|
|
Post by michellep on Sept 9, 2009 15:12:16 GMT -5
Have a question for all of you experienced horse folks out there. What is your opinion of Quietex or similar suppliments for quieting nervous horses? Here is my issue that I have with Turtle. He is very nervous around large groups of horses, and I have not ridden in about a month and of course this weekend there are two prize rides that I would like to go on. Most of the time its only myself and my husband that ride and occaisionally meet other riders, but prize rides are different in that large groups of horses and riders are there. He is usually nervous for the first hour, by then he has worn himself out from worrying and just the physical tole of the ride itself to really care who is around. My farrier suggested Quietex or something similar but I dont want him to be a zombie either. Had I known sooner that these rides were this weekend I would have gone out and rode him a few more times to get some energy out or tried to ride in places that I knew other riders would be. I would really like to do both of these rides this weekend and do as much riding with other horses around as possible before October as I am having surgery and wont be able to ride for a month. Give me your thoughts.
|
|
|
|
Post by piopico on Sept 9, 2009 17:00:35 GMT -5
I haven't had need to use anything like that, but I'd say 'go for it'. I don't think he'd be a zombie if you use the correct dosage for his weight........and he may finish the ride in better shape because he hasn't worn himself out with anxiety in the beginning.
|
|
|
|
Post by jenm on Sept 10, 2009 14:37:19 GMT -5
michelle,
At this late point, it would be difficult to try a calming supplement and expect to see results by the weekend. Unless you use something like Ace, you won't turn Turtle into a zombie. You may want to experiment by by trying the Quietex paste before the ride if you can find it, rather than the powder, which will take longer to work into his system. You said you haven't ridden him much in about a month, so my first suggestion is that you round pen or lunge him if you can prior to the ride.
It sounds like his nervousness is behavior related rather than caused by a vitamin deficiency, so if you can work with him during the ride to get him listening to you by working on walk/halt transistions and leg yields, that may help too. Also, if the group you are with is understanding, you may want to try riding him in the front of the group or the back, to see if maybe he is more comfortable in one of those areas as well.
If you do want to try supplements, I have heard good things about Calm and Cool as well as Smartpak Ultra Calm.
Good luck, I do hope you have fun this weekend!
|
|
|
|
Post by michellep on Sept 10, 2009 15:46:31 GMT -5
I plan on taking him up to our local fairgrounds to longe & ride on Saturday afternoon as there just isnt enough room at the prize ride to do so before we go. He is a funny little guy as he will stand on a highline and nicker to other horses, but put him in a crowd and he is petrified that they might "get" him. I will try him in front of my husbands horse and see how that goes.
|
|
|
|
Post by atticus on Sept 12, 2009 9:45:33 GMT -5
This may be a little late, but I had to use Quietex on Hawkeye (nervous nelly) when we had him and actually I found that Rescue Remedy (found at local health food stores) worked better than Quietex to calm nerves.
|
|
|
|
Post by cutiepiepmu on Sept 16, 2009 3:25:07 GMT -5
Found this late - but the calming pastes can really work - but the key is to pick ones that have high levels of tryptophan in them. My personal preferance is B-Kalm or AT-EASE MEGA-DOSE paste. They will NOT make your horse a zombie. I give a full tube about 2-3 hours before the event for an extremely nervous horse. With my big kid Kadin when we were first trail riding he was riding a TB hopped up on Blood builders and sugar.... and riding a 19.3 hand percheron in that condition is a little nerve wracking. I would give him 1/2 tube of B-Kalm the night before, then a full tube the morning of. It helped him relax alot and didn't make him groggy at all. Now that he is more comfortable on the trails and with other horses we no longer use the calming supplements  I do suggest looking at the diet as a whole. There are alot of thigns you can do to adjust the diet to help turtle without doing dietary supplementation of calming aids long term Sara in WA |
|
|
|
Post by michellep on Sept 16, 2009 10:00:30 GMT -5
We skipped the prize ride this weekend in part because I was not able to take him to the arena on Saturday to work the buck out of him. We did go to Bridle trails and there were other horses around but he did fine. Longed for about 5 minutes and he was as good as gold, no buck at all. We did pass some folks walking and he did okay, and then as we were almost done went past a group of 5 horses. he did okay, but was still nervous and not at all relaxed. If one of them had acted up we would have been in the woods. All in all it was a good ride.
|
|
|
|
Post by mickeyfan3 on Sept 23, 2009 17:03:40 GMT -5
Has anyone used RelaxForm EQ?
|
|
|
|
Post by beckybee on Sept 23, 2009 19:15:55 GMT -5
I have it, but never "seriously" tried it. I gave it to Web for farrier visits, etc. a few times and didn't notice any miraculous change by any stretch of the imagination. I think you are supposed to feed for a few days in a row leading up to an "event" but I just fed an hour or so before. Probably not a fair trial. Especially with my special little guy.
|
|
|
|
Post by shelberttk2 on Sept 23, 2009 20:10:21 GMT -5
I am a huge fan of Quiessence sp? It works marvelously!
|
|
