Carl Herren - Supplement Skeptic - abscesses, anxiety, recovery,
attitude, barn sour, more responsive, colic issues, weight gain,
stronger hooves - need patience
John Dowdy:
Hello and welcome to another Equinety Podcast. I am really excited this week we've got a five horse story this week from [Carl Heron 00:00:16] who wouldn't consider himself a performance horse kind of guy, but does a lot of trail riding, cattle, hunting and packing trips. So the need is more for the endurance than their performance. And how I came across Carl is he was commenting on one of our ads and he is swearing by this product and said his only regret is that he couldn't buy a 50 gallon drum of product. I thought, "Okay, I got to reach out to Carl and hear his story. So without further ado, Carl, welcome to the Equinety podcast.
Carl Herren:
Good morning, how are you sir?
John Dowdy:
I'm doing very well. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your stories.
Carl Herren:
Not a problem. I would not miss this opportunity to shout it from the rooftops and scream my praise for this product.
John Dowdy:
Oh, that is awesome. We are definitely blessed. And as we go through these stories, you know, the hope here is that people listening for the first time who might be on the fence might a cross over when they hear the hear what you have to, to share with them. So before we jump into this, you've been around horses all your life. Give us your basic thoughts on supplements in general because I'm sure your thoughts aren't probably too far off from other people that have been around in the industry for awhile.
Carl Herren:
Right. No, like I said, I grew up old school, small community, ranch and horses, things like that. And everybody has the newfangled, neatest, greatest, number one thing in the world. And, and they all claim, I've said before, that you take this for a month, you're going gonna end up with a flying unicorn, magical mythical animal by the time you're done using this.
Carl Herren:
And I've used all those products and I've tried to see the results and they're just not there. Some of them were decent and some of them, the horses took two, some of them they didn't. But when we stumbled across this on Facebook and of course like everybody else that I've listened to and read about with Equinety, let's give it a shot, find out, last resort, let's try it. And you know where I'm at right now with my animals, I don't think I'm too far off from that magical flying unicorn. It's been amazing the change in these animals since I started using it.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. So let's... We've got five horses to just kinda go over and before we jump into that, I'll throw this little piece in there, and I've mentioned this on other podcasts, but one of the reasons why this one product, which a serving size is 5.2 grams, which is not even a tablespoon, 100% pure amino acids. The reason why it can have a different effect for each is because it's customizing to each animal. And what it's specifically doing is it stimulates the pituitary gland to release the necessary hormones, which then the body can decide with pinpoint accuracy, where to send those hormones for the healing.
John Dowdy:
So with that being said, I just have these labeled is horse one, horse two, so on and so forth through horse five. So let's talk about horse number one, which had a lot of abscess issues. Tell us about horse number one and the abscesses
John Dowdy:
Yeah, I've owned this horse since it was two years old and I fell in love with her. I hunted off her when it was a friend's horse and I told him if he ever decided to sell her, I wanted her, and it came up that we made a good deal, and I got this horse to come home and she was an amazing animal, the only problem we had was shortly after, she started developing the abscess issue and it seemed that we had it under control between the vet and the farrier helping out, it just never ever resolved itself no matter what we tried and she had become such a part of the family that we just decided to try to make her as comfortable as humanly possible and to just hang on to her like a big family dog.
John Dowdy:
And we put her on the Equinety, we started her in February, the 1st of February and within... Well as of last weekend we are now riding her. She does have a little bit of soreness down there, so it's not 100% gone but she's not 100%, but in our eyes she's at a million percent better than she was and we're going to be able to use her again, and with this product and some patience, some time, we're going to get there with her. It has just been amazing to see the difference in her attitude, her health, all of that. It's been amazing.
John Dowdy:
So eight years of battling abscesses and you tried everything under the sun and you basically just chalked it up as, "Well, not much we can do about it, because this is how the horse is going to be." And so a pasture ornament is what it was and and then you came across the Equinety and so it's been about six months now. You're now rider her again. Holy smokes, that's insane.
Carl Herren:
Yes. And she was the main reason for us to get into the Equinety. The others just kind of followed in line and were benefactors of the product. But she was our main focus and our total target animal when we first decided to try this supplement out.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Because I'm sure like with what a lot of people, we hear stories, they've got a super problem situation and so they see the Equinety and then they think, "Well what could it hurt? I'll stick the rest of them on and see what happens."
Carl Herren:
Yeah. And that's what boat I was in. And the key to it is to be patient. Yes it can work in a matter of days or weeks or months. Some horses it's going to take awhile. And with the progress I've seen since February, I'm willing to go as slow as humanly possible to get that horse back to 100% and I'm 100% confident that it's going to happen, just in the changes it's made in all of these animals. With her, it's been a lifesaver for her.
