tests - I have tried Oxyshot and Nupafeed with no discernable results - anyone have any other ideas?!
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19 Jul 2009 19:49
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Oxyshot is the best thing I have ever tried. Are you sure you gave him enough? I gave my horse a whole syringe the 1st time. And did he swallow it?
The problem with calmers is that many of them are magnesium based and will only have an effect if your horse is low in Magnesium.
Whilst I use Oxyshot (more as well to cope with the heat in Spain), I do not rely on a calmer as a miracle cure all. Perhaps you need to work on your relationship together and do work from the ground and build his confidence that way.
I have spent many an hour with my nervous horse and he is slowly improving as I build my relationship with him and he has more trust in me in scary places.
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Fiona Price
19 Jul 2009 19:57
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You could also try flower essences as well. Get a therapist to make you something. Or Google Bush Flower Essences. They do a great human spray called Calm & Clear which I use on both me and my horse when I compete. I spray it on my face, and spray it on my hands and wipe it on my horses face - forehead and around nose. Seems to work!
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GK
19 Jul 2009 21:03
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"You could also try flower essences as well. Get a therapist to make you something. Or Google Bush Flower Essences. They do a great human spray called Calm & Clear which I use on both me and my horse when I compete. I spray it on my face, and spray it on my hands and wipe it on my horses face - forehead and around nose. Seems to work!"
hi guys thanks for your feedback! I am trying to find a better solution than calmers and to build the relationship as you suggest, I do work on the ground and lunging as well and as I say I have recently turned him out 24x7 which for a dressage horse who isnt brave at the best of times seems to be a huge step for him - i dont want to push him over the edge!!! Fiona, I haven't heard of Bush Flower essences, but I like the idea of it being user friendly for me too!! How are you after your car incident by the way - are you recovered?
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traceykb
03 Aug 2009 00:56
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""You could also try flower essences as well. Get a therapist to make you something. Or Google Bush Flower Essences. They do a great human spray called Calm & Clear which I use on both me and my horse when I compete. I spray it on my face, and spray it on my hands and wipe it on my horses face - forehead and around nose. Seems to work!"
hi guys thanks for your feedback! I am trying to find a better solution than calmers and to build the relationship as you suggest, I do work on the ground and lunging as well and as I say I have recently turned him out 24x7 which for a dressage horse who isnt brave at the best of times seems to be a huge step for him - i dont want to push him over the edge!!! Fiona, I haven't heard of Bush Flower essences, but I like the idea of it being user friendly for me too!! How are you after your car incident by the way - are you recovered? "
Hi, I have recently been told of the dangers of feeding the calmers which are based on magnesium. Magnesium stops the body abosrbing calcium, as pointed out in a Horse and Hound letter this week. So I would use any of these calmers with caution. I personally found that Brewers Yeast works a treat, also, check the ingredients on all your feed and try and find feed that has not got molasses in it.
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traceykb
03 Aug 2009 00:56
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""You could also try flower essences as well. Get a therapist to make you something. Or Google Bush Flower Essences. They do a great human spray called Calm & Clear which I use on both me and my horse when I compete. I spray it on my face, and spray it on my hands and wipe it on my horses face - forehead and around nose. Seems to work!"
hi guys thanks for your feedback! I am trying to find a better solution than calmers and to build the relationship as you suggest, I do work on the ground and lunging as well and as I say I have recently turned him out 24x7 which for a dressage horse who isnt brave at the best of times seems to be a huge step for him - i dont want to push him over the edge!!! Fiona, I haven't heard of Bush Flower essences, but I like the idea of it being user friendly for me too!! How are you after your car incident by the way - are you recovered? "
Hi, I have recently been told of the dangers of feeding the calmers which are based on magnesium. Magnesium stops the body abosrbing calcium, as pointed out in a Horse and Hound letter this week. So I would use any of these calmers with caution. I personally found that Brewers Yeast works a treat, also, check the ingredients on all your feed and try and find feed that has not got molasses in it.
