John Dowdy:
Hello, and welcome to this week's Equinety Podcast. We are swinging up north, and I'm talking way up north into Caledon, Ontario, and we've got a 2019 World Reining Champion in two divisions. We've got Loris Epis with Epis Performance Horses. Loris, welcome to the Equinety Podcast.
Loris Epis:
John, thank you so much. It's a pleasure for me to be here today and talk about Equinety.
John Dowdy:
Well, it's a pleasure to have you on, and as always, I'm just always excited to have people on to share their stories. They're all different and we haven't had a whole lot of podcasts dealing strictly with high performance horses. I think this is good timing for this. Now, you're originally from Italy. You came over into Canada back in 2007. Let's just start a little bit about your background, your horse training career, and where all that started. Let's just start there.
Loris Epis:
Yeah, I started, the first time I sat on a horse, I think it was around the year 2000. Just randomly, a friend of mine had horses and I always wanted to ride, but I never really approached the matter. One day I just asked him and I sat on a horse. I walked around and I was like, "That's it, I'm hooked." I knew that's what I wanted to do. Few years later, I went and apprenticed in Italy under an NRHA trainer. I never competed in Italy. I put about three years of work with them, learning all the basic and right from the beginning. Like you said, in 2007, I moved to Ontario and that's when I had my opportunity to show and compete in the reining circuit.
John Dowdy:
That's great. The reining world is where you were. 2007, you come into Canada. Were you doing some apprentice work there in Canada for a little bit, or how did you start there?
Loris Epis:
I did. I started for about a year and a half apprentice in Canada and after that I became the head trainer at Fletcher's Horse World in Waterford. I competed in 2008. I started to have some wins already in the Ontario circuit, and shortly after, a year later, 2009, I won my first derby. 2010 Congress Champion. I had the luck and privileged to show an outstanding stallion, Wimpy's Tinseltown, which did a lot for me at the time getting me started and recognized.
John Dowdy:
Wow, so you came over just, dominance was at the forefront here. No messing around.
Loris Epis:
Yes. Correct. You got it.
John Dowdy:
Oh, that's great. In the reining world, what are some of the challenges that you, as a trainer, as a reining horse rider, what are some of the challenges that you have to look out for with your horses? This is a very intense sport and you're asking a lot out of your horses. What are some of the typical challenges that you deal with in the reining world?
Loris Epis:
Like any performance discipline, I would say soundness issues, obviously is one of the main things that a horseman has to keep an eye on and make sure does the right thing for the horse. The other factor for, specifically for reiners, in my opinion anyways, is anticipation of the maneuvers. We ask our horses to do very fast maneuvers and after that we need them to stand quietly with loose reins or low [inaudible 00:03:48]. It's very challenging with all this speed control to keep your horse always willing to perform for you and not anticipating maneuvers.
John Dowdy:
Right. Yeah, there is a lot going on there. What are some of the typical maintenance types of things that are pretty much just a given in this world with your horses to keep them sound?
Loris Epis:
I'd say injections, again, as long as anyone wants to stay away from, and it reaches a point where we need to help our horses a little bit. We'll have the vet out and do some injections here and there. The one thing that I found with the Equinety was that doubled the time of lasting acting of the injections, and that helped a lot through the season.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, no doubt about that. Speaking of the Equinety product, so how many years were you competing before you actually learned about the Equinety Horse XL?
Loris Epis:
I just learned about Equinety at the beginning of this summer. I competed before without it, obviously. I did want to test the product. If I put my name behind it, I always want to see, or if I use something I want to make sure it works for me. I mean within a month I already felt the differences with the horses that I was using it with.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. What specifically did you notice, because obviously we've got, I guess you could call it a watermark, a baseline of you showing and competing and winning without this product for quite a few years. Now, all of a sudden you started using it. What specifically did you notice with using this product?
Loris Epis:
The things that I noticed the most, I mean, again, the double time of lasting of the injections, which is a big, big factor. Meaning I don't have to go and inject my horse as much, which is invasive obviously. I prefer this way. Another thing is always working on that confirmation of a horse with the farrier, right? Feet grow was incredible. Especially the one horse. We had a tremendous feet grow sole, grew a lot, the heel. He always had low heel and no sole. Even my farrier commented on how well he's growing and easier for my farrier to work with. That was another thing. Another thing in addition is coat condition. I'm not talking just about shiny and that, but also working with heat in the summer, especially down south certain shows, you get some dirt, scar, some little scratches and the Equinety helped to heal that way, way, way faster.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Now, and before I get into a little bit more of, for those tuning in for the first time, maybe this is the first time you're hearing about the Equinety product and wondering exactly what this is. I want to talk a little bit more about some of the other things that you've noticed on your performance horses in regards to you're hauling around, you're showing, you're asking a lot out of these horses. What did you see specifically in regards to recovery, stamina, focus, and in your sport, there's a lot of times, just as you mentioned, you're going at a hundred miles an hour and all of a sudden you've got to stop and the horse just has to be, or look, relaxed. What are things that you noticed in those aspects?
Loris Epis:
I found a huge improvement on focus, a huge improvement in relaxing, like you were saying. Or discipline, very difficult for speed control. I was able to hit the road a lot this year, especially running for the world title, which gives you no choice. You have to go weekend after weekend, and it becomes really difficult to keep your horse in tune all the time. I'm sure you can pick what shows you're going to have to run a little harder. Which one you can go a little easier. With the Equinety, I found my horse lasted through the season so much better and to be honest, I got to the last show and won the class, we knew we won the world title then. Give us enough points and money ahead that we knew it was ours, and the horse felt like it was the first time I showed him this season. I was ready to go again, which I've never felt before in the past.
