Has anyone heard of a calmer having the opposite effect?

[Gorgeous George]

George went on nupafeed 3 weeks ago to see if it would help with his anxiousness about coming in on his own, doesn't seem to have done a lot for that and since going on it he has got spookier and spookier which isn't really like him. I know I am having confidence issues at the moment so some of it could be me, but this is ridiculous. Could a horse have an adverse reaction to a calmer??

 

[hellybelly6]

I havent heard of this, but I have heard of horses getting spooky on garlic or carrots and other odd day-to-day edibles.

I would contact the manufacturer and see what they say.

Has he had a change in diet recently or grazed on different grass?

I wish I could find something to have that effect on Jake, he can hardly keep his eyes open.

 

[siani1989]

i have a 14.2 chest nut and yes your typical chestnut mare and i had her on blue chip calmer , and omg it sent her pyshco no stopping her at shows galloping off, had vet and he told me to take her off it and she went bk to normal with just been fran just odd buck at shows

 

[Happytohack]

[ QUOTE ]

I wish I could find something to have that effect on Jake, he can hardly keep his eyes open.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bless him

As for the Gorgeous One - calmers can have strange effects on horses. The only way to know for sure is to take him off it and see if he improves. It may be a sudden flush of good grass after all the sunshine and showers we have had, or it may be, as you say, just down to your nerves and being ultra tense (and please believe me, I have been there and know exactly how frustrating it is).

 

[lornaA]

i used some calmers on my mare, the ones you just use when you are going somewhere as she started blowing up in the show ring but i found when i used them she would warm up lovely and calm and lul me into a false sense of security then explode in the ring worse that ever. I have now stopped using them as for me and my horse they were an expensive waste of money.

 

[wishfulthinking]

I've had a horse turn loopy on a magnesium based calmer which is similar to nupafeed and have heard of others who have had similar experiences. Another horse of mine really responded well to the same calmer.

I haven't tried it yet but I believe global herbs do one called thoroughbred calmer or something which is meant to work well for those who have an adverse reaction with magnesium based additives.

 

[Halfpass]

Most of the calmers I have used have always made the horse worse before they got better. I usually give them a month to work. Some calmers just aren't right for that horse it really depens why the horse is anxious / spooky etc etc. I trialled a calmer recently and it was fab. Its called Horse First Relax Me and can be found at www.horsefirst.net.
I suggest just trying a few you will hit the jack pot eventually unfortunatly its sometimes means that you end up with half tubs of things.....
The other one which is good is the global herbs one, but a word of warning if you do try it the first 5 days the horse will definalty be worse!!!

 

[CBAnglo]

I haven't tried it yet but I believe global herbs do one called thoroughbred calmer or something which is meant to work well for those who have an adverse reaction with magnesium based additives.

[/ QUOTE ]

My anglo didnt have an adverse effect to the magnesium ones (well, he was pretty bad so I dont think he could get any worse) but he responded quickly to the Global Herbs TB calmer. I wasnt sure at the time if it was because of the increased work (the TB calmer made him able to concentrate in the school) so I experimented by taking him off it after 2 months. Straight away I had a spooking jumping stressing mess on my hands. The spooking and jumping wasnt that bad, but he was totall stressed out in the fields and was windsucking really badly so I put him straight back on and again I saw the difference. Ridden wise he is a lot calmer and hacks out alone in the forest in the high winds, and now he doesnt have separation anxiety and doesnt stress in the fields.

GH TB calmer does have some magnesium in it (you can see that the poweder is magnetic) but it is a lot milder than the other calmers which is why I think it works differently.

It is just a case of trial and error really.

 

[Jane_Lou]

I had my rescue pony on Global Herbs Super Calm and it really settled him, a friend convinced me to change to a magnesium based calmer and three days later I could not get near him to catch for 4 days - this was in the run up to bonfire night and I was getting desperate, he hated being out on his own but he just seemed to loose all the confidence he had gained in me. In the end I gave him a feed with the super calm instant calmer in it, left him and hour and walked straight up to him and caught him! He has been back on Supercalm ever since!

 

[katie_and_toto]

Yup, Toto went nuts on a calmer before, took him off it and he was better than ever!

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Calm & Condition had the reverse effect on my horse & he got hyper. He's now on Ride & Relax & that is fine for him.

 

[ISHmad]

We gave one of ours Magic calmer. Made him far more spooky than ever!

 

[RachelB]

Mine have never had bad reactions to calmers but I have heard of horses going nutty on alfalfa-based calmers (some horses react badly to alfalfa as a feed). Luckily my horse is on So Kalm at the moment which is in an alfalfa base and she's actually calm

My old Welsh pony was on Allen & Page Calm & Condition for a while and like Toby_Zaphod's horse she went totally mental

Completely neurotic, like she'd constantly got a bee stuck up her backside

It took me a while to figure out that was the cause, and I took her off it PDQ!

 

[tabithakat64]

I tried a few things on my horse and I think most people do until they find something that works, I've known several people who say calmers have had the opposite effect. Have you thought about speaking to someone like Jo Cooper about your crisis of confidence?
Since my confidence has improved and I'm riding my horse more positively I haven't needed a calmer.
I do have some equfeast calm, cool and collected you could try if you want.