A supplement/feed to help horse concentrate?

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Kraft

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Hi All,

I have a rising 6 year old ex-racer who can lack in concentrating whilst out competing and hacking and sometimes schooling at home. (i know he is only young) but i was wondering if there is anything on the market i could give him that might help him to concentrate but without loosing his spark?

Thanks all :-)
 
I've had reasonable success with Equifeast's cool, calm and collected. The loading dose is £££ but the maintenance dose is cheap. Their website is dreadful (I mean it, seriously abysmal for such a big company!), so I phoned them for advice first then ordered online. Once I'd worked out how to get to their online store, which wasn't obvious in any way!!
 
I wouldnt bother with typical supplement as such, theyre generally full of crap - calmers only work in those deficient in magnesium, cos they top it up to a normal level.

He is probably just being a baby, so you could try adding Bach Essence Cerato to his water, just a couple of drops every day for a couple of months and see if that helps :)
 
TigerTail said:
I wouldnt bother with typical supplement as such, theyre generally full of crap - calmers only work in those deficient in magnesium, cos they top it up to a normal level.

He is probably just being a baby, so you could try adding Bach Essence Cerato to his water, just a couple of drops every day for a couple of months and see if that helps :)
Click to expand...

Well, that's if you're feeding a magnesium based one, isn't it?! CCC isn't magnesium-based (though it does have magnesium and tryptophan in it), it is chelated calcium based. It doesn't 'calm' as such, what it does is provides calcium to help the nerves function effectively meaning the horse makes better decisions. I bought it for an entirely different issue (as my horse isn't one that's ever needed a calmer), but it turned out that it had a large, and almost immediate effect on his hacking, where he tends to over-react to things making noise.
 
Spottedcat - i managed to trowl my way through the Equifeast website and i have order a 'Loader Pack' and 2 x 5 week packs too, i agree its not cheap for the loader pack but at just £22.00 a month (including p&p) for the packs afterwards i was pleasantly supprised.

So will give it a go....Thanks again.
 
Another vote for CC&C. It doesn't dull them down but mine seems to get a red mist decending and loses the plot. This sort of - helps him think a bit more if that makes any sense, he doesn't seem to panic quite so much.

One thing though, if he is deficient in calcium which mine seemed to be, be prepared for MUCH worse behaviour for the first week or so. Mine was horrendous, but once it starts to load into the system, the mood swings stop. So don't panic and stop it, give it the five weeks - mine was only bad for the first two weeks - and all should settle down nicely.
 
Similar thing - when out hacking if something set him off he'd be irrational for the rest of the ride. Now, he has his moment then becomes calm again. Weirdly it has changed his response to things - he used to be a bunch up and bounce on the spot/piaffe/snort type, now he just does these huge bucks with his heels over his ears! On balance I prefer the bucking, especially as it is one or two then he shuts up. I used to hack him with fly-ears and sheepskin ear plugs to try and dull his response, and he always had to be in an outline on a strong contact. Now he is in a much more stretchy frame and I have dispensed with the ear plugs and fly ears. I didn't have the behaviour getting worse but I was warned about it!
 
Thanks everyone.

My boy is 80% at home and out hacking very quiet, if anything maybe a little lazy. But when we go out competing or a horse walks past when we are schooling or a horse whinneys he will whinney back, especially if we are out doing dressage and show jumping so hopefully this will just help him to relax and listen to me abit more and not be so nosey.

He is only young but i just wanted something to give us a bit of helping hand to chill out :-)
 
SpottedCat said:
Well, that's if you're feeding a magnesium based one, isn't it?! CCC isn't magnesium-based (though it does have magnesium and tryptophan in it), it is chelated calcium based. It doesn't 'calm' as such, what it does is provides calcium to help the nerves function effectively meaning the horse makes better decisions. I bought it for an entirely different issue (as my horse isn't one that's ever needed a calmer), but it turned out that it had a large, and almost immediate effect on his hacking, where he tends to over-react to things making noise.
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Ive just started CC&C 7 days ago we are on the loading dose, i went for this product for the above reasons. The particular horse im using it for cant tollerate calmers that are predominantly Magnesium. I also didnt want this horse shut down as he has a big movement which can be very dulled down on a mag calmer.
I like the fact that a lot of thought has been put into the CC&C making it a very balanced supplement, which can then also be tailored more to your horse if needed.

So far so good on the CC&C & i actually think it's a lot cheaper than other products used for calming. The horse in question was feeling very well & ended up with me having a trip to hospital. So im very pleased to be using this product & having such great results so quickly. Plus he's still very much in front of the leg & retained his powerful movement.
He is still Hot but ive definitely got concentration happening now which was lacking severely.
 
Ingredients for CC+C

Active ingredients:
Vitamins: E, B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin).
Minerals: Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium plus L-Tryptophan and Choline.

As I said. Magnesium. ;)
 
TigerTail said:
Ingredients for CC+C

Active ingredients:
Vitamins: E, B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin).
Minerals: Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium plus L-Tryptophan and Choline.

As I said. Magnesium. ;)
Click to expand...

I have no idea why you're being deliberately obtuse about this, since I stated in my post that it also contains magnesium and tryptophan, but try reading this http://www.vcal.info/ This is the chelated calcium that is in CCC. You'll note that in that list of ingredients, calcium is listed first...

I've used magnesium in the past - had no effect on this horse (was in something else I was feeding).

You can't just pick an ingredient in a supplement and say it will only work if the horse is deficient in that ingredient whilst ignoring the rest of the things in it, that's just ridiculous!
 
And to add to that - there is definitely something different in it from normal calcium as horse gets large amounts of unchelated calcium in his twice daily ulcer supplement....
 
I would always look at the Cavalor products - they are not so much supplements but treatments so whilst they are expensive you use them for specific periods rather than as a long term additive. They are all fully FEI approved and evrything I have ever used has done exactly what it says it will do.

Here are a few of their products which may well help

Cavalor Electrolyte Balance

http://www.countrysmiths.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=Cavalor-Electrolyte-Balance

Cavalor Calm

http://www.countrysmiths.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=Cavalor-Calm

The other thing I would recomend anyone uses at least once a year for their horse is the Cavalor Hepatoliq which is a detox for the horse and I've always found within a week or so of the 4 week course the horse has a brighter more attentive appearance

http://www.countrysmiths.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=Cavalor-Hepato-Liquid
 
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