The Excitable and Nervous and Horse

The Excitable and Nervous Horse

Choosing A Calmer To Manage Your Horse’s Response To Stress Levels

To flee or not to flee, that is the question? Or to put this in a slightly different tone, by quoting lyrics from The Clash (sorry, I’m showing my age now), should I stay or should I go? What, I am generally referring to is that unique and natural system of “fight or flight”. Horses are, for the most part, by their general nature extremely reactive, cautious and skittish. In their natural environment, they need to be able to respond quickly to potential threats, which requires constantly being alert and capable of running from danger at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately, these traits don’t always lend themselves to good training and handling of our domesticated friends. With this in mind, we are going to take a look at the use of calming supplements and their role in horses.

When to use a calmer for horses

It is important, and worthwhile, to note that calmers have never been intended to be used as a replacement for good training techniques and we generally want to keep them for horses that really need them. Ideally we’d like all domesticated horses to be well adjusted and rounded individuals that are capable of coping with various demands that are placed upon them. Such horses are better able to learn and as a result tend to be more trainable. This goes without saying for horses at all levels from the lead-rein pony, right up to the Olympic level showjumper.

There are many situations where calming supplements may be indicated, including:

• A hot, excitable or “buzzy” horse
• If travelling in the horsebox or trailer leads to anxiety
• A horse who finds competitions to be stressful
• Horses who struggle to cope with change or being moved to new surroundings.

Choosing the right calming supplement for your horse

Huge numbers of calming supplements are available on the market and these contain varying quantities of ingredients, either on their own or in combination. Let’s take a look at some of the typical ingredients used and what their intended purpose is.

Magnesium

Magnesium is probably the most popular and most common ingredient found in horse calming supplements. It is well known that magnesium is essential for adequate nerve and muscle function. Magnesium is known to deplete faster in the body during stressful situations. Research suggests that magnesium-rich supplements may have some effect on the reduction of heart rate and reactivity in horses. This may assist in reducing that stress reaction and thereby promote quieter behaviour.

Tryptophan

Tryptophan is referred to as an amino acid and is an essential building block in the production of serotonin. Serotonin has been thought to play a role in reducing anxiety levels and in other species has been  shown to increase learning and memory function. Some studies have shown that tryptophan supplementation can have both sedative and excitatory effects depending on the amount given. Therefore, it can be somewhat difficult to get the correct level of supplementation.

B Vitamins

The most common B Vitamins that we tend to see included in calming supplements are Thiamine (B1) and Niacin (B3). These have also been thought to have some role in the production of serotonin in the body and so are commonly paired with the supplementation of Tryptophan. There is limited studies available to show the benefit of B Vitamins in reducing anxiety levels in horses.

Herbal

These products tend to be comprised of naturally occurring ingredients that may have some benefit in reducing anxiety levels. Lemon Balm, Chamomile and Valerian are frequently seen in this grouping. They tend to exhibit their benefit by having a soothing effect on nervous symptoms in horses. When used in combination with another ingredient, they are likely to produce a synergistic outcome. However, it is important to note, that Valerian is on the FEI list of prohibited substances. Care must be taken in choosing any of these type of products for a horse at competition under FEI regulations.

The key thing to remember when selecting a calming supplement is that we are trying to find something that works best for the individual horses needs and improves their ability to learn and focus on certain activities. We are not attempting to tranquilize these individuals, as this will increase the risk of potential injury to jockey, handler or horse. Our goal at all times is to use calming supplements as an aid to help your horse become the best version of themselves by reducing nervousness, stress and anxiety. By identifying the inciting stressful situation we can attempt to keep the use of calming supplements to an absolute minimum and thereby enhance their effectiveness. In doing so, we would hope to wean the use of a calming supplement so that it is used only for the specific stressful situation or, in an ideal world, to the point where it is not needed at all.

Written by Dr Ian Rountree MVB

For further support or guidance on calming supplements please contact ARKequine directly. Alternatively, we can recommend our own-brand of calmer called Easi Now.