Calmers

Alibear

FoxyxxxLoxy wrote: »

Hi,

Yep i'm off to the Tullamore Show too. Doing the Med Weight, Working Hunter and 2yr old class so i'll be busy busy. Best of luck to anyone else going.

Good luck! Thanks for the good luck wishes everyone, hopefully the Oxyshot will work for my lad!

convert

Alibear wrote: »

Good luck! hopefully the Oxyshot will work for my lad!

What's oxyshot?

xxkarenxx

convert wrote: »

What's oxyshot?

Oxyshot is a calmer given on the day of the competition. I think you give it a few times spaced out over the morning before competing.

Alibear

convert wrote: »

What's oxyshot?

It's a calmer which you give to your horse about 30 minutes before you ride at an event It's probably one of the most effective "instant calmers" you can get.

Alibear

xxkarenxx wrote: »

I think you give it a few times spaced out over the morning before competing.

Nope, you only have to administer it once, about 30 minutes before you ride.

convert

Alibear wrote: »

It's a calmer which you give to your horse about 30 minutes before you ride at an event It's probably one of the most effective "instant calmers" you can get.

Besides the obvious (ie - to quieten the horse) why would you give a calmer before a competition, especially for showing, when you would want the horse to be relatively lively so he'd show himself properly and look energetic and suitable for a full day's hunting....

I've done a lot of showing (and dressage), especially with young TB horses (I use it to educate them before they go racing) and I'd never dream of calming them, no matter how lively they are.

needadvice

Just hit on this post and its a very touchy issue. Some horses are phenominally atmosphere sensitive and thrive in peaceful routine and tend to maintain temperament as a result. I've seen a few horses come to the yard I'm in uptight and very tricky one week and they are chilled and a pleasure to do everything with.

Like convert I prefer to keep my horse alert and connected and I do believe their daily set up aids calmness oh and diet diet diet a big one in maintaining happy horses.

kick-on

a good rider wont need calmers!!!!!!

MDFM

Certain calmers are very effective for uptight/anxious horses in transit i find anyway, i'd never knock them, each horse is different.

Stroppymare

Hi, just a quick note re calmers, Have you had a look at the ingredients? Some of the very big name calmers have nothing more in them than water and a very small dose of B vitamin, a smaller amount than you would take yourself in a multivit. With regard to Oxyshot I have looked at the ingredients and it says on the side that it is Ionised H2O and Atlantic sea Salt. To me that's a lot of money for salt water!:rolleyes:

sunnyholly

If your looking for calmers try mad calm. One of my friends has a cyco show jumper and she puts her on it... she swears by it!!!

miss enzo

i did a thesis in uni about the use of pheromones as a calming agent..... result of study....... learning proved more effective in reducing stress and increasing performance time (my study was about loading TB yearlings that had never been loaded before!)

taken from the oxyshot website
"This increase in usable oxygen and reduction in CO2 could lead to many benefits for the physical performance and general wellbeing of the performance animal"

i think the key word there is could!!! i for one would like to see some study results that can prove that this is the reason for the "calmness" and its not attributed to learning on the horses part!

from experience of owning 2 high strung horses the more shows i went to the calmer they became!! its all about the mind!!!

@stroppymare.... how right you were about the salt water!!
"Equine Oxyshot contains de-ionised water, bio-available oxygen CSO2 ™and Atlantic sea salt. "

"Using the correct amount and at the right time, oxygen has the unique ability to assist both calming, concentration and enhanced performance."

thats kinda like saying, if i drink a cup of herbal tea at the right time in the right amount it will help me sleep

ecaf

I'm looking for a bit of advice on this subject too.
We will be bringing in a mare and foal for weaning very soon, he is a colt and is a bit edgy in us getting too close to him, I tried getting near him earlier on to see if I could get a head collar on him, but there wasn't a chance.

We will have a few people to help us stable them, but I was wondering if he was a bit calmer would this help and reduce the stress on both of them? Or is it not advisable to use on foals? (He's 7 months).

The mare is in foal again, she is sensible enough, but if he is whinnying then she will be too, and when she starts that excites him a bit more, so its a bit of a vicious circle.

miss enzo

the thing with natural phermones is that they do produce calming effects and this had been proven in many studies..... and explains why when a foal gets nervous they go to nurse off the mare (thats where she excretes the pheromones from!)
the company i tested for have products for many animals
http://www.pherosynthese.com/en/pets.html#species

just because this didnt work in my study doesnt mean its ****! there are studies they have done themselves that prove its effectiveness.

dont know how much the stuff retails for, im gonna guess its not cheap! my product was a different one to the commercial one also!

convert

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't be inclined to give a calmer to either a foal or a mare in foal. Weaning is never an easy task, and can be quite distressing on both mare and foal, but if it's done properly this can be kept to a minimum.

Have you any facilities whereby you could stable the mare and foal in 2 adjoining stables where they could get used to being 'separated', but yet still within sight of each other? I've found that this has worked pretty well for us in the past, even with foals who weren't well handled. The last foal we had was a colt, and like yours, he didn't like being handled very much and was difficult to manage, but the above process worked really well for us.

miss enzo

technically pheromones arent a calmer!! there are just a synthetic version of a naturally occuring substance!!! they have no side effects and unlike "calmers" they do allow for learning (some calmers with restrict cognative learning!!) they do have a calming effect but its not an induced effect its a natural reaction to them!

ecaf

convert wrote: »

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't be inclined to give a calmer to either a foal or a mare in foal. Weaning is never an easy task, and can be quite distressing on both mare and foal, but if it's done properly this can be kept to a minimum.

Have you any facilities whereby you could stable the mare and foal in 2 adjoining stables where they could get used to being 'separated', but yet still within sight of each other? I've found that this has worked pretty well for us in the past, even with foals who weren't well handled. The last foal we had was a colt, and like yours, he didn't like being handled very much and was difficult to manage, but the above process worked really well for us.

Thanks for your advice, I definitely wasn't planning on giving anything to the mare. And they will be in stables together, either facing each other or side by side.
The only thing I'm thinking about is the foal stressing himself out when we put him into the stable and try to take her out and close the door. I don't want him to injure himself trying to get out after her.
I really doubt that we will get him into a stable without leading her in first.
Anyway in the next week or two we will get some help from the yard across the way, and they will have more experience of this. I suppose they can decide if there is a need to give him anything - but I was trying to pre-empt this by giving him something so that he wouldn't be too worried while we were doing this.
I know from before that in a few days of being in he will accept it more and I should be able to get him used to being handled.

downboy

kick-on wrote: »

a good rider wont need calmers!!!!!!

My horse is on Magnesium as she gets very stressed and ties up so badly that she was initially diagnosed as having a liver or kidney infection. It was nothing to do with being ridden and I found her very easy to ride and not excitable at all. She got very stressed as she was moved into a new yard and was being broken in (very slowly and calmly......just had out first canter yesterday after 4 months). The calmers seem to have helped her cope with these changes. As she gets more experience everything will hopefully be less daunting and I will slowly take her off them. People use calmers for a variety of reasons....not because they can't ride!

Stroppymare wrote: »

Hi, just a quick note re calmers, Have you had a look at the ingredients? Some of the very big name calmers have nothing more in them than water and a very small dose of B vitamin, a smaller amount than you would take yourself in a multivit. With regard to Oxyshot I have looked at the ingredients and it says on the side that it is Ionised H2O and Atlantic sea Salt. To me that's a lot of money for salt water!:rolleyes:

I know, I've looked at this too and I'm a chemist. Don't know how the hell it works, but I've used it when transporting horses and it's magic!