Calmers for horses - any suggestions please

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vennessa

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I have never used a calmer before. We had a Stallion gelded last week, a four year old. He is good to handle and respectful but we need to do something about his attitude to the others. He is in a field on his own adjacent to the others. I do know it has not been long and he will get better but he is still acting as he did before. He is chargeing up and down the fence and strikeing at the fence.
When ready he will join the herd gradualy - be in a paddock within the horses paddock but i am worried he will get over-excited. We have a gelding - gelded late and he still thinks he is a stallion. Any suggestions?
 
Trial and error I'm afraid!! I've tried all sorts of things. There is a rigcalm one made by one of the herbal companies that would seem to target your specific situation.

I've tried Nupafeed MAH calmer, Brewers Yeast, Hilton Herbs Temperamend, Equine America So-Kalm paste and Global Herbs Thoroughbred Calmer. The latter is the only one that seems to have had any effect. Oh, and Rescue Remedy. But plenty of those have worked for other people.
 
Equine America So Kalm.

Is the best on the market IMO.

If you don't want to try the long term option (in feed every day) they do a paste for about £12. if that works then it is worth considering longer term.
 
I don't think you'll know until you try. So many people recommended so many things to me and not one of them has made any effect - some of them even sent him worse! TB calmer does seem to be working but it might just be coincidence that the weather has warmed up!

Good luck.
 
The only calmer i have ever found that actually worked on a couple of my horses is Steady Up. I've tried a lot of the herbal ones and they dont seem to have the right effect on my horses - although I have heard other people say they are fantastic
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It can take several weeks for the residual hormones in the system to dissipate, so you need to take on board that he will be hormone driven for some time to come. And also he will have stallion memory - no calmer is really going to get rid of that IMHO, just good handing and quiet insistence on respect.
 
Brewers Yeast is meant to be good for riggy geldings ... but you need to make sure that you feed teh right quantities. I found that it made mine spooky though (initially feeding it for sweet itch).

BeckyDGlad the TB calmer is working for you! Are you on maintenance dose now? How are you getting on generally?
 
I think time may work, but all horses are different. We took on a rescue case back in November. He is 10 years old and was still entire, so we had him gelded before he arrived. For the first 6 weeks or so, he paced the fence, dropped off weight and had very stallion tendencies. About 12 weeks after we introduced a gelding in with him, who was used to being out with our arab stallion. This didn't work. They sparked off each other to much. We then took a bit of a risk, a deep breath and introduced him in to a field with 2 other geldings. He latched on to one of them and they have been best buddies ever since. His stallion tendencies have gone and we have had him in talking to the mares quite the thing. The horse he has palled up with is a rig and I really wasn't convinced it would work. The rig is quite happy to have him, and yet he is pony that I can't put out with new mares because he is an absolute pain and runs them in to the ground. I think trial and error, and not rushing things is possibly the best way forward. Hope it all works out and he settles down.
 
I had a gelding who I had no option but to stable next to my very tarty 11h welsh A mare. He became a total nightmare and extremely distressed when they were spearated and agressive to the other horses if they went near the fence to her field. A friend suggested Global Herbs Rig Calm and within a week he had totally lost interest in her and become the sweet pony he always was (much to her disgust I hasten to add!) Although expensive, I have used a number of their products on various ponies and found they really do work so would def recommend. Good Luck
 
At the moment I am trying stroppy gelding by D&H on my gelding he was a covering stallion till about 18 months ago and lives out with some very tarty mares and was getting a bit worked up - jumped out of his stable 4 times at the weekend.

Don't know if it will work but giving it a go!
 
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