John Dowdy:
Okay, well we will look forward to updates in the months to come with with that one and see if we can get it to 100%.
Carl Herren:
For sure.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, so your daughter is big time involved in 4H, and from our previous conversation before we got on the podcast here, you had a horse that she actually used in the 4H. Tell us about that, what happened and then what she's doing now.
Carl Herren:
Before the horse that she's currently using, she kind of adopted that, most of the dads out there have probably lost a number of horses to their young ones. They get them right where they want them to be and they're big pussy cats and the kids kind of take them over. We lost our horse to West Nile and that was the horse that she had been using previously and it wrecked her world. He was an amazing animal. The things that he did for us and our family and made our herd better. He was just the cornerstone to our program, I guess you could say.
Carl Herren:
By losing him, it totally wrecked the family basically and ruined her to where she had a very negative outlook on getting back into the competition into things with 4H, and she was to a point where we couldn't get her to even deal with any of the other animals that we had out there and through a family friend, God bless her, he is a trainer for the equestrian side of things and she dealt with these hunter jumpers and dressage and she had a horse and he's in his mid twenties and kind of retired from the thing, kind of an attitude, goofy.You couldn't tie him up. He couldn't go to a show alone. He had to be Babysat, had to do all this. And for some odd reason, those two came together and we laugh and joke and call them the dream team because they were definitely made for each other.
Carl Herren:
So we took this horse and worked with it over the last few months and immediately put him on the Equinety as well. And the lady we got him from doesn't even recognize this horse anymore. He's still a little goofy, but in a good way. He has a personality that is just unbelievable, and what he brings out in my daughter and my daughter's competing on him now and she is kicking butt. And he has totally turned her world around, and his.
Carl Herren:
This horse had never had a western saddle put on him before this. He is now barrel racing doing pulls, ranch riding, showmanship Western pleasure and this is a horse that was a champion dressage horse and jumping. And so this is a whole new world for him to come into and to see how fast he picked it up and learned. He's no longer needing a babysitter. He's no longer having issues in the arena or outside the arena. No attitude issues. He is having fun and you can see it. If a horse could smile, that one's doing it. He is just having a riot.
John Dowdy:
So one of the reasons why they couldn't use him over there on the, the jumper dressage side anymore was because of the severe anxiety, his age, having a harder time to recover and plus they couldn't take him to shows without bringing a couple babysitters with them essentially.
Carl Herren:
Correct. And it's all out the window now. We actually had a show this last weekend and that trainer came out to watch and she was blown away. She could not believe that this horse was doing what he was doing. And we owe it all to Equinety. I am a firm believer in that. I don't think this horse would've picked up on things if he wouldn't have been focused and still have the attitude and he doesn't even show signs of going back to that. And it's just unreal.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. And you know that's one of the things that we hear probably the most often a horse that has a lot of stress, anxiety or is a bit spooky within days, often, sometimes it takes longer, but we've heard it happening within days of given the Equinety, just a complete demeanor change. They're calmer, still focused, especially for the performance horse. They want to work, but it's just like taking the edge off in a massive way.
Carl Herren:
Yeah, it's so noticeable and it was quick results on that animal. We've only had him a few months and just the learning curve, there is no learning curve for him. It like he's known this his entire life and he's always done this and they just mesh together. And I'm sure that part of it is the rider too.
John Dowdy:
Oh yeah.
Carl Herren:
We give horses all the credit, but we got to give the riders credit as well. And it just makes a difference with every animal that they're happy and they're comfortable in their environment, they're healthy, they're feeling good. It's amazing. That's all I can say. I'm blown away.
John Dowdy:
So horse number one, we're six months in, not quite 100% but the progress is full speed ahead as each week goes by. And the second horse within a matter of weeks, you started seeing the big time changes with the anxiety, but now we're a couple months in on that one, so now we'll go into horse number three, which is a high-strung a horse that was used in high school rodeo. Tell us about that one.
Carl Herren:
Yes. After my horse passed away or I should say my daughters, I might get in trouble if I call it my horse again, but I needed to fill that void in my world and have one that dad could work with again and get to grow and know and become one with. And through my farrier, he had heard of a horse that needed a little work and barn-sour. He actually put 90 days on her for the customer before they decided to get rid of her. And it was just too much horse for this young man in the high school rodeo circuit.
Carl Herren:
And he actually, when he went to shoe her, he would have to shoot her up with Ace, just to be able to get shoes on her and just total demon when it came to nailing shoes on. And I went and took a look at this horse and fell in love with her and thought, "This is the one I can grow with and work with."
