Hey guys,
Today, I’m reviewing FOREcalm by ForeFront Equine, which is a paste calming supplement. I know a lot of people use FOREcalm at shows and competitions. It’s reportedly legal for a variety of organizations, but check with yours, just to be safe! I have been managing an anxious horse for the past 5-6 years, so I’m always looking for the next best thing. Aren’t we all? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a magic potion we could give our horses to just CHILL out sometimes?? That being said, I’m pretty realistic in my expectations and understand the limitations of “supplements.”
My Horse Monkey- The Guinea Pig!
Monkey is a 13-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse. She is probably best described as being “hot” or a little “high-strung” at times. Don’t get me wrong, she’s the absolute sweetest and kindest horse I’ve ever met, but when she gets worried, she gets EXPLOSIVE. For a while, it seemed like she would work herself up into an explosion nearly every ride! You could just see her sanity and rationality deteriorate before your very eyes. It didn’t matter if it was the same arena she’d been in a million times… Poor girl. Naturally, she was the perfect guinea pig for my testing and review of a calming supplement!
The Deets on FOREcalm
FOREcalm is intended to be used before stressful events like trailering and showing. You administer it just like a dewormer. A tube has four doses in, and it runs about $25 buckaroos (2018). I’m always skeptical about whether or not my horse is spitting out or eating around supplements given as powders or pellets in their everyday meals, so I really liked that I could squirt this DIRECTLY into her mouth and know that she was getting it. I did two separate test runs, and you can watch the footage from both days in my Youtube videos.
Ingredients Per 20cc Dosage
- Magnesium Citrate 4000 mg
- Taurine 3000 mg
- L-Tryptophan 1000 mg
- Suntheanine (L-theanine) 600 mg
- Thiamine (Vitamin B) 550 mg
- Organic Hemp Seed Oil 500 mg
Inactive Ingredients
- silicon dioxide
- flavoring
- non-GMO soy oil
Does FOREcalm Work?
If you watch the video, you can pretty well see that Monkey is CHILLED OUT. I do think FOREcalm works. That being said, it’s not a replacement for healthy management and training. If you have an anxious or worried horse, you need to do TWO things before you go out and buy FOREcalm or any other type of calming supplement.
Before You Try a Calming Supplement
- Check and treat for ulcers.
- Begin positive reinforcement training for calm relaxed energy.
Anxious Horses and Ulcers
First, check for ULCERS, or just go ahead and treat! About five years ago, Monkey was anxious all the time and just a big ball of nerves ready to go off like a powder keg at any moment. She even had a few little minor gas colics before we realized she actually had ulcers. Poor baby. I never had a horse with that kind of anxiety before, and I didn’t even know much about ulcers.
I think most people don’t know how common ulcers are. They can occur from just about any type of stress. Trailering, keeping horses confined in stalls and so many other REGULAR things we do with horses cause them stress, which gets internalized in their tummies.
The research is there, so now we have to decide what we’re going to do with it. Treat your horse for ulcers and then do your best to manage them in a way that is good for their tummy. There are so many great resources out there for healthy and safe management of horses, but it basically boils down to making sure horses are not stressed out and also that they’re not going long periods of time without forage. Additionally, if your horse is on bute, consider switching to previcox or something else, because bute causes ulcers.
Happy Horse Tummy Management Tips
- Full turnout (but be aware of your horse’s tolerance to grass if that’s a concern).
- Little or no time in a stall.
- Slow feeders or small hole hay nets to trickle hay out over a long period of time.
- Feed hay or soaked hay cubes prior to riding or trailering to have something on their tummy to absorb the acid that sloshes around.
- Add a little bit of alfalfa to the diet, it’s high in calcium.
- Pro-CMC before trailering or shows.
Positive Reinforcement Training for Anxious Horses
After treating my horse for ulcers and making sure we successfully manage her so that her tummy is happy, the BIGGEST improvement that has helped my highly-anxious horse is positive reinforcement training. Many of you have probably heard of clicker training, but it’s about so much more than tricks and feeding a bunch of treats. With positive reinforcement training, we use a “bridge signal” (the sound of a click) to signify when a horse has done something right. It’s a very effective means of communication between horse and human, and I’ve never felt so easily and clearly understood by a horse in my whole life. We have a conversation, and one that’s not just based on pressure and release. Training sessions become fun puzzles for horses who are engaged and interested in finding out the right answer.
I need to add that we have done YEAR’S worth of Natural Horsemanship methods and other traditional training methods, and while that helped us to handle her, it didn’t ever really make her more comfortable in her own skin. In hindsight, it was just too much pressure for her. Pressure and release definitely has it’s place and some horses do SO well with Natural Horsemanship, but after going through this journey with Monkey, I know it’s not the end-all-be-all of horse training that many claim.
So, if you have a highly anxious horse that is a big-time worrier, and NH hasn’t been working for you, PLEASE give positive reinforcement a try. It has made a world of difference for my horse. TRULY. She has gone from being an anxious powder keg of nerves to a calm and relaxed horse most of the time now. The last few times she did get worried, she was able to go right back to calm quickly, rather than escalating into an explosion. The transformation doesn’t happen overnight, and you need to do a lot of studying and learning and practicing, but it’s so worth it. Bonus is that it’s FUN for you and your horse. My horses practically catch themselves and are so motivated and engaged in all aspects of riding and training now.
If you want to try it, I HIGHLY recommend checking out Shawna Karrasch and Connection Training. They do it right!
How is My Horse Doing Now?
Monkey has come so far from the anxiety-riddled mess that she once was. She still has occasion to look at something and get the worried eyeball, but she also knows how to self-soothe now. In positive reinforcement training, we reinforce what we want to see more of. For Monkey, that means I have reinforced her for calm relaxed energy.
A soft eye is the most important thing to me. We all want to teach behaviors and movements, but the most important thing to teach is calm relaxed energy. Nothing makes me happier than seeing Monkey walking, trotting, gaiting or loping around the arena, relaxed with a soft eye. There was a time when there was terror and fear and worry in her eyes, and it breaks my heart to think of how long she lived with that.
Would I Buy FOREcalm Again?
Okay, okay, okay! You’ve heard my whole spiel about how I helped my anxious horse overcome her worry, and now you want to get to brass tacks! Would I buy FOREcalm again???
Absolutely! I do think it took the edge off a little bit. It definitely had a mildly sedating or relaxing effect on her. She was almost kind of sleepy or lazy on it. That being said, I’m not sure it would have fixed her in her really bad days of anxiety and worry. I don’t think any supplement is magic or can fix ulcers or issues that should be solved in training, but I do think FOREcalm is a great product. I used two doses for this review, and I’m going to save the other two for events that I think Monkey might need a little extra help with.
Until next time, Happy Trails!