An Ex Racer with Anxiety Induced Epilepsy

Noah's Story

I met him when he was 2 and I worked in a race yard. I always thought he was special, he went off racing and I stayed in touch with his owners. He was fairly successful but at 4 he showed signs of a tendon issue so I got a call saying if I wanted him I could have him!

We spent time resting and retraining and discovered he has an amazing jump on him and he is so bold! The next 10 years was a blur of competitions, he was ok at dressage, liked a bit of show jumping but cross country is his true love! One year we went to 9 events in 10 weeks and he came away with 9 trophies! He has always been a lively ride, not the sort of horse you lend your friend!

A while ago he had a funny turn in a collecting ring, he suddenly froze then went berserk; leaping in the air and I had no control.Once he was ok, we went on to do a clear round but the next time in the collecting ring he did it twice again.

I stopped competing as the collecting ring became a nightmare and it got to the stage where I thought he would hurt someone. His behaviour out hacking got worse. He went mad over a car and went face first into a tree.Another time we were heading up a field (where we always take the same route), we got through the gate and he went crazy. Instead of going up where we always go he bolted down the hill bucking and twisting. Everything I did to try and stop had no effect, I managed to stay with him but that was the last time I hacked up there.

Over the next few months it got worse and worse and as a result, I stopped riding him. He was so bad to handle I didn't even want to take him out the field.I had numerous vet visits; eye tests, back and teeth checks. Eventually he was diagnosed with Anxiety Induced Epilepsy. Adrenaline slowly deteriorates brain cells, when he gets an adrenalin shot it bypasses rational thought and causes him to go mad which is why I have no control, as it's a reaction that doesn't resonate with his normal part of his brain.Anxiety is a side effect of this (it's quite rare) however if you can stop him getting anxious he won't get the adrenalin shot, so will be normal.

My friend has her horse on Cool, Calm & Collected she said it was great. We initially used the Low-Mag one and it took the edge off enough for me to handle him. However, riding was still not in the equation. As he is only 16 we sadly decided that as he lived to be ridden, it wasn’t fair to make him stay in a field for the rest of his days. The decision was made to put him down. The vet came on the day arranged and I asked for one last check over, mentioning how good the Cool, Calm & Collected had been with him being handled. The vet looked at the product and told me to hire-fire, suggesting it was worth trying a different formulation.

We did so and the change showed within a week.For the last three months I have been able to ride him almost every day. We started off with a small hack round the lanes, then on his own, then over the downs and fields. Two weeks ago we returned to the big field where he had previously been uncontrollable; he was an angel. We pushed open the gate, cantered up the hill, jumping the jumps at the top and hacked home along the road.That was the biggest day for him as I did not think we would ever be able to do that again.

Four months ago I was certain my beloved horse had reached the end of the road. I spent months putting off the decision and searching for an answer and only by one comment about your product made the vet pause and say give it a go. We won't compete again together as I don't want to push him over the edge but I am happy if we can hack, jump and just spend time together as he has been my horse of a lifetime.

Thank you for producing the Cool, Calm & Collected as without it, Noah certainly would not still be here.