Calmer

[chacha]

We have a horse that just want calm down.  When you trail ride her she wants to trot.  We are currently putting B1 crummbles in her feed.  She has been on 1 scoop a day with Ultium feed.  Is there maybe another product that may work better or should I increase the B1.  Is B1 a calmer?

Thanks,
Carol

[Bob Gould]

For starters, I would get her off the Ultium feed.  That is a high fat feed
and fat equals energy in terms of horse feed and a horse's diet. When you
feed a high fat feed like Ultium (Purina) or XTN (Nutrena), you need to be
riding a horse enough to utilize that type of feed.  Your horse may
naturally have a high energy kind of metabolism and might not need a lot of
extra fat so do some research and find a feed that is lower in fat content
(something in the range of 5-8%).  Nutrena makes a product called Safe
Choice that is about 7-8% fat.  I'm sure there are also other good feed
products on the market that will serve your purpose, so do some checking
around. Keep her off alfalfa hay - use coastal or timothy instead. Also, do
you keep this horse stalled or is she allowed some turn out time each day?
If she is stalled up all the time, then you should understand that she is
just building energy that needs to be burned off and her idea of burning it
off is NOT walking on the trail. B1 crumbles will work on some horses but
it's not a sure thing on all of them.  Give the recommended amount and give
it time (at least a month) to begin to work.
Be sure that your horse has access to a good mineral block and a salt
source.
Martha Wright