041 - Julie Klouda – Easy Keeper – Picky Eater -
Mystery Lameness – Chronic Soreness – VERY Skeptical
John Dowdy:
Hello and welcome to this week's Equinety podcast. We're going to swing up into Colorado this week and speak with Julie Klouda. Julie, welcome to the Equinety podcast.
Julie Klouda:
Thank you.
John Dowdy:
Great to have you on and we're excited because you, what was interesting, you had commented on one of our Facebook posts and you had mentioned that you had been in the pet nutrition industry for 20 years and you had an amazing experience with your horse. Let's talk a little bit about your background in pet nutrition, although it's not so much on the equine side but dogs and cats, but you're up to speed on nutrition. So let's talk a little bit about that, your experience there.
Rose: 8 Year Old Peruvian With Mystery Lameness
Julie Klouda:
Great, thank you. I actually started years ago in the rescue world, as many of us do and I had gotten into nutrition for them because in rescue you get so many who are either emaciated, they've got illnesses, diseases and I just wanted to help find better ways that were more natural, in helping them heal. And so I started my own company of delivering pet food and going to seminars to learn about how their body can heal from the inside out to provide pet optimum health. And from there I had that business for about five or six years, sold it and became a representative for a pet food distribution company. And then shortly after that I dabbled in becoming a manufacturer rep for, actually all the way up until about a month ago, so that was probably a good 10 plus years of visiting stores and teaching them about proper nutrition supplements and things like that. And now I'm just taking a break and spending some time with some family while I decide what the next area is in the pet world for me.
John Dowdy:
Sure. That's great. Now you have a horse that you've had for a couple of years and tell us about this eight year old Peruvian.
Julie Klouda:
Rose is great, like you mentioned, she's an eight year old Peruvian girl. I got her from a friend in California almost two years ago actually. And she's mostly trail, we do a little bit of show. And I would say it was earlier this year, probably around February, she had a right front leg issue where she was not stepping out nicely. So we tried multiple different things. We did some rehab, acupuncture, chiropractic. And then we healed from that and then in May we had a fall and ever since that particular fall, her front legs, just every day they were very sore and sometimes it was hard for her to get up or even to walk and and at eight years old, that's a really young age for them to have that type of daily soreness.
And my heart just broke every time I'd go there and it would take sometimes an hour and a half just before she could actually walk around without looking painful. So I did some research, added in some additional joint care supplements, some CBD, plus her regular stuff that she had been on, which was either Mare Magic or Via-Calm in her oils and things. And we continued the chiropractic care and the acupuncture.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. And what was your vet telling you, were they able to find anything specific going on or what was their advice?
Julie Klouda:
We could not find anything specific, which was so frustrating about all of it, is that everything that we would do, nobody could pinpoint why this was happening other than maybe she has a little bit of arthritis or something after this particular fall, which I guess can happen, even if they don't break anything, they can get that early on. And even though testings and things like that, nothing showed that there was actually a particular problem with her. So we headed towards, well go ahead and ride her because there doesn't show anything wrong, but I just would choose to ride her after she was warmed up, when she wasn't showing any more pain for the day anyway. And then the next day she would be somewhat sore, so I would increase the CBD and her joint care actually to see if that would help, maybe she was the type of horse who needs a double dose.
And that showed to be slightly beneficial but not enough on a regular basis. So in, I guess it was probably September, I want to say somewhere right around there, that we talked about what other options there were to help her in the mornings because she was just like a little old lady every single morning. And we talked about Pentosan injections and I really didn't want to have to go to the injection route if I didn't need to, but I was willing to just for her comfort. And so I did some research and just looking at horse stuff, ads come up on Facebook and I saw yours and I'm not normally one who is going to bite on a Facebook ad, but after reading all the comments.
John Dowdy:
Tell us about your true reaction to the Facebook ad.
With Her Experience, Nothing but Skeptisim
Julie Klouda:
Yeah, my true reaction was this was a gimmick and just really, why would I do this? And I was like, "You know what, what do I have to lose? What do we have to lose? I can buy a small bottle, they guarantee the product. So it's totally fine, I'll just give it a try." So I happened to be at one of the stores nearby, I think it was the Colorado Tack store, and they happened to have it in there too. And I asked them about it because I was right about to order it and she said that they had just gotten it in about a week or so prior. So they had just started their horses on it but didn't have enough basis to recommend or not recommend it at the time. And I was like, "Well, I guess I've seen it all over Facebook, I might as well buy it." So there I go, I dove into the gimmick.
I'm really pleased it is not a gimmick. This product is absolutely phenomenal and I started to see results within the first two weeks. Albeit slight, but I could see a difference. And I'm the type of person that if I see an improvement, even the slightest, I will continue that product to see if I will get even better results. Well then two weeks later I could see even more results. So now we're a month in, I've used two jars of the small and at this stage I figured, well I might as well just buy a big jar and give it a solid try.
So we did that and there was a couple of days where I switched up her feed oil and she didn't eat and so it was about three days in, she didn't feed with the Equinety in it, plus all her other stuff. And of course we started to see her be sore again and so I immediately went back to her old feed regimen and she started to improve again. So even missing those couple of days I could tell a difference that the Equinety was working and it just proved to me that this product, it does everything that it says it will do. So she's not sore in the mornings anymore. She's maintaining her weight really, really well. Not that we had too much of a weight issue with her, she was at a perfect weight, but she can be hard to maintain weight because she's such an easy to keeper.
And so we've seen that happen. And then the other thing that I've seen is really all those additional amino acids that are in there really help with the overall temperament and disposition. I had been giving CBD and like I said, either mere magic or Via-Calm in addition, to basically, she's not a high strung horse, although mares can just be funny, just on occasion. And she occasionally would be funny, so I just would use those as a daily, just level out any potential skittishness or jumpiness and things like that. And I actually have since, probably in the last 30 to 45 days, have cut out the CBD and any Mare Magic or Via-Calm because the Equinety is working so well in that area as well. So it's really been a great addition for overall health for her, added to her hay pellets and her oils.
