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  Discussion on ACTH as calming drug
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 27, 2001 - 10:39 am:

Are there any dangers in using ACTH on a regular basis to make a horse more manageable and calm? Is there any long term effects or side effects?

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 30, 2001 - 11:36 am:

There are no studies on this Leah. The answer surely depends on how much is given how frequently. It is hard to believe that a regulatory hormone like ACTH give in too high a dose for too long would not be harmful but there are no studies on how much that is. Because this hormone has so many different affects it is hard to guess what the first symptoms of toxicity might be but weakness or excessive thirst and urination might be right up there.
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 30, 2001 - 8:47 pm:

Just a sugestion,
I used to work a Very high strung filly at the track, so high strung in fact that we could not get a jockey that was willing to work her of a morning, (thats where i came in) What seemed to help a great deal was an injectable that i belive was called B-CALM. I think it was based on vitamin B and included other vitamins, It was fine for racing so i dont think it was very "druggy".
Maby something like that would help.

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 31, 2001 - 9:43 am:

Hello Julie,
it is my job to point out that injections of vitamins have not been shown to have a calming effect on horses. A number of these products are also available in paste form and I find clients typically feel they are helpful...for the first tube or two and then quit using them because they have quit working: from my own observations there was not a lot of difference to begin with.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 31, 2001 - 6:52 pm:

Maby she wasn't getting better, maby i was just getting braver!
It makes sense that a horse would build an immunity to such additives.
Sorry leah, no words of wisdom here other than develope a natural ability as a buck jumper:-)

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 31, 2001 - 8:05 pm:

I also use the paste form of B-calm on our arabian show mare. But again because I am afraid of her building a resistance to it, I use it sparingly. I know it helps her because it is not me but my 10 year old daughter who shows her, and she doesnt even know that we give it to her, so I know that she doesnt depend on it. (LOL) but I feel that if used too much she would build a resistance, so we only use it when the mare is really being difficult, (which is usually when she is cycling) My daughter is in 4-H and it was fellow members that suggested it to us, so I am sure it is safe. I also know that the pig showers at the county fair use it when showing their hogs. But I personally feel it doesnt replace good training for the horse, which is what we are working very hard on now with the Arabian. But some horses like people have a hard time being calm. (LOL)

Posted on Thursday, Feb 1, 2001 - 8:38 am:

Hello G and J
You have to realize that if there were truly a oral supplement that could calm horses and had no side effects not only would it likely be very common knowledge and been experimentally tested, but also illegal to use under almost all showing rules. This and other similar products have been around for years and their use contines to be spotty and usually discontinued by almost all users over a relatively short time due to lack of efficacy.

Before you believe that you can be sure personal experience alone can accurately judge efficacy see, BULLETIN BOARD members only: The Lounge: Kick back and relax.: Alternative Medicine and Epistomology: DrO's Big Mistake. It is a sordid story filled with hubris and self delusion and of how a whole profession was mistaken for decades about a very common treatment.
DrO
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