Propell, Red Cell, NAF EnerG etc

[jenbleep]

Hello all

I am wondering if you can help me. Charisma is a laid back 9 year old tb who can sometimes feel 'flat' at competitions and in lessons.

She is ridden about 5 times a week, a mixture of schooling hacking and lessons and competes ar Riding Club level once or twice a month if time and money allow.

She is normally ridden out alone, and is rather spooky and behind my leg but if she is ridden out with another horse she is much calmer. In fact to the point of being lazy

Her owner rides her about once a month if that, she only wants her for a plod nothing more.

At competitions, she can be one of two things -

a) When she has been taken to the comp on her own, if there is a lot of waiting around she can switch off, I have to really get after her and she can be extremely lazy and heavy in my hand.

b) If she goes to the comp with her field mate, and they are seperated (for instance when mate goes in for his class, etc) she can get upset - so is noisy, stressed, spooky/jumpy and when it's my turn to ride her she is tense, rides like a plank and always on the look out for her mate. My leg goes on and she is off

So my question is, can I add something to her feed that might pep her up a bit when I need it but not make her go wild? She is quite sensitive and obviously I want her owner to be happy riding her. (She is not the most confident).

But equally when I pay for entry fees I want Charisma to be the best that she can be and feel the best I want her to enjoy herself and feel good Plus, can I get samples of each of these? I don't want to pay out £££ if C is not even going to touch her food with it in! I know that it might take a while for any effect but I want to know that is willing to try it too

I should also mention that when her owner bought her she was quite poor and anemic, and I wonder if she is prone to that at times.

**Is that possible? And if so, what can I do to prevent this?**

She is on poor grass but looks well, so is fed Alpha A Original, biotin and scoop of Spillers Comp Mix.

I think her owner thinks she doesn't need anything (including the above!) but I feel that although we are not in serious hard work I am asking more of her.

Thanks in advance for any replies and advice xxx

 

[Kenzo]

If she’s been anaemic in the past there is a good chance it could be that, although to be sure it is that or nothing else, it might be a good idea to get her bloods done so you know exactly what (if anything) so you have a proper diagnoses, then you can look into her diet, talk to some feed companies and cater it more to her needs perhaps? it could just be simply that she’s lacking in energy due to the combination of her current diet and exercise routine,

The supplements you have mentioned will give her that added perk but are usually give to horses either in hard work or recovering from an illness which often can also involve a bout of anaemia, however if she has this all the time then it’s something you need to find out and rectify through her diet or make sure she’s not got for example an underlying virus that is not overly obvious to detect.

 

[sonjafoers]

My first thought is to ask why she's on a competition mix - does she really need this? If you are feeding a scoop a day it probably isn't doing much anyway apart from loading her with starch and if it's a scoop per meal and she is fed more than one meal a day couldn't you change it to something less 'heating'?

As Kenzo said I would also get her bloods checked by the vet, just to be on the safe side and so that you can work out a feeding regime knowing her bloods are fine.

I haven't had great results with ProPell Plus, the times I've used it all it has done is sent mine loopy. It seems to make them spooky and generally very silly. However I know others who have good results with it but they tend to be horses in much harder work than Charisma or those recovering from being under the weather. I haven't tried Red Cell or EnrG.

 

[NOISYGIRL]

My vet thought my horse was slightly anaemic when he had his vaccinations, he said to give him lots of alfalfa and make sure he was on a good vit and min supplement, he also said he could go on a supplement for the blood which I could get from them but you know how much these things cost from vets so I just bought some NAF EnerG, spoke to NAF about it and she said I'd probably only have to give him one bottle he should be fine after that, I'm approx halfway throught the bottle and have done what the vet said and his gums are pinker so am very pleased. I hadn't noticed him being lethargic but now he seems to be more perky so praps he was and I didn't notice, I just thought it was the hot weather.