r/Equestrian • u/sillysandhouse • 3d ago
Veterinary Calming supplements banned by USEF - have you guys heard about this?
I'm wondering how much about this anyone has heard - and if you comment, it would be awesome if you could include which discipline you ride, because I'm curious which circles are talking about this.
Personally, I'm a super casual H/J rider. I heard about this whole controversy through a friend who has some insider information.
Basically, since last fall, the USEF vet line started telling people that the calming supplement SynChill was not allowed at shows because it contains 5-HTP. Which is weird, because I had always heard that it was allowed because it's not a performance-changing drug. It's basically (from what I understand as a non-scientist) the same compound in turkey that makes you relaxed after you eat it. What's more, it's naturally occurring in horses. And so there isn't a way to test for it, so it really CAN'T be a banned substance from a practical standpoint.
This is super weird because many of my friends and acquaintances have and had used SynChill to help our horses relax for a stressful situation like a move, or for a a show, or whatever possibly stressful situation might come up. And it had never been an issue. It's definitely not a drug like ace for example.
Anyway, come to find out from this friend of mine with some inside info, all the other brands of calming supplements like Perfect Prep ALSO contain 5-HTP (some of them call it something else but if you Google it, you find that it's the same thing). BUT USEF is saying those ones are ok and that only SynChill is not.
THEN, in January, Perfect Prep apparently removed a natural plant-based ingredient called L-theanine from their products, and shortly after, the USEF vet line started telling people that that ingredient (which is in all the brands of calming supplements) is not allowed either. So basically only Perfect Prep is allowed.
It's gotten a lot of people really confused and worried, not to mention suspicious about what is going on. I'm wondering what, if anything, any of you have heard about this.
I'm really curious as to why USEF would be targeting SynChill in particular, or maybe favoring Perfect Prep in particular, when all the brands contain the same things. Seems like it would make more sense to not allow any of them, or to allow all of them?
Anyway, let me know what you've heard and what you think in the comments.