Calming Benefit of Short-Term Alpha-Casozepine Supplementation During Acclimation to Domestic Environment and Basic Ground Training of Adult Semi-Feral Ponies

To evaluate potential calming effects of alpha-casozepine on horses, we blindly compared behavior and training efficiency of adult semi-feral ponies treated with either alpha-casozepine or control supplement during transition to domestic management and handling. Six ponies (three matched pairs) aged 2 to 8 years that had been reared and kept since birth under semi-feral social and environmental conditions were given either alpha-casozepine (1000 mg orally once daily for ponies weighing 160 to 205 kg) or control supplement, beginning 5 days before being moved to a domestic facility for a 2-week introduction to stabling, haltering, leading, tethering, social separation, stall confinement, grooming, simulated girthing, lifting feet, health care treatments, and transportation. Objective quantitative behavior measures (latencies to complete tasks, avoidance responses, and nervous defecations) were derived from video-recorded handling sessions. For each of the 14 sessions, ponies were ranked 1 (best) to 6 (poorest) for calm, compliance, and acclimation/skill progress. All human–animal interactions, video analyses, and rankings were done blindly to supplement assignments. For most daily sessions across the 2-week training period, each of the three alpha-casozepine-treated ponies performed better than their matched control counterparts, and they also had the top three sums of daily session ranks, with a mean of 35.2 compared with 62.8 for control ponies (P < .05, dependent t-test). At 6 weeks after the 2-week training period, the alpha-casozepine-treated ponies retained the best three sum of ranks for the seven specific skills re-assessed at that time. These results provide evidence of the benefit of alpha-casozepine supplementation to horses undergoing potentially stressful situations inherent to domestic management.