Carl Herren:
I'm down if she is. And we got her and the second we brought her home, we immediately put her on the Equinety, and once again, this product has changed this horse. She is not a barn-sour buddy-sour horse anymore. Her build and her ableness to maintain the weight for the things that I do, the riding that I do, she doesn't tire, she doesn't lose the weight when you take them out and work them hard and if she does lose any of it, it's back on immediately. And we had the farrier out a few weeks ago and this horse actually fell asleep while he was shoeing her. Not a problem. He came loaded for bear and got a teddy bear instead.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, because he was very well aware of this. horse from previous times.
Carl Herren:
Yes he was. He was dreading that job that day and he could not believe himself that... And immediately he wanted to know what I did. And so I've turned him onto the Equinety as well. And I'm sure that he will be singing praise through comments to me, and with his own animals and the ones that he's working with as well. But total change and I'm excited to see down the road. I'm invested for life in this product, so you guys better not quit making it.
John Dowdy:
Okay, we won't.
Carl Herren:
You're going to have pissed off customers.
John Dowdy:
Message received.
Carl Herren:
I am excited to see what's down the road for not just this horse, but all my horses and the horses that come in our life. It's just, it's a miracle.
John Dowdy:
Yup. I know. I tell people all the time, it sounds too good to be true when you... The more you talk about it, it sounds too good to be true, but I tell people just to try it. The proof is in the pudding.
Carl Herren:
Well anybody who says they're on the fence about it, jump off that fence at first and give it a go. You will not be mistaken. My only word is patience, be patient. If it happens immediately, awesome. But something will change in your animal. I don't care who you are. Something will change and it may not be the change that you're first looking for. It may be some other issues you had no idea your horse had. It's going to fix something with that animal.
Carl Herren:
And for the price, like you said, a dollar a day for your horse. Who isn't willing to spend a dollar per day for a horse. And if they're balking on the price of the product, [inaudible 00:17:54] come out. You take that money for one bet, You could buy three tubs of the Equinety. And it's going to save it. Those visits are going to slow down and almost stop.
John Dowdy:
For any vets listening, don't listen to that part. So, okay, well that will bring us right into a horse number four, and every farm needs a queen bee horse on the farm, or maybe not. Tell us about this four year old race horse. Who is the queen bee?
Carl Herren:
The queen bee that we are about to discuss, she is a retired chariot horse and she's young but you know how that is in the race world. They're not racing at old age or teenage years. We got her on a screaming deal and brought her home as a project. Like I said, I'm into those and this was going to be a dad horse, but this turned out to be the wife's horse after we got done.
Carl Herren:
And just what you said, every pasture has one of these and when she first came she was very shy, because you're new to the herd, but she made her presence known fairly quickly and we had issues with all of them kicking and biting and running them off from feed and singling out other horses and running them... It was just tiring the watch. Frustrating. You'd stand out there to watch and feed to keep her away from the other ones, you know?
Carl Herren:
And since we've put her on this supplement that has all come to a screaming halt as well with everyone of these horses, they all get along, they all play together. We haven't had any issues per se, injury wise. We did have, when we first started the product, she got into a scuffle with one of the other mares that were in there and she got kicked and it did a number on her hip and it was so bad that I didn't think we were going to... Worst case scenario, we thought we may have to put this one down.
Carl Herren:
She couldn't even lift her back leg. It was dragging. She didn't want to move. She wouldn't walk to eat, we had to take the food to her, we had to take water to her. So we quarantined her and we had her on the supplement. And within three days of that injury I walked out to feed that morning and that horse was perfectly normal. No soreness, no swelling, no limping. This horse either totally buffaloed me and pulled the greatest psych job on me, because she has been golden ever since. We've never had an issue and I don't know how. I'm just in awe, along with these other ones in a different way. She has the time to sit and be patient and calm and let the Equinety do its thing. And in three days that horse was perfectly fine.
John Dowdy:
As many stories as I hear all the time, and then it never ceases to amaze me, you know? See the thing is is I'm hearing these stories for the first time as well. So, we're blessed. There's no other way to put that. So, okay, so let's go into horse number five. The tried true mare that you have that you would put grandma on for the first time ever riding a horse in her life. This is how well you can trust this horse. Tell us about this one.
Carl Herren:
Yeah, quite a few years ago and she is our bomb proof pony. You can put grandma to a newborn on this one and turn them loose and you know they're going to be safe. This is the horse that you have put beginners on, friends that have never been on a horse and you don't want to put them on these high performance work horses, race horses and things like that. This is the one that you put them on so they fall in love with these things. And the only problem we had with her was through the years we had a hard time keeping weight on her and we had a bout with pigeon fever here a couple of years ago. The stock show came into town and they brought pigeon here and he was on of these horses that ended up getting the pigeon fever. And I wish I had known about this product to help the three of our horses at the time that were battling this.
