[SuZQuzie]

What in the world is breaking ace? I had to drug my very hot mare today (she hadn't been out in a while due to rain) and my trainer was worried the she might break the ace, or override it. Can anyone give me some more details on this?

[JBandRio]

Some horses react very strongly, in a manner totally opposite that which you want them to react to ace. By "breaking", your trainer is probably talking about a horse who overrides the drug, as you said, and comes out of it fairly wild and aggressive.

[probarrelracer]

Many times it happens when ACE is given to an already excited horse.

[Chester]

Maybe the endorphin tap would be appropriate instead of ace??

[Blistering Winds]

Breaking the ace is what I know as a horse who reacts Opposite of what it should.

When you give ace, it should calm, if not sedate a horse almost out, depending on the dose. If given to a horse already wired and excited, you will excite them more.

Ace is used usually in the vet clinics with a second drug. Well, all the ones I work with. Excited horses or not.

In my opinion, too many people outside the vet clinics are using ace WAY too much and for the wrong reasons.

[Idrivetrotter]

Sometimes you can give a dose of ace and it has not a very good effect, some overly hot horses can go right through the ace like the never even got it. It is good for taking an edge off, but there are a couple of other drugs that are good for a week off of one dose, I had a racehorse that is able to race with it (it starts with an R I am brain dead at the moment) and he was able to run on it with the shot given 5 days before the race. He was an emotion train wreck on race days and this helped him keep controllable other wise he would hurt himself or worse the groom.

[SuZQuzie]

Thanks everyone for your help. All of you have really cleared this up for me. Personally, I'm not a fan of drugging and this is the first time I've ever had her drugged in the four years I've had her.

All in all, she didn't break it and did very well walking about. I'm sure that would have not been the case otherwise.

In case you were wondering, the reason she was so overly worked up is because she has been laid up for about 4 months now from a turn-out incident (nothing serious, no worries, we just want her to recover fully). Normally she's fine walking about, but it has been raining so I haven't had the chance to do so for two days straight.

Thanks again for your help!

[SuZQuzie]

And Chester, what's the endorphin tap?

[No1Dazy]

My mare, who is not at all hot, snaps RIGHT out of ace if she hears clippers. I forgot what it was originally being used for, (calm her for some vet work, I think,) but my trainer thought, while she's drugged, why not clip her ears?

It didn't work... the mare snapped out of the ace and lifted my trainer off the ground.

[Shotgun93]

Read the "Get the Popcorn Ready" and "Don't try this at home" threads to find out about the endorphin tap. It's a fairly controversial way to calm down a horse or trick the horse into working, I am not a fan of tricks and gadgets in place of real training, but that's just me.....Anyway, that's an argument for another thread.