Wondering if anyone can advise me regarding a horse that becomes stressed and anxious at shows? Horse was started slow and carefully but has recently become anxious to the point of developing an ulcer. Never been pushed up the levels. Has been gone over by top vets, no soundness issues. Just seems to need some help learning how to cope. So I am wondering if anyone has found any supplements that have helped? Horse is a 7 yr old WB gelding, perfect at home.
Have you tried taking him places like trail riding and such?
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I have not as I can’t completely trust him, he’s gone to clinics, and lessons at other barns, same type of behavior has been exhibited, not always, but sometimes.
UlcerGard starting a couple days before leaving home though a couple days after coming back.
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Done it! Didn’t help.
Have you tried leaving him alone with hay? The horses I’ve seen that get stressed out at shows have owners that get stressed out at shows. Their poor horses don’t get a minute of peace at a show. Always taking it for a walk or doing this or that.
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Nexium for several days prior to the show, then five or six Outlast biscuits about an hour before you are planning to ride.
So at home he lives out 24/7. I have done both at shows. I have made sure he’s gotten out for walks, and grass, away from the hussle and bustle, and also left him in his stall and only gone out to work. Doesn’t seem to matter.
My horse is anxious away from home. Ground work is your friend. Trick is to keep them below threshold if possible and have a friend for confidence.
If he is anxious and we can’t work through it, I just take him home and add meds to help the next time. I don’t ride on meds but walking around the show grounds and visiting is helpful.
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Ulcergard is the gold standard, but some people have luck with sucralfate.
I’m assuming you want legal supplements, but there is something to be said for going with some Ace on board and NOT showing. Just get him used to going places even if you don’t ride at first.
Also, how often do you show or go off property? I find that the more the horses go to shows, the more they learn to relax in new environments.
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Check out TRT. Tristan has lots of videos on helping horses with anxiety. A lot of it is based on having the horse move in specific ways to reconnect mind and body by making the body comfortable.
I did something similar with my WB (before I heard of TRT) after accidentally having something like that work for my anxious second horse. With my WB I did little ground work sets of moving a few steps in each direction, fairly rapidly (as fast as he could handle without winding him up more - the speed changed over time). It was a walk, halt, back, walk, halt move hindquarters right or left, walk, halt, move shoulders right or left, repeat with random moves after the halts. The movement was easy for him to do both mentally and physically, but required enough attention to respond to the random variations, and could reduce his anxiety. Adding Warwick Schiller’s rabbit practice helped a lot more.
I am using TRT methods on my lease horse now, and he’s doing very well. He still gets anxious about movement or sound outside the arena, but I can get him moving in the ways that he associates with calm rest and he remembers he can release his tension.
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Like I said he was started slow going to shows as a non compete. He just finished up his ulcer meds, he’s been on sucralafate for over a yr. Doesn’t seem to matter how many shows, or outings he goes to, sometimes he’s good, mostly not.
My horse is on Magnesium all the time and it helps with his general demeaner. I’ve heard Perfect Prep and Training Day work well.
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Ah I missed that.
Sounds like teaching him to self soothe/manage his rabbits might be the move. TT and early WS stuff is good!
TBH I’ve never had any luck with PP or any of the legal calming stuff. There’s a reason it’s legal - unless the horse is deficient in Mg, they’re not going to do more than placebo the owner 
. YMMV, sometimes placebo-ing the owner is all that’s needed (BTDT to myself). Anecdotally, I’ve not seen the illegal supplement stuff work either, though Ace usually does. YMMV again, as always.
Another thing to try is to send him with a calm, fair trainer and just go watch from a distance - if he’s the same after a couple shows with the trainer, then you can be sure it isn’t you that’s feeding his anxiety. A good trainer may be able to give you ideas on how to manage him too. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to be Your Trainer, it can be a particularly competent friend or a trainer of a whole different discipline.
Good luck! The cases that don’t settle with tried and true methods can be so frustrating! Sometimes you do have to just work with the horse’s nature a bit - the horses that live out or are at a particularly quiet home barn seem to struggle more than others.
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I’m guessing you want natural strategies. But in case you are open to it…I had a 1400 lb. gelding that was huge and very anxious, to the point I wouldn’t trust riding him to the arena if people were milling around, for fear he’d swing their way or shy at something. I spoke to my vet and she gave me liquid Chlorapromazine to give him orally. I used this on several outings, and even on a couple trail rides (he was scared of those as well), and it is like he learned that he was not going to die. He trusted me more. After those several uses, I never used the chlorapromazine again. It sure did help him. Took about 45 minutes to take effect. It does not make them droopy like ace, and it does not change their personalities. It just takes the panic reactions away.
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He has been with a trainer and will continue to be until I trust him again! I am not a nervous or stress type of person. I have started many young horses, many different breeds. I just want him to be happy in his outings, as he is at home, my heart breaks for him as he is his own worse enemy, he just needs some help with his emotions.
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Thank you, I will speak to my vet about this, and a couple of other ones!!
you said he’s 7 and the anxiety is recent. he was not anxious as a young horse? If the anxiety is really new, that’s a red flag. have you radiographed his neck? thought about hind gut ulcers, which don’t respond to treatments for gastric ulcers (gastrogard, omeprazole)? You could always do a phone consult w behavioral medicine at new bolton (sue McDonnell is their behaviorist). I gave my anxious horse equine cbd supplements and they were helpful. He was so bad once at a schooling show, the judge told me to ace him before the next (schooling) show.
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Have you tried SynChill? It’s legal. It’s NOT magnesium. It contains 5 HTP, a serotonin precursor. It has made a huge difference in my anxious PRE. Daily pellets (I did not have luck with the “one time liquid gell”. )
Totally anecdotal but I really feel like my horse became less reactive and more likely to work through things and get over stuff when I started supplementing him with thiamine/B1.
When you say he gets anxious, what sorts of things is he doing? Fretting in the stall/at the trailer? Calling to other horses? Spooking at objects? Spooking at other horses? Running around like a maniac on the lunge? Shaking? Sweating? Diarrhea? Disrespecting handlers? Threatening to unload riders?
Just wondering if there are other things that can be done to help him depending on the nature of his behavior.
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