Your thoughts on calmers, please

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Right, I'm prepared for a disagreement, but I do not like calmers. It seems to me that they are, for the most part, an absolute waste of money that do nothing at all.

However, then you get the exceptions who say, "oh, this one made my horse so dopey and relaxed he looked drugged" - and this is a good thing?
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If the occasion warrants drugging, and drugging is permitted, FFS get some sedalin or ACP on vets advice, then you know what to expect. If drugging is not permitted, surely using a calmer that has this effect on some horses should also not be permitted? Why are they allowed in competitions?

I don't get it.
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Thoughts please.
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I think calmers make the owners feel better! Wouldnt it be wonderful to buy something in a tub that turns your horse into a saint? Much easier than sorting out the diet/turnout/exercise/tack fit/ management and so on.

Most calmers are VERY over priced for whats in them but that pays for the marketing!
 
I am actually often shocked (and appalled) by the amoint of people on here who;s immediate suggestion to solve anything is "get some sedalin down it's neck"!

I feel they seem to be far too freely available and have to say I have NEVER had to use a calmer or sedative on any of my horses over the last 26 years so can't understand why people seem so keen to use them now?

I think calmers and sedatives are totally overused and are because horses act up a bit (as they all do) and the owner is scared. Maybe too many people are buying horses just because they can afford to as opposed to them actually being able to ride / handle horses properly?
 
I don't see what harm they do when people use them to help sort out training issues, box rest, change of yard etc. If they just take that edge off a nervy horse on a temporary basis which leads to safer management it seems reasonable to me.

I would agree its abit weird if people use them all the time rather than to work through a particular issue and I've always been surprised then can be used in competitions. However, I don't have much experience of using them myself and personally would ask my vet for ACP if I needed a quiet horse eg for turnout after box rest.
 
When people ask my advice on a calmer I always assess diet first, often the horse is being fed something totally unsuitable for it's level of work. Calmers do however have there place and some horses respond very well, and often they can be weaned off the calmer once schooling etc becomes more established and the horse has seen a wider view of life.
 
That's the thing though wandamare - people just seem to have it! I don't, couldn't just get some out of my tack room. It's the people who use it because their horse is a bit 'lively' and they daren't turn it out in case it's a 'looney'! personally I wouldn't want t turn my horse out half drugged up!

Or others with young horses who are scared to take them to a show in case it gets too excited - ooh, drug it then! Erm, how about doing it the old fashioned way by introducing it to new environments over a period of time - slowly and calmly?
How about NOT expecting a horse to be a machine and have no reactions to any stimulus!!
 
On attending a rather large showjumping festival last year, I was amazed at the number of empty calmer syringes outside stables! I asked for advice on here last year about calmers and bought a syringe with the intention of giving it a go, but keep forgetting, still intact in the box which must mean I really don't need to use it lol
 
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personally I wouldn't want t turn my horse out half drugged up!


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Well I would, actually, if it had been shut in on box rest to avoid it going ape and (re-)injuring itself, but it would have a decent amount of reliable sedative in it that I trusted to do the job, not a random calmer.

Otherwise, I don't think trying to suppress ridden horses' reactions with a calmer is really the way forward either. If the horse is doing "put you in hospital type stuff", I think, don't get on, or possibly sedation for very gentle stuff, if its just a horse having normal reactions, it shouldn't need a calmer, rider needs to ride better!
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Most of the calmers seem to be magnesium based. I spoke to my vet about it and her advise was that there was sound scientific reasons why magnesiusm could work but that if the horse was not magnesium deficient (and the majority are not) then they would not make a difference.

However, when turning a horse out for the first few times following box rest I would always give a small dose of sedaline beforehand.
 
Not saying they should be used willy-nilly but :

Some "calmers" just address imblances e.g. magnesium which might occur due to your location and what you feed.

We subject our horses to unnatural situations all the time - such as travelling, big shows, separation from their herd when moving to new yards, traffic, box-rest - if something helps them to relax a little - is that such a bad thing? Most probably have no real effect anyway - which is why they are not banned.

Iv'e found Sedalin and ACP to be incredibly unpredictable either not working at all or over sedating - one of my horses I swear had hallucinations when he was on it for being turned out after box-rest and became quite dangerous.

I also believe that as amateur riders (of which I am one) we get all those horses that didn't make it in high-level competition but still have that temperament and if giving it a calmer for certain times or short periods makes for a safer more relaxed horse then why is that so bad?
 
lilym, completely agree.

