Ashley McGinnis – Major Allergies issues – Poor Muscle Quality - Asthma – Dull Coat – Lameness issues – Equinety has turned this horse around
John Dowdy:
Hello and welcome to this week's Equinety podcast. We're going to swing out into the big state of Texas, and we've got Ashley McGinnis on the call this week. Ashley, welcome to the Equinety podcast.
Ashley McGinnis:
Oh, thank you. I'm excited to be on and share our story. We've been really impressed with Equinety so far and I'm excited to share the results we've seen from using it.
John Dowdy:
Well, that's great. And we're, of course, always excited to have people on every week. And you had actually, unsolicited, mind you, you had sent us a message through the Facebook Messenger, and I'll just read that real quick. It says, "I wanted to give y'all a five star rating." And of course we love those, five star ratings. But you went on to say, "This was my gelding..." You sent before and after pictures. So, you say, "This was my gelding when I first picked him up. Dull coat, asthma from allergies, limping on his front foot even after injecting it, he's been on Equinety for less than 30 days and he's sound and started to gain muscle. This is my kid's horse, he's 15, so I need him to last us. Looks like he will live out the rest of his days on Equinety. I can't wait to see what he looks like in even 90 days on it."
John Dowdy:
So, how long have you had this horse and what was going on? Although I kind of spilled the beans here, but what was really going on when you first picked this horse up and what did you know about him?
Severe Allergies Causing Asthma
Ashley McGinnis:
Well, we have had him probably going on, I would say five, maybe six months now. We have been on the search for a good kid's horse, which everybody knows how hard it is to find one of those, for I would say several years. And we finally found this guy and when I went down to look at him, I traveled a couple of hours, and when I got there we thought maybe he just had a respiratory cold and he looked like he needed a little weight put on and, but we rode him and, I mean, he worked perfect. And so, we brought him knowing that he had a few issues and we brought him home and we gave him some antibiotics, which didn't help. And I noticed that he was still breathing very heavily. So, I went ahead and took him to the vet and let them look at him and they are ... Well, for the second time they looked at him, they looked at him the first time to check him over and give him some antibiotics.
Ashley McGinnis:
But when that wasn't helping, I took him back and we went ahead and did some allergy tests and he was allergic to everything that you could think of. So, we had to completely change our routine as far as feeding goes, and which became a little difficult because he went from eating grain and alfalfa to eating a specially made grain because there wasn't a single grain on the market that didn't have something that he was allergic to in it, and so that became a hassle and a half. But I did it and we started him on some shots too for allergies, but it helped a little bit, but it didn't resolve the problem. He still was breathing heavily.
Ashley McGinnis:
But after we got him back, on the allergy shots, and two weeks later he started limping, so I took him back to the vet and he had some issues going on in his foot and they went ahead and injected it. And I mean, he still limped when we got him home, it was off and on. One day he looked okay, sound, and the next he's back to limping again. And he did that for a couple of weeks and I finally, after Equinety stalked me on Facebook.
John Dowdy:
We tend to do that.
Ashley McGinnis:
Just telling me to buy its product. I finally gave in and I was skeptical because I'm skeptical of everything, and I've tried several things that are big and going, and a lot of the barrel racers and rodeo people are using that I've tried, and it just didn't work for me. But I was willing to try it because it's my kid's horse and we really do need him to last us until they're ready to move up to bigger horses and faster horses. So, I tried the Equinety and literally about a week later he completely had stopped limping. There's not at all, no limping, no sound of lameness at all with him. We've had him on the Equinety going on probably about 45 days now and his coat is a lot healthier. It's not as dull. His muscle, he had no muscle tone in his hind end and our vet actually told us you need to get him on some kind of amino acids.
Ashley McGinnis:
You've got to do something because that's the only thing that's going to help build those muscles up. And he doesn't get ridden hard enough like my horses do because he's the kid's horse and he doesn't work those muscles a lot. But anyway, he started building those muscles up, and then I've also noticed, which the thing that I'm most impressed with is his breathing, is completely almost to normal. Like I said, the allergy shots did help quite a bit, but after starting him on the Equinety, he is almost a normal breathing horse. He doesn't act like he's about to fall over breathing dead after they trot one circle around the arena on [crosstalk 00:05:42].
Ashley McGinnis:
You can tell he actually likes to be ridden and he enjoys it now, where before he was such a deadhead he couldn't breathe, and you felt bad for even putting anybody on him. His quality of life now is a lot better and we're super, super impressed with what the Equinety has done for us so far. And once I'm ready, like I think I've told you already, once my mare, my good mare foals this spring, I'm going to start her on it as well. So, we're excited. We really are. We're pleased with the product and everything that it's done for us and though my horses will stay on it, it's just done not good for us. And like I said, I'm super skeptical of everything and I'm not skeptical of it.
John Dowdy:
Not anymore. Yeah.
Ashley McGinnis:
No. No.