Carl Herren:
Because I know that it would've been a heck of a lot smoother road to go down to bring these horses back out of this. But she has a very sensitive gut and we have battled colic with this horse the entire time we've been with her. And we put her on the Equinety at the same time we started to the rest of them we have, knock on wood, not yet had any issues with colic. She has put on over 120 pounds. She looks like 1 million bucks. She acts like she's happy. She's not the slow walk trail horse that you rent at the trail head that knows every rock and twig that you know, and it's a new horse. That's all I can say. And she's just bounced back. She's changed along with all these other ones that we've talked about.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Now, one of the other things that you had going on with her challenges too was soft feet.
Carl Herren:
Yes. Yes. She had very, very soft feet, and since we started her on the Equinety back in February, her feet are rock hard and just healthy. And here, where I'm at in Utah, the weather changes everything 10 minutes. And we've had a very long winter here, a wet one. And even through all that, with this Equinety her feet have stayed amazingly hard and in good shape. My farrier is just blown away by how all of them have come across on this product.
John Dowdy:
Yes. And you've made his job easier since... or you told me they all sleep while he's doing his work?
Carl Herren:
Yes, yes. Every one of them. Not an issue. No bubbles, no trouble. He actually gets excited now to come out and do these things. It's an easy job for him. He doesn't have to work as hard and my hats off to those guys and what they do, the patience they have, the strong backs. So anybody out there that's in that field, my hat is off to you and there's no way I could do it to you guys.
John Dowdy:
Amen to that.
Carl Herren:
So if we can make their jobs easier, there's nothing better than a happy farrier and an happy horse in my opinion.
John Dowdy:
No, and...
Carl Herren:
Maybe a mad vet that you're not calling him anymore.
John Dowdy:
Yeah well even in the case of your stories too with your daughter and how it's changed her outlook with horses and things.
Carl Herren:
Oh, for sure. And the change isn't just in her, it's in me as well. I don't stress as bad as I used to about things with these horses. I can relax when I go out. I don't have to dread that phone call to my farriers says, "Hey, I need the cycle and shoe today."
Carl Herren:
It's been so relaxing for all of us, all of our peace of mind and our frame of mind when we're out working them and riding them. And the trust that we have in our animals and the trust that our animals have in us, it has just built a whole new relationship with our little herd we have and the huge thing that I want to get across today is the average Joe horse owner out there. If you can have these amazing healthy, happy animals for a fraction of the cost it would take to own one these high performance horses that are high demanding.
Carl Herren:
I can't tell them enough. I sat back when I first did my research and I was skeptical and I actually went on a tour with my daughter in Texas and we toured some of the premier ranches in Texas and the [inaudible 00:27:28] and the things like that. And I had called my wife from home and I said, "The first thing I'm going to do when I get home, go apologize to these animals, that I haven't jumped on this and help them out, made them feel better, made them happier."
Carl Herren:
I couldn't wait to get home and get this show on the road with this product, and I haven't looked back since, and I won't. I won't. I will be an advocate for this product for life. And we laugh and I made the comment, my only downfall is I can't buy it in a 50 gallon drum. And if that took food off our plates at home, if it will do that, we'll find food, I promise you that. These horses are going to be taken care of.
John Dowdy:
No, no. That's right, and you know what, we want the best for our animals, and this is, we're blessed in the fact that we've got something that works so well and it's easy. It's one little tiny scoop for everybody, no matter what the size and age and what it does on the outcome is, it's really truly amazing. Quite speechless in a lot of these stories. But you know you said at best that from the horse owner standpoint in a family, it makes you feel better. You're giving the horse the best of what you can give them.
John Dowdy:
And this seemed to kick everybody up more than a few notches. And so your stress levels down, they're happier, they're healthier, they're balanced. So, that's really awesome. Well, Carl, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to share your Equinety stories here on the Equinety Podcast and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people that get a lot of benefit from hearing this one. So thank you very much.
Carl Herren:
Well I appreciate the opportunity to tell my story and I just hope that those people out there that are on the fence, like I said, dive off head first. You will not be disappointed. Like I said earlier, for the price who had a visit from a vet for some issue, you're going to fix multiple issues versus just by buying that tub. Go with the sample, don't have to jump in and get the big one right out the gate. Try the small one, see the difference and I promise you it works and it's amazing and I am so thankful and I want to tell you, your team, your customer service, to everything that I've had to deal with with you guys has been through the roof. I can't thank you enough for giving me the gift of better horses and a better relationship, health, everything. I'm in debt to you guys for life.
John Dowdy:
Well, we appreciate that and we'll give that thanks to the good Lord above, that's for sure. So, well, Carl, thanks again and we'll get this published here in the next couple of weeks. And again, thank you for taking the time.
Carl Herren:
Not a problem. Thank you, sir. You have a great day.
John Dowdy: Okay. You too. Bye. Bye.
