Have a quiet mare, super easy going but when time to enter the arena to run barrels is a fire breathing dragon. Any recommendations on a product to ease her anxiety? No ulcers, performance vet checked and no issues. Don't want a product that has to be fed daily. Give me your thoughts and experience 

Can you tell us more?

Is she completely uncontrollable?

Rearing?

Freaking out?

Spinning away from the gate? Refusing to go in?

Etc?

I personally don't have a problem if they are a "fire breathing dragon" because that just tells me they are amped up to do their job, excited to do their job, and that's a good thing. UNLESS you're talking about other undesirable things, so being more specific would help.

If she is just simply on-the-muscle, then let her!

Without more information, I'd say haul her more to see the sights before you start looking for a medicinal cure. If you've exhausted hauling her, then try a herbal supplement first.

I would make sure she isn't sore first. Once that is ruled out then try a good calming supplement. I personally have had good results with THE Total Calm and Focus powder and cookies. It does not take the run out but should take the edge off. 

Also, do you keep her away from the arena until its your turn? I found with my mare- who is hotter than your mare based on what you've said - isn't one to just hang around waiting by the arena. I keep her away and don't move towards the arena until it is our turn. 

Guanabenz. No use suffering from performance anxiety when there's a perfectly safe medical solution. Don't let the naysayers talk you out of it because I'm sure they take aspirin for a headache. 

Legit 100% 

Medicine is there for a reason.....

guanabenz!

This.

How would y'all compare guanabenz vs. chlorapromazine for a situation like this? I've always reached for chlorapromazine. 

Guanabenz has s very short acting. 
Me? I'm ready to try a sledge hammer. Anybody want to buy a mare?

Can you give me the ins and outs on guanabenz as far as dosage, can it be given orally, time frame to give it, etc? Thank you!

I got a 20 mg paste from my vet for a horse I had. 

I gave 2/3-3/4 cc about 45 min out and it was a game changer.

To orignal OP... Does your mare give you trouble when you come out of the arena as well? or does she stop nicely and calm down? 

This...is my horse! Trying to decide a treatment to help relieve her anxiety. She runs great once she's in...and seems to love it...but rears, turns, backs up, flips around, hops and refuses to enter the alley unless she has someone leading her in AND sometimes even requires a horse friend to lead ahead as well. ????‍?? We give her neutrabac before she goes in to help with the gut digestion but I think we're at the point where we need to give her something to help with her alley amxoety. On a side note we're practicing going up and down the alley calmly on non race days and she does ok after a lotto of work...but when race day comes around...she refuses 75% of the time. Thinking guanabenz might do the trick after reading this thread??

There's nothing wrong with medicating for calmness, but I would want to make sure she isn't feeding off of my anxiety.  

So I just heard back from my vet and she won't prescribe Guanabenz because it is not labeled by FDA for calming so how do you guys get it? 

Cash only so there is no record of illegaly buying drugs in a dark ally and using them off label...  Yet people dont see anything wrong with it.  

What will she prescribe?  

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/anda/98/074517_guanabenz_toc.cfm

this is for tablets, but it was approved? 

I'm still waiting to hear back from her. The only thing she said was she couldn't prescribe it and she asked what I've tried so far, which is just about everything otc. Someone gave me some ace once at a clinic and it helped but she wasn't keen on using that either. 

Looks like it was approved to me but maybe not for calming? She is communicating by text so it's hard to determine but she specifically said not approved for calming so I'm not sure if it's just approved for horses for something else? 

First, I would want to know how often this mare is exb, or just scored at the gate/alleyway?  Barrel horses need scored, just like rope horses. 

I'd also want to lnow what the rider is doing to handle her,

like keeping her feet moving without pounding on her, etc 

I had a customer a few months ago that was having similar problems that I gave a tube of MVP Gastroplex paste to to try. She gave 40 cc when she hauled her and 40cc 30 min before a run. The mare was a different horse, much calmer , because her gut was happy. 

Drugs are not my first choice.