Re: RC: B-1

[Jennifer Thompson <jlthompson@earthlink.net>]

The symptoms you describe are what my mare was exhibiting.  I always 
thought she was just "hot" but couldn't explain her hypersensitivity to 
brushing, fly spray, or just being touched, even after trying for years 
to get her used to it.  She was not like that all the time, but enough 
that handling her was a major pain in the butt!  She was also very 
fidgety, and VERY spooky.

About a year ago, I started her on Mega Mag vitamin supplement (from 
United Vet Equine), because it had B-1 in it, and I had heard about B-1 
helping with this.  Mega Mag is balanced, since it has the other B 
vitamins in it, and some other good stuff.

I have seen a difference!  It took a few months for it to be really 
noticeable, but she is a lot calmer now, almost too calm sometimes (my 
formerly hyper horse now prefers to plod along the trail....grrrr).  She 
still has her moments,  but over all is a much more trust worthy horse, 
and she lets me spray her, brush her, etc. without dancing around and 
flinching.

So, maybe it's the B-1, or maybe she's just matured (she's 10 now).  I 
dunno.  Just thought I'd share my experience.

Jennifer

guest@endurance.net wrote:

>Jan Mutchler jmutchler@h2net.net
>A deficiency of B-1, B-6, and magnesium can cause a horse, especially
>mares, to exhibit signs of hypersensitivity.  Hypersensitivity should be
>differentiated from signs that a "hot horse" would have.  A hypersenstive
>horse will be overly sensitive to environmental and tactile stimuli, i.e.
>horse hates to be brushed even with the softest of brushes, doesn't like
>being petted or stroked, loses focus while eating, tendency towards
>diarrhea, and very hard in general to keep the horse focused.  Its kind of
>like they have raw nerve endingings and anything you do to them is very
>uncomfortable.  I learned that it is best to start with a 500mg
>supplementation of B-6.  If you see some positive results from that (i.e.
>more comfortable with brushing, less diarrhea), then start adding in the
>B-1.  I read that you can supplement up to 1000mg B-1.  You should see
>more positive results with the added B-1.  My literature research also
>indicated that if you see positive results with the B-6 and B-1, that the
>horse may also be deficient in magnesium.  Magnesium deficiency can
>manifest itself in two ways: muscle cramping or hypersensitivity.  I do
>not know if B-1 would test as a "masking agent" or not.  Although, it
>seems to me that since it is a natural substance inherent in the system,
>that it shouldn't test positive, but who knows.  Kind of like using
>Thyro-L or Regumate.  And, that brings up something else - if you think
>your horse is truly hypersensitive - get a complete thyroid panel done.
>Thyroid imbalance can also sometimes cause a horse to be hypersensitive.
>Me, personally, I wouldn't give my horse high amounts of the B's until I
>determined if my horse was truly hypersensitive and it has a thyoid panel
>done.  Just my thoughts.
>Jan Mutchler
>
>
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