Mare Supplements

[dani0303]

I’m playing around with supplements with my new mare and I’m looking for opinions on SmartPak’s SmartMare Harmony or something similar.

Has anyone used it before? I have her on Mare Magic currently but I’m looking to switch her. SmartMare Harmony has magnesium in it which I think will help calm her tendency to be nervous. Any other suggestions that might also work?

[purplnurpl]

Mg helps with muscles. It has nothing to do with nervousness. Unless the horse is stiff and the pain from stiffness causes nervousness. Lol.

I supplement with a straight Mg for my horse who eats only alfalfa hay.

As for mares. IDK. I used mare harmony. It was just fluff for my mare. When it comes to mare issuss the only true way to cut back true hormonal girl behavior is the hormone theropy.

[Scribbler]

I started my mare on Regumate and it has changed a whole set of behavior problems that we completely thought were about training and not hormonal.

[newhorsemommy]

My grumpy mare is a lot less grumpy since I put her back on raspberry leaves. I feed a small handful per day. And a pound of loose raspberry leaves costs a lot less than any of the mare supplements. It’s certainly worth a try since it’s cheap.

[Snowdenfarm]

Magnesium does not help nervousness – unless they are deficient in it. A magnesium deficiency does cause nervousness and anxiety in horses and humans. Doesn’t hurt to try it – if you do not see a change, that wasn’t the issue.

[ScarlettsRedroan]

I use yo use chamomile flowers for my OTTB as she was a nervous horse. Worked wonders…

[Scribbler]

A course of Regumate will tell you if the problem is hormonal or not

[dani0303]

Thanks for all the replies.

She’s not a terribly moody mare but I’m just looking for something to take the edge off. I’d like to avoid regumate if possible due to the cost and hassle of it.

[leheath]

My mare was super twitchy/spooking at weird things and seemed just “tight” - magnesium made a big difference. It won’t do anything if they aren’t deficient as others have mentioned. I use SmartCalm Ultra as it is palatable, reasonably affordable, and seems to work!

I have had a mare that seemed to be more relaxed and laid back on raspberry leaves (much cheaper and the same thing as Mare Magic). They would be easy to try to see if they make a difference. However, the best way to determine if it really is a hormone issue is to try regumate. It’s not cheap ($2/day) but it isn’t as much of a hassle as I imagined (I just add it to her feed bags that I make up once a week). My horse had significant behavior issues that I thought were training problems or ulcers (until they continued after full ulcer treatment…and she didn’t seem like the ulcer-prone type of horse). I wouldn’t have described her as moody. One 14 day trial on regumate and I had a whole new horse who was back to her pleasant, cooperative self. She is now on regumate throughout the spring-fall although I may try switching her to raspberry leaves in a year or two (she is young and they can “grow out” of hormone issues).