Turmeric? Could it make my horse badly behaved

[fluffycobs4life]

I have recently introduced Turmeric in to my cobs feed (fed 3x per day) could it be making him sad? He is in currently as I have no winter turn out and hacked a few times a week and he just seems to not be himself at the moment,he is very skittish and keeps bolting every time I ride him! It seems to link with when he started having the turmeric,any thoughts?

 

[be positive]

If he is only getting hacked a few times a week with no other form of exercise I suspect his behaviour is more due to lack of exercise, frustration and possibly too much feed than the turmeric even if it fits with the timing it could be he was just building up to it, if you really cannot turn out you must get some decent work into him and maybe cut the feed down until he can get out, I would be sad if my life consisted of such limited time outside of the stable.

 

[holydaysandholidays]

I've been feeding tumeric for ages but I've been told that it needs to be fed with black pepper to activate it? Does anyone know anything about it?

 

[PurBee]

This thread is enlightening from folk feeding it - quite a few find it perks their horses up.

https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/turmeric-has-anyone-tried-it-on-their-horse.650221/

I guess because turmeric is anti-inflammatory, it potentially will increase energy if cells are no longer in an inflamed condition.
The hallmark of chronic maladies is inflammation and fatigue in mammals - so if we can reduce inflammation, cells work better and body processes/metabolism is potentially improved as cell intake of nutrients and expulsion of cellular waste is improved.

If your horse is on any high energy feeds, maybe reduce them out the diet if youre finding turmeric so effective in the longterm for giving energy.

 

[fluffycobs4life]

If he is only getting hacked a few times a week with no other form of exercise I suspect his behaviour is more due to lack of exercise, frustration and possibly too much feed than the turmeric even if it fits with the timing it could be he was just building up to it, if you really cannot turn out you must get some decent work into him and maybe cut the feed down until he can get out, I would be sad if my life consisted of such limited time outside of the stable.

Be positive,he is in a large pen in a barn rather than a stable,but due to a fallout with a totally psychotic neighbour I have had to move him to a friends and cannot turn out at the moment ? looking for somewhere else at the moment. I will try reducing feed as you suggest,just seemed very coincidental. Thank you!

 

[poiuytrewq]

I used to use turmeric on my old horse, he had arthritis and it was fed with oil and pepper to help that.
As I had it and it was cheap I decided to give some to my daughters horse as a preventative measure. He became a nightmare, it wasn’t as some suggest that he was sore and suddenly felt good, there was nothing wrong soundness wise and he didn’t feel good. He had nervous anxious energy. Spooking violently and seeming terrified.
Took him off it as it was the only thing I’d changed and he went quickly back to his normal self. I tried it a few more times just to see and within a day of having it he reverted back to this weird nervous behaviour.
A friend had the same thing when she tried it with a sound horse.
Obviously restricted turnout isnt going to help any wired horse situation though.

 

[EllenJay]

What does tumeric do?

 

[poiuytrewq]

What does tumeric do?

It’s anti-inflammatory, used in India for arthritis and became a bit of a fad here. No idea if it actually works or not to be honest, I never noticed a difference in my arthritic horse.