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traceykb
03 Aug 2009 00:57
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""You could also try flower essences as well. Get a therapist to make you something. Or Google Bush Flower Essences. They do a great human spray called Calm & Clear which I use on both me and my horse when I compete. I spray it on my face, and spray it on my hands and wipe it on my horses face - forehead and around nose. Seems to work!"
hi guys thanks for your feedback! I am trying to find a better solution than calmers and to build the relationship as you suggest, I do work on the ground and lunging as well and as I say I have recently turned him out 24x7 which for a dressage horse who isnt brave at the best of times seems to be a huge step for him - i dont want to push him over the edge!!! Fiona, I haven't heard of Bush Flower essences, but I like the idea of it being user friendly for me too!! How are you after your car incident by the way - are you recovered? "
Hi, I have recently been told of the dangers of feeding the calmers which are based on magnesium. Magnesium stops the body abosrbing calcium, as pointed out in a Horse and Hound letter this week. So I would use any of these calmers with caution. I personally found that Brewers Yeast works a treat, also, check the ingredients on all your feed and try and find feed that has not got molasses in it.
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Castlebawn Stud
09 Oct 2009 22:28
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'Magic' calmer worked really well on my mare and also know of a few others it worked on. She tends to get a bit full of herself in winter when shes stabled, just messing and doesn't listen, tenses up, spooks at silly things etc etc. It helped relax her and she started working really well so I gradually reduced it and she now doesn't get it at all.
(Nupafeed didn't work for me either, and it's so expensive!)
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DressageSpain
10 Oct 2009 14:00
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Magnesium based calmers are proven to only work IF your horse is lacking in Magnesium. The only way to find out if it will work/is needed is therefore to have a blood test.
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Horse Hero Guru
11 Oct 2009 20:09
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DressageSpain is correct that magnesium calmers only work if the problem is that your horse’s diet is deficient in magnesium. If not your expensive magnesium based calmer is excreted in the urine. If your horse is deficient in magnesium for some reason then the cheapest way of supplementing the diet is to feed Epsom salts. However, as Traceykb says, feeding magnesium upsets the magnesium calcium balance and so a magnesium supplement should be fed with a calcium supplement such as limestone flour.
Surely it is better to work out why you feel your horse needs to be calmed down. Is it because your horse is being fed the wrong diet? Is it not receiving sufficient work? Is it living an unnatural lifestyle through being stabled for twenty or more hours a day? Have you bought a naturally exuberant horse that you hoped would magically become a quiet and placid hack when you got it home? Are you hoping that a shot of something will magically replace the hours of training required to produce a well-mannered mount?
The fact that a supplement is described as ‘natural’ and complies with FEI or other rules does not alter the fact that by feeding a calmer you are attempting to dope your horse and try to mask a problem rather than cure it.
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DressageSpain
14 Oct 2009 07:49
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I have to say that I have used the Oxyshot as I mentioned before with super effects but not strictly as a calmer. I find the horses more able to cope with the extreme heat in Spain and as they are more Oxygen available to the body and brain, can also concentrate more and are therefore more relaxed.
My trainer once said something relevant to me: A lot of times, where people change something in tack or feed etc, there is a big difference in the horse BUT not because whatever miracle cure it was has worked necessarily but more because the rider believes whatever it is WILL work and therefore rides more effectively!
I have to say, there have been occasions where I have seen what he said be absolutely true.
Perhaps you need to learn to be more firm but quiet with your horse, is he getting the spookiness from you (subconsciously?)?? Are you getting on the horse thinking he is going to spook and therefore being uptight? They can sense this and react to it easily.
I had a spooky horse once, who was very confident and everything was an excuse to spook. And i did end up getting more uptight as I rode him. One of the best things someone ever did for me was sit me down for lunch with a glass of wine and then make me ride, it took the edge off me and he behaved much better! (I am not condoning drink riding!! But I do know mnay riders who have a small tipple before competing)
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