Which calmer works for you?

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chestnuttyy

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Hi all,

Looking to try a new calmer for my horse as he's a bit of stressy individual all round.

I've tried the magnesium-based options (Magnitude) and Horses First Be Calm but neither had any effect. I have tried 2 that contain Valerium, which did seem to have a good effect, but I'm looking at starting to do some comps soon so can't stick with that option...

Any suggestions?!

x
 
My 3 yr old is on Magnitude and my 4yr old is on Horses First Relax me. Both work well ( i notice a dif if they miss a day or 2) its just a case of playing around. I also give my 4 yr old a trebor soaked in rescue remedy before we hack (and one for me) that seems to work well.
 
I believe Magnitude is just a magnesium based calmer, which will only work if the horse is deficient in magnesium.

I found Hilton Herbs Temperamend worked best with my old horse - but it was a case of trial and error.
 
I use Zylkene for my stressy nervous boy, first calmer that I can honestly say works. We can finally go out and do some jumping and dressage without him rearing and napping and spooking at everything. just done a syle jumping class tonight and we came fifth, before I started using Zylkene he was a nightmare.
 
not all horses will eat naf magic though as my horse who is usually a hoover proved at my expense. I tried magnitude but don't think it did anything for her, shes now got a countrywide hi mag lick so she can choose if she wants magnesium. I'm giving her oestress at the moment which is working so far :)
 
bunnereeny said:
My 3 yr old is on Magnitude and my 4yr old is on Horses First Relax me. Both work well ( i notice a dif if they miss a day or 2) its just a case of playing around. I also give my 4 yr old a trebor soaked in rescue remedy before we hack (and one for me) that seems to work well.
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There has been 3 horses on my yard use Relax Me and I would highly recommend it, but as has been mentioned before, it will only work if the horse is lacking magnesium. Magic didnt work at all.
 
I use Placid - fab stuff! Not sure about competition use though, it has Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Vervain, Magnesium and Lime Flowers in if any of those are banned???
 
JustJasper said:
I use Placid - fab stuff! Not sure about competition use though, it has Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Vervain, Magnesium and Lime Flowers in if any of those are banned???
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Oo not heard of this one... is it widely available or something you order online?

Not heard of Zylkene either... can anyone shed any light?

Thanks :)
 
Valium has always been my favourite :D





seriously, ProKalm was probably the best with our mare, though we did used to give her Magnitude every spring as well
 
I've found TopSpec's Calmer to work really well with everything apart from my new horse, can't remember what's in it off the top of my head but it uses several different approaches to calming so that may be why it works so well. Takes the edge off without turning the horse into a donkey which a lot seem to do!

My last mare was a stresshead and we found Global Herbs Supercalm worked wonders with her - most global herbs products seem to do what they say they will. Their instant calmer worked really well for her too, but again it doesn't seem to do anything to new mad one - think she must be immune to calming! :rolleyes:

Dodson & Horrell's Placid worked really well for years on my mums horse, then suddenly stopped - but could be worth trying as it was ridiculously effective!

NAF's magic calmer didn't do anything for any of ours.
 
Have one of mine of Magnitude (and they both get pink powder too) permanently and he is so much better on it, less stressy and generally much more chilled out and not so dramatic!

Have also used Global Herbs instant supercalm sachets which worked well, and a herbal calmer i've used which seemed to do the trick when my horse moved was NAF tempralax.

Another one i've heard good things about Nupafeed, but have not tried it.

