http://www.fenwickfarm.com/
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| The ear bonnet, available in dark gray or black. |
They seem to be like Back on Track, offering items for healing random body parts. Except they deal with helping nerves and anxiety too, if the 3.5 minutes I spent reading the website is correct. Bonus: no break in period and they can be left on 24/7. Extra bonus: machine washable and dryer approved.
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| Mask |
I am still working on Penn's nervous moments- it's nothing that is dangerous, it's mostly just annoying and I want to shut it down before it gets worse. He spazzes out about things that we've covered already (clippers- I decided to clip his fetlocks and bridle path before the show last weekend- he had a meltdown about the fetlocks and was cool with the bridle path), and being alone in the barn or trailering still makes him nervous. (Trailering with pal Fiction was good though! Less diarrhea, but his tail was still caked in it when he unloaded)
I'm intrigued by the mask- could it help with his stall walking? That happens mostly out of nerves I think. His stall changed to one with a window, and that has helped the stall walking dramatically, however he still walks up a storm as soon as someone appears for feed time. Trailering: he's going to be going by himself a lot, and I don't have a good solution to the trailer diarrhea yet. I hauled him with Fiction over the weekend, and used Confidence EQ a half hour before loading. That pheromone has helped him when it comes time to stand in the barn for a while by himself, but I don't want to get hooked on a drug, and I wished it worked a little better. He definitely had less diarrhea (no liquid! but not solid), but I don't know if that was more because he had a friend, or if the Confidence EQ stuff helped.
He settles fairly well under saddle, so the ear bonnet would come later (if at all) if the mask helped dramatically.
I'm grasping at straws here, so opinions? I have BOT stuff that I'm not sure works well or not. Or maybe I should just forget about it all? I'm nervous that his on the ground nerves will eventually carry over to under saddle nerves.
This may be a load of crap, but someone suggested that I teach Stinker "head down". Basically I teach him to lower his head when I say head down (I use slight pressure behind the poll plus cookies in the beginning). When he gets anxious I tell him to lower his head. Apparently this is supposed to relax them since their position mimics a relaxed horse. I've been playing around with it and it seems to work but I'm not totally sold on the idea yet.
ReplyDeleteHis anxiety is off the charts and I've had numerous people suggest that I use calming supplements but so far I've resisted. I am curious about this product now. But I feel like time has made the biggest difference with Stinker. He feeds off of me a lot so if I tell him it's ok he is ok. Plus the whole 3 months of messing with him but not riding because of the EPM helped a lot with building trust...but I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
PS sorry for the long rambling comment that probably isn't helpful. :)
Lol! I taught Mikey to make his happy place while riding be head down and stretching, so I could use it like a reset button. Penn already goes there anyway (on the ground) once things get too intense for him. He looks sad and depressed when he goes there. It's an interesting concept to teach them a voice command for it (and one I like). The first thing I imagined was this: me getting frustrated with him under saddle in a giraffe moment. I say "head down" out of exasperation, he whips his head down, ripping me out of the saddle and flinging me over his head, hahahahaha.
DeleteFor the record, I don't like drugging for calmness. I only consider it for Penn because of the diarrhea that usually comes with it. I would never do ace for him though, which is why I'm experimenting with things like Zylkene and Confidence EQ. This whole being a riding horse and show horse and living in a stall is fairly new to him, and I want to encourage relaxation in the stressful times. I think he relaxes under saddle because from day one, I made it very clear for him what his job was and what to do if he got scared. I like to think he trusts me under saddle too to be the leader. Whatever it is, it's not translating to the ground when he's just standing in the barn or hanging in his stall.
I do think time will be the biggest helper here though! I just want some help for along the way!
Yeah nobody wants a poop drenched tail... :)
DeleteHaha! I worry about colitis... the poop tail is annoying too though!
DeleteNever heard of it but thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMonica just did a review of the bonnet not too long ago:
ReplyDeletehttp://tbeventer.blogspot.com/2016/03/i-believe-in-magic.html
I'd love to read more reviews on them!
I saw her post actually- it's what prompted me to look into them! I'm trying to find more reviews of them because I'm not quite sold yet.
DeleteI know two people who bought the liquid titanium sheets. They noticed no difference. Both of their horses are crazy tense and nervous all the time though, so it may be that they just can't calm down.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the random deleted comments - my browser was posting multiple times for some reason!
DeleteThat's what I'm worried about, I spend a lot for zero payoff. The search I did for reviews basically said the same thing- they don't work at all and there's no reason that they should.
DeleteAnd no worries about the deleted comments! I went through and got rid of them since you deleted them :-)
interesting concept. i think they just need to make 'thunder shirts' for horses haha. like 'trailer snuggies' or some such thing lol
ReplyDeleteOMG yes! horse sized thunder shirts, hahahahaha!
Deletei have bought fenwicks products and used it on my self..it has been a god send..i suggested it to my sister in bermuda that has horses...good luck
ReplyDeleteHorse Wear I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. therefore, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article.
ReplyDelete