Calmers, do they work

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WindyWitch

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I have my gelding on a new yard and he isnt settling at all. i am keeping his routine the same as before, but he has all new friends and a new location and is just a stress-head. I am thinking of putting him on a calmer for a few weeks until he adjusts. Has anyone any to recommend and do you think they will help? TIA
 
They are usually magnesium based and tend to work if the horse is not getting enough magnesium.

If you aren't competing then valerian is supposed to be good (its in most herbal supplements), but I've never used it myself. Thunderbrooks used to do a calmer with it in and are pretty helpful if you give them a call.
 
plenty of turnout and plenty of work I've found works best

Its difficult as if your horse goes on a magnesium based calmer and isn't lacking in mag it can have the opposite effect so maybe look for one that isn't magnesium based
hope he soon settles for you
 
Try valerian.
I've just been using it on one who is a bit anxious and there is a definite improvement.
It is not competition legal for a reason!
 
no rubbish - have tried lots. the only solution is to have them on a yard that they like.. my boy has been incredibly stress on some yards but get him on the right yard and after a few days he is angelic
 
I use Valerian on my gelding. A definite improvement, seems to be able to relax and think more. Has always been a tad wired, the amount of work makes no difference to him. Having tried all the calmers I can find, this is the only one where other liveries have seen a difference and asked if he is on anything. Have also had a small result with tryptophan.
 
Valerian does work - which is why it is a prohibited substance for competition. But even then the impact is fairly limited. Horses are prey animals and if it was easy to dampen down their fear response they would not survive long! I've not had any difference from magnesium based calmer (other than the placebo effect on the rider but that won't help you) and limited impact from competition legal herbal based calmers. If you can it might be worth reducing his hard feed and increasing forage to compensate? They need energy to stress and reducing excess energy might help. But it might also lead to him dropping more weight than you need.
 
Thanks everyone for the responses. I have cut back his concentrates and hay is ad lib, so I'll give him a week and if there's no change thrn I might try Valeria as he's not a competition horse. Thsnks again
 
As with many herbal products which are not standardized, each horse can react differently. A mare on. My yard was totally zombied out on valerian root extract, she could hardly stand up and completely unsafe to ride.
 
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