How many of you use a calming/behavioural supp on your horse?

I'm trying one with the younger horse, behaviourally he's fine, but he has hyper sensitive skin, and I've heard that can be a symptom of magnesium deficiency. Will report back if it makes any difference to his behaviour! :p
 
Mine is on regumate which is due to behaviour not sure if it counts as a supplement? I used ValarIan on weds for our first trip out but think it was too much as she was a donkey. Glad I did though we got chased by cows
 
Mine has had Magnesium Oxide for years - I knew my land was short on magnesium and the horse I bred was all but impossible to back, he spooked at so many things he ought to have been able to cope with. It keeps him sane!
 
My mare is on relax me by horse first as she is very spookey and kept spooking and tanking of with me across the school bronking!! Have seen a drastic improvement since her being on it
 
My mare is on oestress from spring to autumn. Not really mareish just becomes a little tight when ridden when in season - this stuff helps loads
 
Tried mine on magox last year, for several months, but saw no effect at all. Just have to be really careful what I feed him as nearly everything hots him up but he needs hard feed as doesn't do that well, and he has to be worked hard. Typical native/ pony type really - needs lots of work, and lots of mental stimulation, learning different things, otherwise he plays up and demonstrates his frustration by spooking and general naughtiness. He is only completely sane when he's in hard work! Despite being sold as a horse you could pick up and put down, this is absolutely not the case at all!

Incidentally, I am not suggesting that people who feed calmers need to work their horses more! Just talking about my own horse and what I've found with him.
 
Not intentionally but horses here tend to be chilled (I put it down to quiet private yard vs big livery yard) but 2 years ago I had out soil tested and it's off the scale with high magnesium - at which point I realised their feet had also improved in the time they were here (and the one I'd sold started having feet issues a year or so after he left!)
So I suspect I might be !!
 
My horse had Magnitude magnesium and brewers yeast, although that is not necessarily a calmer. He is sharp and can lack concentration, and this helps him to focus with less general anxiety.
 
Mine is on oestress during the summer and have had her on magic over the winter. The oestress does seem to help her. Can't really comment on the magic as she was in on box rest over winter and she was spooky but could have been worse without the magic hard to say
 
My horses behaviour changed over night when i moved to a new yard, i put it down to settling in but it didn't get much better but was controllable and only causing an issue with hacking, when it deteriorated further i had the vet look at her and we then started treating her UFP about 2 weeks into rehab she went wild, couldn't do anything - so tried her on a magnesium calmer and the difference within two days (double dose) was remarkable! she's finished her first tub and have now moved her over to EA magnitude, and she's still calm and less explosive! mentioned it to my YO and she said 'oh yeah we are really low magnesium here, we always had trouble with magnesium deficiency when we had cows!' still haven't braved hacking out as don't want to set the rehab back, but all fingers crossed this could be the answer!

those saying calkers haven't worked for you, if you've tried magnesium calmers and they havent worked, try a non magnesium calmer - the magnesium ones only work if your horse is deficient
 
I have a mare that use to panic in the trailer and after talking to "Nupafeed" I started her on the liquid and when travelling I gave her an instant syringe about an hour before. It worked well and we were able to travel her hundreds of miles.

It made no difference to how well she competed, although she may have been a bit calmer.
 
I've been using magnesium oxide in my geldings breakfast for a month now and he's a completely different horse. He used to spook at every leaf, bush and imaginary goblin. He was impossible to school without darting sideways at a bird in a bush, and would often sweat with eyes on stalks whilst hacking alone. That's all in the past now. I don't know if the land is deficient in my area but he was the same at the livery yard I had him on a few miles up the road when I bought him, and the other horses were fine so maybe he's just naturally wimpy or maybe his body doesn't absorb magnesium as well as others.
Anyway, he's on medical grade stuff which I buy from an eBay shop so it's waaaay cheaper than buying one of the horse branded magnesium based calmers. It's definitely worth a try if your horse is spooky.
 
I don't have spooky horses but they can get stressed if their out of routine like going to shows or a busy working schedule. I had one mare on relax me by horse first, it helped but again she wasn't spooky so I doubt the magnesium was her issue. By accident I moved her onto copra cool stance and after a month I had my sparkling mare working hard but with no more fizz before she was on baileys condition cubes so to be fair they shouldn't haven't blown her mind. Now my 4yr old can be an extra-delightful handful when things get exciting, I don't require him on a full time calmer just something to take the edge off him lets say if he was going to a new place he will start to over heat and then rear and then its time to get rid of the annoying person on his back as its all too much to take in...I opted to use Valerian as I just give it the day before and the morning of and it made him a very reasonable young man, now I don't need it, it gave him time to relax in new arenas with other horses and work out its no biggie! I also allow all my horses access to a mineral and vitamin lick to eliminate chances of deficiencies in their diets.
 
Interesting how many people think their land is deficient in magnesium (I agree), I also think people are deficient too (I take a supplement too). My new mare was in her old home all her life (she is 12), then was traded in for a cob with a dealer, luckily for her she was sent over here, and came straight to the yard where she will now stay with me, so not too much upheaval.
She is lovely at shows, out hacking etc, but so unsettled if you move horses around at the yard, weaves at feed time, or if I am turning others out.
Have got her on magnitude, and I read About brewers yeast on here, so I have ordered that to try.
 
I use as much Dr Grass as I can...

One thing to remember is Magnesium supplements will only work if the patient - if they aren't it will make them worse...
 
We use D&H placid (and A&P cereal free feeds) for our sensitive stressy lad. Magnesium supplements only work if the root cause is a deficiency which doesn't apply to us. The one that really works is valerian - which is why it is banned for horses in competition!
 
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