Calmers - suggestion for a competition horse.

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Grace is working really well and is fantastic at competitions.

However, she is slightly neurotic about things at home
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For example, a wheel barrow that has been upturned, someone walking past the school when we are working, and is really snorty and jumpy out on hacks.

Do you think a calmer will help? It can't have magnesium in it though because her previous owner gave her something with it in and she stood shaking quite badly.

Any recommendations for something that will take the edge off her without taking the sparkle out of her work?
 
Have you tried switching her diet ? I've heard good things about Allen & Page Calm & Condition mix - it has very little starch but lots of fibre. Or just cut down hard feed and replace with hay/haylage? As for calmers, I think Global Herbs are pretty good.
 
She needs the feed for the work she is doing, she very easily looks like a hat rack unfortunately and no matter how much haylage I give her (she is on adlib) she will only eat what she wants... she's not a foody like my other mare.

She is on Alfa A, TopSpec Balancer and Topline Mix (won't eat the cubes at all)...
 
My friend uses So Calm paste on her eventer to take the edge off him and swears by it. Not sure if it contains magnesium though.
 
Our WBxTB is really sensitive to sugar so we have worked a diet that has drastically reduced the sugar content and had really good results.
We avoided molassed feeds and where possible tried to feed straights.
There is a company called simple feed systems (or something similar) [sorry 3/4 of the way through a bottle of wine in an attempt to deaden the fear of Friday
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] you can find them on a google search it has quite a bit of info which you might find useful.
It means not giving her a lickit or similar molassed treat and reducing the amount of fresh produce - apples etc. I do feel a bit mean but she is a totally different horse without sugar. With sugar she gets a bit like a kid after a bag of Haribos!
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At competitions we used So Kalm but for everyday stuff she now is fine.
 
Exactly the same as you Worried - had to cut out ALL sugars from my boy's diet, he was exactly like a kid with too many haribos! I also had to use So Kalm paste even just to get him to stay in the arena! But changed him onto simple systems a couple of years ago. He is a different horse these days, and I did half think about changing back for convenience but he went to my instructors for 2 weeks earlier in the year when I went on holiday, and they fed him Pasture mix. I got back and it was like sitting on an unexploded bomb! So we will be sticking to the simple systems now I think....
They do different feeds for horses who struggle to keep weight on etc, all 4 of the horses at ours have it now, as do our neighbours both sides as they were so impressed by the change in my boy. They swear by it too.
 
I personally wouldnt give her one hun, i dont think she needs it. Even Bloss (at 14) is snorty and spooky out hacking - its what you get with a fit horse!! If shes fine out competing then i just really wouldnt bother.

As a real last resort with Archie ive just started him on 'cool, calm and collected' by equifeast - IMO its bl00dy expensive and you have to feed ALOT for the first 1-2 months, so its going to cost me a small fortune. However you know what Archie is like, and IMO Grace is really nothing like him.

If i didnt have to with him i really wouldnt, and ive held off for this long on giving him one - but hes actually dangerous now out hacking, if he was just spooky i wouldnt be giving him one.

Also i once tried the global herbs supercalm - it didnt work im afraid!! (that was when i first had him).

Secondly, cut out the conditioning mix you are giving her and swap her onto allen and page calm&condition. I bet you the mix is making her excitable.
 
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