John Dowdy:
Well now speaking of the world title, what is very special about this particular horse in regards to winning in Canada?
Loris Epis:
Well, it's being, this division's being won by a Canadian before, but this is the very first Canadian horse rider that wins the two division in the same year. We won Novice Open level one and two in the same year. That makes it pretty special.
John Dowdy:
Wow. Well congratulations on that.
Loris Epis:
Thank you.
John Dowdy:
That's pretty awesome. Yeah. Now, for those of you tuning in for the first time, maybe this is the first time that you're really starting to dig in to try to find out what this Equinety product is. I'll spend just a couple minutes here to give you the low down on it. First of all, it's 100% pure amino acids. There's no fillers, no sugars, no starches, there's no loading dose. A serving size is 5.2 grams, which is not quite a tablespoon. What's unique about this product, the amino acids are specifically combined to stimulate the pituitary gland, which is the master gland in the body. That's what releases the necessary hormones, which help the body heal at a cellular level. Whether it be, in this case, performance horses, it could be rescue horses, pregnant mares, trail horses, anything in between.
John Dowdy:
We could have, say 12 different horses, with 12 different things going on and because we're giving the body what it needs to release its own hormones, then it's that body that is, it's customizing to that horses body and that horses needs. You had mentioned the hoof growth. One of the examples I've come up with, first and foremost, this is not a miracle supplement. You still have to care for your horse. Nutrition, you have to have a great farrier, and for whatever reason, in the last six to eight months, we've had a lot of feedback with sole depth, hoof growth. They're healthier, grow faster, stronger, but you could have the greatest farrier on the planet standing right in front of your horse, but if he doesn't have anything to work with, there's not much good with that farrier. What I've told people, the great thing with the Equinety product, it's giving the horse what it needs to help grow that hoof healthier, stronger, faster.
John Dowdy:
It gives the farrier more to work with in a lot shorter amount of time. That's one thing in regards to the hooves, which your farrier obviously knows your horse very well and could see the sole depth growth and everything about the hoof just becoming healthier. Now, in regards to high performance horses, and we hear this a lot, people that are out there and this is what they do for a living and they're traveling thousands of miles. They say that their horses, just like you did, are just as good today as they were at the beginning of season. Their recovery time is just phenomenal, but it makes sense when you understand that this is giving the horse what it needs to help repair from a cellular level. It's still very important to have the good nutrition and farrier and a good vet. You really have to know your horse to see the changes going on. That is pretty darn awesome that you've accomplished that in just this year. Is there anything else that we haven't touched upon and with this particular horse that you'd like to chat about?
Loris Epis:
No, I'm in total agreement with you, you need a, I'm lucky enough to have a fantastic team. My veterinarian, my farrier, but definitely if we can give any help to our horses, like you were saying, that's going to speed up and take away a lot of issues and speed up times while the farrier's working, growing the foot, or the vet is working on keeping the horse sound.
John Dowdy:
Yes. Well, even going back to the injections, we hear this all the time that injected horses, which is often required in the performance horse, when they start using the Equinety products, the feedback we get is they don't have to give them as often and sometimes not at all. It just depends on the severity of what's going on. That's better for the horse, and everybody. The least you have to get in there and do that kind of stuff. Now, as we were talking before our recording here, you were telling me about a second horse that was having, well a pretty serious thing going on. Tell us about that one.
Loris Epis:
Yes, we had a tough challenge. This past year a customer, client of mine and friend, purchased a horse to compete in the [inaudible 00:13:22] division and shortly after the purchase we took the horse out of the stall and we had no idea what happened overnight. There was no sign of the horse being cast or anything. Well, long story short, he was severely injured on the hind leg. After checking came out that he had fracture, it was a hind pastern. That was a pretty serious injury. He headed to Pennsylvania last year where he had a surgery, and a metal plate was put to repair the fracture. Horse came back and the odds were optimistic, but, like anything, you have a horse that had a surgery and a metal plate.
John Dowdy:
Right.
Loris Epis:
Then we're talking about a performance horse, not just a riding horse. We were instructed to take it easy, obviously, for the surgeon, but go ahead and do the recovery time. I did put this horse on Equinety, and tremendously sped up the time of recovery. I mean, I'm doing maneuvers right now on him. He's training just up to par like the other horses, and he's going to hit the show pen in May.
John Dowdy:
Wow. Yeah. Well, and that's another thing, we hear this all the time with horses that are coming out of a surgery. They're injured. Something's going on. With the Equinety product, again, because it's giving the body what it needs to help heal from the inside out, and from a cellular level. The reports that we always hear, whatever the expected healing time is, it's always way faster than that. That's kind of what you found here, and it feels good under saddle. Everything's feeling good up to this point?
Loris Epis:
Yes, definitely. Feeling very strong, very confident. Again, both owners and myself can not wait for the show season to start for this horse, for sure.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That's great. Wow. Well for anybody tuning in for the first time. Maybe they're still a little on the fence or hey, they've heard it all because that's just where they're at in life. Is there anything, other than what you've talked about, that you might, could tell them to give the product a try and see for themselves?
Loris Epis:
I'd say see it for yourself. If you're still on the fence, see it for yourself. My testimony, it's as true as it can be. Talking about legit thing, legit horses. This is all happening. Again, if you're still on the fence, you try it. I found tremendous changes right away. That's why I believe in the product and that's why I'm using it.
John Dowdy:
Wow, yeah, that's great. Well, Loris Epson out of Caledon, Ontario. 2019 World Reining Champion in two divisions. Thank you so much for sharing your stories here on the Equinety Podcast.
Loris Epis:
John, thank you so much and good luck to everyone, and try the product.
John Dowdy:
Thank you. All right. Bye-bye.
Loris Epis:
Thank you. Bye.