John Dowdy:
Right. And with you having a background in nutrition, I mean you are educated on the power of amino acids and I mean so it's not like you were really going in blind per se, but when you've tried a lot of other things and the CBD is your go to, to be able to cut that out and the Mare Magic and lots of other things, that's pretty impressive.
Equinety Replaces All Other Supplements For The Picky Eater
Julie Klouda:
It is very impressive. And I would have never thought that buying something just randomly off Facebook would make me a believer.
John Dowdy:
Yes. Well we have converted a lot of skeptics over the years and I love the skeptics. But yeah, we're blessed. I mean it is an amazing product and if you're tuning in for the first time, what this product is and why it works so well, first of all, it's 100% pure amino acids. There is no fillers, there's no sugars, no starches, there's no loading dose. And a serving size is 5.2 grams, which is not quite a tablespoon. Which by the way, were you shocked to see how little that was when you purchased the tub?
Julie Klouda:
At first I was, and then I thought back to some of the other products we use for either her or my household. And when you're using a high quality product, you don't need as much to see the benefit. And that's one thing that I really like about your product is you don't need a lot in order for you to see the results.
John Dowdy:
Sure. And how has the, this is a leading question here, but how has the palatability? I ask because every now and then we'll say, "Hey my horse is a picky eater." How does your horse eat it up?
Julie Klouda:
She does great and she is actually probably one of the finickiest horses out there. Like I said, just even changing her oil made her not eat for three days. So, it's not an issue. I don't think it has any flavor at all. I actually haven't tried it myself yet, but I have used it for another pet in our home too, which palatability was just fine. It doesn't even smell like it has a flavor.
How Equinety Works and What It Is
John Dowdy:
No there is no additional or added flavors or anything like that. It's 100% raw crystallized amino acids and they're kind of salty by nature, so that's probably why they tend to lick it right up. But now getting into the the science of what this product is actually doing because again, I think this is podcast number 41 that will be published. So if you go back and listen to any of the other podcast, there's a smorgasbord of different issues that this product has helped with.
But what it's actually doing is stimulating the pituitary gland, which is about the size of a pea. And that's why they all get the same scoop, it's not based on the size of the animal, but based on the size of the pituitary gland. And that's what releases the necessary hormones, which then help heal at a cellular level. So that's why this can do so many different things for so many different horses because you're helping and giving the body what it needs to heal from a cellular level. And I think the other thing to stress here is, well, with your background in nutrition, you are doing everything that you knew, you're working with a veterinarian, a chiropractor. Were you doing massage or were you just doing ... what other stuff were you trying to do care wise?
Julie Klouda:
We did the acupuncture. Yeah, I did not do massage with her.
John Dowdy:
Okay. No, but I mean I think the thing to stress here is you were using everything that you thought that you needed to do and using professionals and supplements and with your background and it just wasn't bringing this horse to where it needed to be. And that's one of the things I stress with those looking at the Equinety product, it's not the end all be all, it's not a miracle supplement. But when you add this to the things that you're already doing, if you're doing the best things that you can for your horse, then it just amplifies everything. And going back to when you switched the oil or the feed with your horse and she didn't eat for those two or three days and she regressed and went back to being lame, the reason why that's happening is because the hormones that are released in the body have a 23 and a half hour life cycle.
So if you stop giving the product, then the hormone levels go back to the way they were before you started giving the product. And then what you found at day three when you started the product again, then she went back to being sound. So it's very interesting. We have a lot of people that the question is, "Hey, do I just feed this product till my horses better and then do I stop or is it a lifelong type of a product?" Well, it is a lifelong type of a product and I think you'll find that once you start trying the product and see the results, you probably don't want to stop because the horses, they're happier, healthier, they feel good. So I know it's probably in the wintertime now up there, well I guess it is winter time, so you're probably not riding as much or you have an indoor place to ride?
Back to Julie and Rose
Julie Klouda:
We don't have an indoor, but we still ride outside. It's nice here in Colorado.
John Dowdy:
Yes, well it is heaven up there.
Julie Klouda:
Yeah, just in the last week or two we haven't been able to ride because of the snow, but other than that we ride probably, we try to ride two to four times a week, generally five to eight miles, 10 miles a ride.
John Dowdy:
Wow. And she's just been sound ever since the six week mark, huh?
Julie Klouda:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That's great. That is fantastic. Wow.
Julie Klouda:
I couldn't be more pleased.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Well that's amazing. And that's why we love hearing these stories. And I tell you what, if there's anybody listening in for the first time that might be as skeptical as you were, what advice would you have to give them?
Julie Klouda:
My advice would be to actually just give the product a valid try. And by that I mean a minimum of 30 days, ideally 90 because I think that every pet horse is different in how quickly you're going to see the results. But also depending on what your ultimately trying to heal or see, if it's a healthy horse, I would actually advise using it for even a horse who doesn't have issues. So because they do miss out on some of those amino acids with their feed, I mean we we're trained to feel like they aren't missing out in that even if you give a complete feed, but they really are because like you and I were talking earlier, that it cooks out. So to me, it doesn't matter what age your horse is, the condition of your horse. But I would highly encourage everybody to give this product a try.
John Dowdy:
Great. I couldn't have said that better, but it's always nice to hear it from someone else other than me. But yeah, that's great. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your story, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people that get a lot of benefit out of that. So Julie Klouda out of Colorado, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story here on the Equinety podcast.
Julie Klouda:
Thank you, John for having me.
John Dowdy:
You bet. Bye bye.