Also, in the last few months i've switched mine to mollichaff Calmer chaff and it has made a big difference to one of my horses in particular who can be very hot headed and sharp nat times.
 
sisco said:
I use Zylkene for my stressy nervous boy, first calmer that I can honestly say works. We can finally go out and do some jumping and dressage without him rearing and napping and spooking at everything. just done a syle jumping class tonight and we came fifth, before I started using Zylkene he was a nightmare.
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Oooohhh tell me more sisco, mine naps, jumps up (would quite call it rearing), and spooks dreadfully...........:eek:
 
Global Herbs range is just fab, have tried virtually every other "make" on the market! My tb is on their tb calmer and has a maintenance scoop everyday, works wonders at just taking the edge off him without changing who he is! Prior to this we have had fab results with their supercalm too, would def recommend them :-)
 
James Hart VCalm. It is valerian but we feed the maintenace dose daily and withdraw 24 hours before competing. We have found that missing a day's dose doesm't seem to make any difference to the overall effect. In fact, we once went 2 days without and it didn't seem to make a difference. However we did try stopping altogether and within a week had a nervous wreck again!
 
Mine is on NAF Magic and is definitely much calmer. He won't eat it though, so I use the liquid and syringe it down his throat. He was on Wendal Herbs calmer beforehand and I think this helped a little, but NAF Magic is better.
 
Mypinkpony said:
Oooohhh tell me more sisco, mine naps, jumps up (would quite call it rearing), and spooks dreadfully...........:eek:
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Zylkene is a natural product that contains some sort of milk protein that acts on receptors in the brain and help to calm the horse, supposed to be the same feeling a foal gets when suckling. I seen it advertised and thought might as well give it a try as I've tried everything else and i cant believe the difference it has made, I only use it when we are going out to jump or do a dressage test (just local riding club competitions) and we can actually go do these things without him be stressed and napping and spooking and being an absolute idiot, seems to work best for horses that are stressy and nervous .
 
sisco said:
Zylkene is a natural product that contains some sort of milk protein that acts on receptors in the brain and help to calm the horse, supposed to be the same feeling a foal gets when suckling. I seen it advertised and thought might as well give it a try as I've tried everything else and i cant believe the difference it has made, I only use it when we are going out to jump or do a dressage test (just local riding club competitions) and we can actually go do these things without him be stressed and napping and spooking and being an absolute idiot, seems to work best for horses that are stressy and nervous .
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Wow, I've never heard of that. Where do you get it from?

Also, does anyone know when you need to stop feeding valerian-based calmers prior to competing?

Thanks :)
 
chestnuttyy said:
Wow, I've never heard of that. Where do you get it from?

Also, does anyone know when you need to stop feeding valerian-based calmers prior to competing?

Thanks :)
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Zylkene:- I got mine from Vio Vets the first time I bought it as you don't have to buy a full box as I only wanted 6 sachets to try to see if it made any difference, bought a full box from Animed Direct its the zylkene equine 1g sachets, I suppose it's like every other calmer it wont work for all horse but it certainly has worked for mine.
 
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Having a horse going into month eleven of box rest I can offer expert advice on the world of calmers !!

Firstly look very carefully at the ingredients of the feed you are using. Many so called low energy mixes have sugar and barley etc in them. There is no point spending a fortune on calmers if your base feed is not suitable.

Obviously my horse could not be fed other than hay adlib and bran mashes to keep his gut moving, along with a broad spectrum multi vit.

Initially I used top spec with success for sometime. As the weeks ticked by the horse became more stressed and I tried Magic which he refused to eat.

Global herbs stay calm worked for a while. Vet intervention was needed and Zyklene was tried which he refused to eat, this is an expensive potion which has a gone off milky smell when mixed with a feed and he was having none of it. However, I have started using it on a very nervous young horse with success, glad I didn't throw it out !

Many months into box rest the vet put the horse onto Vetplus Calmex, this is a vet only product and comes in quite large sachets of powder (think cheese sauce size packets) and when mixed with a feed it smells of freshly baked cake. My horse adores the stuff and it works very very well. His appetite went up and he had the demenour of a horse doing plenty of work and being totally relaxed in the box.

My horse has started rehab now and is back on Top Spec which is working well in conjunction with some walking out.
 
Another vote for NAF magic - took the edge of my welshie. Still a little spooky but far more rational and didn't seem to panic so much about everything. Tried top spec in the past but didn't seem to have any effect.
 
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