John Dowdy:
That's good, yeah. Well I tell you, we are definitely blessed. We had no idea it was going to help as much as it has. It's, what our tagline is, helping horses worldwide. Now, if you're tuning in for the first time, maybe you've been stocked on Facebook as well with our mini ads that we have going on out there. What the Equinety product is, it's 100% pure amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein and there is no fillers, no sugars, no starches, and there's no loading dose. Now, I didn't ask you this question before. What were your thoughts when you opened the little tub, which is only 1.3 pounds, has a hundred servings in there, but what were your thoughts when you saw that little scoop?
Ashley McGinnis:
I thought, oh my gosh, this isn't going to work. It's got to have more, it's got to have more. And to be honest, because of every other supplement that I have fed in the past, and having to do a loading dose and that's what I'm used to. I thought, okay, I really need this to work, I'm going to double scoop him. And I still do just because I like it so much. I know I don't have to, it's just in my head a habit. But he's about to go down to one scoop a day. But I know he doesn't have to and but my first, when I saw the scoop, I thought, oh my goodness, there's no way. But obviously it does, it does what it's supposed to.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. So-
Ashley McGinnis:
I was really surprised to see that you don't even have to do a loading dose, which is really, that's really good.
How Equinety Works and What's In It
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah, it is. Well, so the amino acids in the Equinety, they're specifically combined, formulated, whatever word you want to say there, in this particular combination to stimulate the pituitary gland, which is about the size of a pea. And that's why we only use 5.2 grams, which is not quite a tablespoon. So, it has nothing to do with the size of the animal, whether it's a tiny mini pony or a big draft horse. They get the same little 5.2 gram serving of amino acids, which is logically it just doesn't make sense, especially if you're used to supplementing, and there's no loading dose. So, the great thing about it, well one of the many great things about it is, it starts working within 24 hours because the amino acids are already in the stage ready for absorption.
John Dowdy:
So, the body doesn't have to do anything except absorb it, so that's why it works very quickly. And then in your case you started seeing results very fast. Now, I always try and tone things down a bit and say, hey, this is not a miracle supplement. It's not the magic end all, be all. But then you hear stories like this and you start scratching your head and you're like, okay, maybe there is something here. But I just think the best way to describe it is, it is the missing component in a lot of situations. With all of the things that you are having to go through that, trying to do a custom feed and, I mean, who knows how much time that was taking up just trying to do that.
Ashley McGinnis:
A lot. A lot. Especially when you'd have your non-horsey husband go feed for you.
John Dowdy:
Oh yes, yes.
Ashley McGinnis:
That's real fun.
A Quick Recovery
John Dowdy:
Yeah, no doubt about that. So, well that's pretty darn awesome. So, now you've been on for about 45 days or your horses have been on for 45 days. You've been able to go back to the regular feeding program, there's really no issues going on. Or we'll say, are we not back up to a hundred percent or are we?
Ashley McGinnis:
No. 100%. I have switched him over to Bluebonnet senior feed and I've switched him back over to alfalfa hay. And I have the fine shavings in his stall now. He no longer has to get the special big, clunky [inaudible 00:10:28] shavings that way. He's completely 100% back to what a normal horse would get.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Holy smokes. Well, this is a great podcast because we have a lot of people that deal with allergy issues and they always ask, "Hey, will this help with allergies?" And we get, I would say more often than not, it has helped. I wouldn't say 100% of the time. And I guess, you have to consider the fact that, well, it is a supplement, all horses are different. But when you get to the internal levels and looking at helping the body heal itself from the inside out, and you're helping to boost the immune system and get all those cells working properly, this is why it helps in so many ways. And one of the examples that I give, if you have 12 horses, with 12 different things going on and you give them all one scoop of Equinety then because it's giving that particular horse what it needs to release its own hormones, it's that body's hormones that are sending to the problem area.
John Dowdy:
So, in essence, it's customizing to each horse, so that's pretty awesome. So, now you're back to the breathing's great. And, of course, you're not doing heavy work or anything like that-
Ashley McGinnis:
No. No.
John Dowdy:
... but just the fact that the horse is happier and you're not as stressed out.
Ashley McGinnis:
He is. He is happier. He actually runs around the pasture now and, like I said, the most important part for me was my kids being able to ride him and it not be a miserable for him and they are actually able to enjoy him. And knowing that his ... He's only 15 which nowadays that's young, he's still got a lot of life left and we need him to live that out here and get them through their learning stages of riding. And I think Equinety has done that and it'll continue to help him thrive. And every other horse is about to be on it too. I'm excited to see, I have a two year old in training with Lydia Butler and she actually started my two year old, well I say two year old, he's three, he's fixing to be four, she started him on it. And so I'm excited to see him on it for 30 days and he has a few stifle issues going on, so I'm excited to see what it does for him too.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, absolutely. Well keep us posted on that. Well, great. Well, Ashley McGinnis out of Texas. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story here on the Equinety podcast.
Ashley McGinnis:
Yeah, it was a pleasure. Thank you for creating the product. It's great.
John Dowdy:
Well, thank you so much and we'll look forward to more updates down the road.
Ashley McGinnis:
For sure. Thank you.
John Dowdy:
Okay, thanks. Bye-bye.
Ashley McGinnis:
Bye.