Have know calmers have a very beneficial effect in the fact they can take the edge off a horse and improve its focus on the job. My last horse became very inverted when he was anxious, and a calmer kept him chilled and almost braver! Works for some, not for others. Agree anything that has a drugging or "Numbed down" effect can't be good, but anyone I have known use them uses it just to keep the horse relaxed, as opposed to changing its behaviours patterns completely.
 
Think there's a difference between magnesiun based calmers and ACP and sedalin.

I certainly wouldn't want to be anywhere near a horse that needed sedating to ride or handle in any situation - in fact riding a sedated horse would be just stupid.

I have had 2 horses that have responded well to magnesium based calmer though.... no sedative effect, just more concentration and less stupidity in the dressage arena.
 
I personally agree. If a horse needs to be constantly 'calmed' to ride it then there's something about it's enviroment, upkeep or diet that isn't suiting that horse.

At the same time, for an odd occasion I don't see too much harm in it. For example. My youngster has got super attached to my sister's pony, and started threatening to come over the door whenever she wasn't around and constantly shouted for her. We have been working on this over time and he is getting better.

A month ago, however, my sister was taking her pony to a showjumping competition, which the other 2 ponies in our field were also going to attend. This meant he had to be left in all day. I knew it would be stressful but couldn't change the situation, so I did everything I could. I arranged for another horse to be left in for company, made sure he couldn't possibly run out of haylege, gave him some toys and then used some calmer. Whether it worked or not is hard to say, but I was at least assured that I had done everything that could possibly make a stressful situation for him a not so bad one.
 
I used dodson and horrells (sp?) placid mix which is herbal camimile (sp?) etc for a summer and it worked really well on my spooky mare. It just gave me and her a chance to look at things and realise there are not dragons on each corner, each letter box, each hedge and so on. Not used it since though so not sure if maybe it helped me more than her???? If that makes sense, I so need to get back to writing assignments
 
I use a magnesium calmer on my horse and also changed from Alfa A to apple chaff, she is way more relaxed and i am cutting back on the amount of calmer i use. She still needs her oestress to keep those hormones "calm" though haha!
 
I agree that a lot of people tend to turn to sedation at the first sign of trouble but I don't see the problem with calmer's for specific occasions, if they help can can do no harm to the horse. If you find your using them all the time then it's likely the horses management needs addressing but if your horse get stressed with certain things then surely it is best to help.

I haven't used them before but am intending to use one when my horse has his vaccinations done. He is really needle phobic can become stressed and dangerous so if it helps then brilliant it can't do any harm.
 
A calmer has turned my horse around.

My horse was very dangerous off a calmer - to the point where well respected professionals where questioning whether he could be helped anymore, we'd already undergone numerous veterinary investigations - as a last chance resort, he was put on a calmer as a 'needs must' whilst trying to find somewhere to turn him away for a while, to let him chill out and be a horse whilst we considered the next move with him.

We had exhausted every other option - he was and still is getting eight-nine hours of turn out a day, with a herd he got on well with, he was on a completely fibre diet, regular massage/physio, he'd had aromatherapy and other similiar treatments and was recieving exercise and was kept in a routine to try and prevent his behaviour from escalating. Everything that could have been done, was being done - but it was becoming less and less effective and was mentally and physically exhausting.

On a daily dose of NAF Magic, he has completely and utterly changed - he can still be a bit of a twit - but on the occasions he does revert back a bit, he is a manageable twit. We've had no rearing or bucking in the stable, he hasn't tried to jump out of a stable, he is safe to handle in and out of the stable all things that just weren't possible before - everyone that has seen him, cannot believe the change in him. I'm not a novice or nervous person either and it wasn't a case of 'every once in a while he'll have a small spook' unfortunately!

The calmer certainly don't make him seem doped - he is still spooky and nappy and a bit of a grump bag when he wants to be - which is all things he was anyway! but its much 'less' and manageable now. Before, things used to escalate and escalate - now, he can be reasoned with and it doesn't reach that boiling point.

Sedation on the other hand - I'm reluctant to use unless entirely neccessary, as I think that it doesn't stop the horse from reacting in its head, it just stops the horse from reacting.

I find with my horse - he gets much worse to handle afterwards, if he has been sedated - so it isn't much of a 'quick fix' for us! I've found it far more effective to train and work on 'de-spooking' where I can.

But calmers, they certainly have their place, providing that the management of the horse is sound and not creating any problems.
 
Wow Im so pleased for you. That has certainly made me more optimistic about trying them.
My horse is good natured but when he see's a needle he becomes dangerous and I have been really stressing about his upcoming vaccination.
I certainly hope the calmer has a similar effect on him. How long before the vet get's there should I feed it to him?
 
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