I was surprised to see another ad for a calmer today that includes l-theanine, saying its show safe.
Back in October I emailed USEF about the ingredient and this is what they sent me…just putting it out there since no one seems to know about it.
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Honestly any paste, supplement or medication given with the intent to calm, sedate or tranquilize an animal for showing purposes is considered cheating and is banned by USEF. People still cheat and administer stuff by the bucketload anyway. So bottom line if you are giving your animal something to “calm” it for showing you are cheating. Even if you are not caught. Not only is it cheating, but you should not be drugging your horse to show anyway. Whether it tests or not. And really, you should not be drugging your horse without a legitimate veterinary reason period. This is what is wrong with horse culture these days. It has become so normalized to administer tube upon tube of whatever the latest calming agent is. Or give ace to ride on a windy day. Or whatever the excuse is.
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This is not accurate. There are “calmers” on the market that are USEF legal. Quite a few. Their effectiveness is debatable.
For example, Perfect Prep recently removed L-Theanine to ensure their product is legal, and advertises it as a calming substance.
Mare Magic is raspberry leaves and is also legal.
Magnesium is also legal and in multiple products.
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Good info!! I was asking USEF about SynChill specifically but hadn’t researched the others yet.
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Not testable does not equal USEF legal. There is the “spirit of the rule” - which is what @trekkie is referring to. If you are giving something with the intention to calm, that is considered to be in violation of the rule regardless of testability.
Not all Perfect Prep products are L-theanine free - it would depend on what version you are using.
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Not testable does not equal legal. Here is the verbage. Anything that alters mood, behavior or performance is prohibited.
“Any horse and/or pony that competes in more than one Breed, Discipline, and/or Group at a competition, one of which is a Prohibited Substance Group, shall be required to be in compliance with the Prohibited Substance Provisions at all times while competing in any and/or all classes and/or divisions at that competition. For purposes of this rule, a prohibited substance is:
a. Any stimulant, depressant, tranquilizer, local anesthetic, psychotropic (mood and/or behavior altering) substance, or drug which might affect the performance of a horse and/or pony (stimulants and/or depressants are defined as substances which stimulate or depress the cardiovascular, respiratory or central nervous systems), or any metabolite and/or analogue of any such substance or drug, except as expressly permitted by this rule.”
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I am aware of the rules. You said “anything given with intent to calm” is “banned.” That is not true.
People give lots of things with “intent” to calm that are not banned. Either because they can’t be tested or because they do not work.
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As soon as you give ANYTHING to a horse to affect performance, it is automatically illegal You are confusing not getting caught and being “legal” You might get away with it today, but the testing is constantly advancing. Don’t bother using “but they said it was USEF legal” excuse if you are caught. All you are doing is confirming that you gave a performance enhancing substance. Many “natural” products can result in a positive as well. I know exhibitors who were told by the manufacturer that it would not cause a positive test. They then had a positive drug test on their horse. Be very cautious !!
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I got positively raked over the coals on the WEF_WEC_HITS FB page for responding as such 
You are incorrect. Anything given with the intent to alter the mood or behavior is illegal. See GR 410.1.a.
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SynNutra Equine here, weighing in to say that all of our products are in compliance with USEF rule GR-410. The ingredients in our products are not on a banned substance list anywhere and have never resulted in a positive drug test in any discipline, or any jurisdiction from the Olympics to the Kentucky Derby. The statements made by USEF on this matter are based on opinion and not on fact. There is no written ruling on any of these compounds in question and no established data that support the idea that any ingredients in SynNutra products violate rule GR-410. We are taking active steps to resolve this matter and if you have received this misinformation from USEF, please contact our office at 800-725-6940. Thank you for your continued support.
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Soooo… they don’t work? Placebo?
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Rule GR 410.a states the following:
a. Any stimulant, depressant, tranquilizer, local anesthetic,
psychotropic (mood and/or behavior altering) substance, or
drug which might affect the performance of a horse and/or pony
(stimulants and/or depressants are defined as substances which
stimulate or depress the cardiovascular, respiratory or central
nervous systems), or any metabolite and/or analogue of any such
substance or drug, except as expressly permitted by this rule.
There is no established data supporting the idea that any ingredient in SynNutra products is a stimulant, depressant, tranquilizer, local anesthetic, or psychotropic. Our products don’t make your horse slower, faster, jump higher or get better lead changes and therefore do not fall under this rule.
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From your website, on the regular SynChill: “100% NATURAL EQUINE CALMING SUPPLEMENT”
So, again. You are saying that your products don’t work as advertised? Calming = mood/behavior altering.
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Just QFP.
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What does QFP mean?
Quoted For Posterity
Done so that when you realize you’ve kinda backed yourself into a corner here, and you want to go back and delete or edit your posts, the original words remain.
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There will be no deletion or editing. If a substance is to be “banned” and have a “7 day withdrawal time” there needs to be data supporting that substance is in violation of GR 410 and testing established to prove the violation. There are currently no data and no testing which supports a violation. Furthermore, it is baffling that a substance which is already present in the body, horse and human, and effected by things like sunlight, exercise, food, etc., can be banned and withdrawn from.
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You’re missing the spirit of the rule. The rule at its heart is preventing ANY substance to be administered which might alter the mood or behavior of the horse. It doesn’t have a list of prevented substances, it has a list of prevented effects of the substances administered.
So when you say that you are not violating the rule, you are saying that your substances do not provide a calming effect. They do not alter the mood or behavior of the horse.
Is this correct?
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I see what you are trying to do but they are never going to clearly answer that question 
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