[quarterhorse4me]

I have a mare, who can be pretty intense at times, and it appears to be partially related to her cycle. Has anyone had any success with these type products? I give her Mg, which has helped over the last year as far as ulcers and girthiness, but am open to suggestions.

[ArthurGuinness]

I have had great success with mare magic. It has made a world of difference with a pony mare I own. I would try the natural stuff before using hormones.

[Jumpin_Horses]

Ive had great success with bulk Raspberry Leaves (mare magic) http://www.herbco.com/c-204-raspberry.aspx..... btw, check out the price....

[D Taylor]

I'll second the red raspberry leaves. Barn is just quieter when the mares are cycling if they get their rr leaves.

[Texarkana]

Personally, I did not see any changes in my mare when she was on SmartPak Mare Harmony...

[deltawave]

Look carefully at the ingredients, do a little research, and ask yourself if these products are really capable of doing diddly.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supple...ED%20RASPBERRY

There is no hormonal effect whatsoever from raspberry. Modest effects on muscle relaxation are HIGHLY unlikely to do anything for mares who do not menstruate or develop uterine cramping like humans do. Most "mare behavior" is due to OVULATION, which does not cause muscle cramping and is the polar opposite of menstruation anyway. So maybe it would work in humans with PMS, but it's highly unlikely to do much for a mare ovulating. Unless you believe it does, of course.

[rockfordbuckeye]

I will admit in a moment of desperation I purchased mare magic and it did....nothing It did smell nice though.

[vtdobes]

I've also used the bulk raspberry leaves....with good results. And I have a mare who never shows heat so I wasn't sure if that was the cause of her issues or not. She stopped being SO sensitive and SO reactive after starting the leaves.

[trabern]

My understanding is the raspberry leaves work (when they work) because they are high in magnesium. So if magnesium works, RR will do the same thing (but might cost more).

I used RR leaves on the Haflinger mare and saw improvement, but when my wild irish redhead went into a 5 month heat at age 4, it didn't dent it.

I changed everybody over to magnesium supplement for cost effectiveness.

[deltawave]

So let's make a guess at how much elemental magnesium is in raspberry leaves. 1%, maybe? Let's be extremely generous and say 5% for the sake of the mental exercise.

5% magnesium in a 5 gram serving would be 0.25 grams of magnesium, or 250 mg. A puny, puny amount. And I'm guessing that 5% is wildly optimistic and the actual magnesium content is like most leaves (like hay) and more like on the order of parts per million or mg/KG or fractions of a percent. (I have very high magnesium content in my soil and the hay grown locally is, IIRC, about 0.1% magnesium)

So with the average couple of scoops of the very-lightweight leaves, one would probably be able to count on a few milligrams of magnesium, realistically. Unless people are feeding pounds of the stuff?

Still think it's the magnesium content?

[LovelyBay]

I had great success with Mare Magic, and then I learned about raspberry leaves and switched. The raspberry leaves works just as well. I get mine from herbalcom.com and keep her on them spring-early autumn every year.

[kch7238]

I thought using Mare Magic was a waste of my time and money. So I took my mare off of it for a while. Yikes!! It caused me to remember why I put her on it in the first place. I did try the bulk raspberry leaves, but I felt for her they were not as effective.

[rockfordbuckeye]

Has anyone tried using lavender? ( DW!)

[deltawave]

Bad, bad buckeye.

[quarterhorse4me]

It sounds like a hit or a miss. I figure I have nothing to lose, and it could provide my mare with a little relief, so I ordered the SmartMare Harmony. Too bad I cannot just pour her a glass of red wine when she gets irritable and moody. :. Grapes for me and raspberries for her!

[oliverreed]

I have been using it on my spooky gelding (8 yrs old) for a while but can't say I see much of a difference. His personality is just normally a tad fearful/insecure/reactive. Lately he's been spooking at a mounting block in the corner of the indoor. le sigh.

[jonquil]

Mare magic has helped my mare. She's gone from being unridable during the first 3 days of her cycle to ridable- still a little crabby, but ridable. I ddn't do a lot of research, but the marble hadn't helped at all and I was desperate. Maybe the effect is really on me??? Anyhow, she doesn't become a crazywoman any more, and that coincided with starting her on mare magic.

[RedMare01]

I used SmartMare Harmony last spring. I'd moved my mare to a new barn, and her heat cycles around the lone gelding were, ahem, strong shall we say?

She did chill out quite a bit after I started it. Was it the supplement or just her settling into the new barn? Dunno, but I was happy either way.

[Mayaty02]

tried mare magic on two pony mares, noticed NO difference

[Showbizz]

I keep my pony on Mare Magic March - Oct, and I notice a HUGE difference. Whether it actually works or whether it's the placebo effect, I know not, nor do I care because it's cheap and my kiddos don't have to worry about getting kicked/struck at/squealed at by naughty hormonal ponykins