Cool Calm and Collected by Equifeast for panicking pony?

WelshD

WelshD

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 October 2009
Messages
8,031
Visit site
Has anyone tried the above? (not personally!)
How did you get on with it?

Bit of background without boring everyone...

Pony 12hh rising three. Has moments of sudden panic

Fine in the stable but at a sudden noise (he knocks a bucket for example) and he panics, you go to touch him sometimes and he clenches his backside and tucks his hind legs right under him, if you lead him sometimes he plants and does the clenching, sometimes he pulls away violently (this is the most common thing he does)

He has been checked by a vet for obvious pain

Pony has been difficult since I have had him though he was well handled and apparently calm in his last home - At first I left him alone to do some growing which in all honesty was a cop out - I am now stabling him for part of each week to work on his confidence with being handled (the other pony is outside so he isnt totally alone) and things are improving but its the moments of sudden panic that I am struggling with

I know supplements arent always the answer but I do think if I can take the edge off the panic things will become more consistent

I darent say 'no nasty comments please' as I know thats frowned upon but I am well aware of my failings so far and would really appreciate some constructive advice if at all possible :)
 
Last edited:
I would try magnesium as a first defence. My 10 year old horse is a bit neurotic but on magox he is OK, I only realise how much better if he doesn't have it for a day or two and you can't put his headcollar on or do his rugs without a panic reaction.
 
So sorry I should have already said what we have tried

MagOx
Magnitude
Magic
Various herbs

He has small feeds of speedibeet a tiny bit of chaff (lite but not completely unmollassed but no alfalfa) and lo-cal balancer, he gets brewers yeast and salt in his feed which has helped
 
Hi WelshD I am on this but have only been on for about 10 days. My advice would be get on the phone and have a good long talk to them they are very helpful.
My boy has been jumpy so not your average fizzy beast but over reacts to silly thinks quite drastically then really relaxed in between. So far so god.
 
My horse has been on it for about 7 weeks and I think it's good stuff. My problem was that she found it hard to concentrate when there was a lot going on. So,if horses were going in and out of the barn when we were in the school, she would be looking, whinnying and couldn't focus on what I was asking. Out at new places, she would again be looking around, calling, and her brain wasn't "there" for her to do what I actually wanted her to do.
Hard to explain, but I've definitely noticed that she knuckles down to work much better and is much more "in the moment". I would ring them they are really helpful.
Good luck.
 
WelshD said:
So sorry I should have already said what we have tried

MagOx
Magnitude
Magic
Various herbs

He has small feeds of speedibeet a tiny bit of chaff (lite but not completely unmollassed but no alfalfa) and lo-cal balancer, he gets brewers yeast and salt in his feed which has helped
Click to expand...

My boy cannot have any molasses at all, or sugar. A carrot or an apple and he gets hypersensitive. I would try a completely plain chaff, I use Baileys. It must be horrible for them to be so tense.
 
For some reason it made mine worse - tried it with and without magnesium, then gave up as was becoming a very expensive experiment.

Equifeast were very helpful and know plenty of people that have had sucess with it, but just didn't help our chap.
 
Thank you all. The chaff was supposed to be a calming one... I only used it to add texture to the speedibeet so will drop it and see what happens

Its so frustrating as I cannot think what I have done to make him so nervous, the first few days were wonderful :(
 
I have a 15.3 hh Welsh Section D who is very sharp, spooky, bucks, is anxious, nervous, etc. I have him on a small scoop of Balanced Happy Feet (which has no sugar or cereal) and Cool, Calm and Collected Bombproofing (with magnesium). He has been on it now since June and is a different horse.

He still has his moments but is so much better. He is much more relaxed and actually isn't looking for stuff to jump at anymore.
 
WelshD said:
Thank you all. The chaff was supposed to be a calming one... I only used it to add texture to the speedibeet so will drop it and see what happens

Its so frustrating as I cannot think what I have done to make him so nervous, the first few days were wonderful :(
Click to expand...

Maybe he isn't so nervous but resisting a little? When my pony was new (unhandled straight from field) she was very well behaved, now things aren't so scary she's asserting herself more and checking things out, especially when things aren't going her way (ie other ponies galloping around when I'm bringing her in). I generally let her have look and then realistically she has to do as she is told, but she does resist if I don't at least let her have a double check. In the end they do have to do what they are told, even if they don't like it and why would they? Sometimes extra reassurance is what they need.

ETA - I wouldn't by a calming supplement though.
 
I tried the mare essentials version from equifeast and my mare wouldn't touch the stuff. It smells very strongly of yeast and even when we reduced the dose she could smell it and wouldn't touch her feed. Equifeast did send some flavouring that seemed to do the trick, but they were only samples and with the supplement costing £80 it seems a bit much to have to pay for something to make it palatable. As for whether it worked or not, I never managed to get enough into her to see a difference. A very expensive experiment!
 
Thank you all

I will try cutting out the sugar and being a little firmer with him - I can normally calm him in the stable but when leading him if he goes he goes! I cant hold him at all, he always does come trotting straight back which does make me wonder if he is taking the mickey but I am not exactly a pushover and he genuinely does seem panicky

The other pony has come on in leaps and bounds
 
We tried CCC with our very spooky, bolshy pony but it didn't make much difference! She is now on fast fibre, tblsp of salt, forage balancer and magnesium as I'm sure she reacts to mollasses, soya bean and clover! I also always lead her in a richard maxwell pressure halter as she has a tendancy to try to run off in search of food!
 
my friends nervous and spooky welsh d x tb is on it and she says it's very good. If she thinks it's wearing off for want of a better word she calls them and they adjust it for her.
 
WelshD said:
So sorry I should have already said what we have tried

MagOx
Magnitude
Magic
Various herbs

He has small feeds of speedibeet a tiny bit of chaff (lite but not completely unmollassed but no alfalfa) and lo-cal balancer, he gets brewers yeast and salt in his feed which has helped
Click to expand...

I have never used the Equifeast supplement but experience tells me that you should remove ALL the molasses from his diet. Used to have a mare who couldn't tolerate even the tiniest amount and was extremely noise reactive when given it. Instead you could use dried grass chaff or oat straw chaff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top