Desensitizing
Many classical training/learning techniques are routinely used in dealing with horses. These include:
A 2006 study performed at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences looked at the response to some traditional learning tools when the goal was to eliminate fearfulness. They used two-year-old stallions and a flapping white plastic bag as the scary stimulus. They used five three-minute training sessions per day. Methods tested were:
The horses trained by the desensitization method showed fewer flight responses and required fewer training sessions in total to learn to accept the frightening bag.
"Sacking out" is desensitization. Another example of putting this into practice would be horses frightened of clippers. To follow this method, you would allow the horse to see the clippers and cords at a distance then up close, moving on to touching the horse with them around his head and forequarters, then all over his body. The next step would be turning them on at a distance, and moving closer in increments. Final desensitization would involve touching the horse for brief periods with the vibrating clippers, all over his body, finally actually clipping. Keep the steps small, and don't move on until the horse is showing no fearful reactions.
While the horses were calmer, or even "dopey" in their stalls, the effects didn't necessarily hold when the horse was stimulated. Horses that were hard to handle in the paddock, or spooky on rides, seemed to often snap out of the effects of valerian entirely under those conditions, but it's a good choice for a horse on stall confinement.
Bottom Line
Before reaching for a calming supplement, take a detailed look at your problem to see if management changes or training aren't better solutions. Make sure there's no physical cause for the horse's behavior, that you're not actually over-mounted, that the horse enjoys the type of work you want from him and that you're not mistaking a naturally high energy level and zest for life for a behavior problem. You can't change personality.
If it truly is a situation where a supplement might help, first try adding magnesium oxide or thiamine alone to the horse's diet. If this doesn't work, we'd consider a commercial product that combines these ingredients. The nutritional approaches gave more consistent and reliable results with our test horses.
Of the products we've used, Seroquine, At Ease and ExStress produced excellent, solid results in our field-trial horses. Seroquine gets the nod for potency and price.
If your nervous horse also gets aggressive, we suggest you try either L-tryptophan alone, as is found in B-Kalm paste (which may work at even a half dose), or in combination with magnesium and B vitamins, a combo we like in At Ease.
Effects with the herbal-based products were milder and less reliable in our test horses, but with valerian producing the most obvious effects when dosing was high enough. Equilite's Equine Relax Blend, the valerian-based formula, worked the best. Its combination of valerian with milder but more-rapid-acting herbs produced results quickly with peak effect in about two weeks.
