David Teets Jr – Hard Keeper – Hot Headed – Thicker Soles - Environment Changes
John Dowdy:
Hello, and welcome to this week's Equinety Podcast. We are swinging up into Delaware this week. We've got David Teets Jr. on the call. David, welcome to the Equinety Podcast.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes, sir. I appreciate the invite.
John Dowdy:
Well, it's always a pleasure. Also, you've got a very full background. You're active military. So thank you so much for your service.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir, thank you!
John Dowdy:
You bet. You also are a family of rodeoers, so you are-
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir, we try.
John Dowdy:
One of the things that we're going to talk about on this podcast and being active military, you're having to move around all the time, so you're in different environments, there's nothing that's just.... that you can literally plan for longterm, because you're always changing, which brings a lot of challenges with horses and different feeding programs, because of the environments. Well, let's just start from the beginning. How long have you been in the military? How long have you been rodeoing? Then we'll just ebb and flow this thing.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes, sir. So I've been in the Air Force over 20 years now, 20 in July of last year. My wife is active duty, 18 years. She was born into it, she's an Air Force brat, born into it, so she been doing this her entire life. Obviously, like you said, with the horses, it brings an interesting aspect to the moving. Some guys get lucky and they don't move around a lot, but with my wife and I both being active, our career paths, if one goes, we both go. So I want to say, in the last five years, I think we've moved about four times, which isn't the norm for most, but it definitely takes a toll when you ask your horses to get in a trailer and find somewhere else in the country to move to and the challenges that it brings with it.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, I bet. So how long have you been in the rodeo scene?
David Teets Jr.:
So I've been doing this now pretty serious, probably for about 10, 11 years. Basically, I got into it real hard and heavy when we were both stationed in San Antonio. My wife, she grew up barrel racing all around the country, but when we were in San Antonio, I really took to the roping and put 150% into it to get to where we are now. So it's been it's been a big part of our life. Jennifer and I are both Directors for the Armed Forces' Rodeo, which is called PAFRA, Professional Armed Forces Rodeo Association, where we have a world finals every year in October in Topeka, Kansas. So that's a lot of fun. We bring in veterans from all over the place. Some are overseas, some are here in the States. We've got a lot of people from Alaska, but it's a ton of fun, any veteran or their spouse or dependents under 19 can compete and it's a three-day thing. I know this year is our 20th anniversary and it's supposed to be actually televised on a Wrangler Network.
John Dowdy:
Nice. Is there a website, or we can post it where the podcast is listened.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir. Yes, I believe it's just PAFRA.com. It's changed a couple of times, I have to double check, but it's on Facebook as well, Professional Armed Forces Rodeo Association. We're always recruiting, anyone that's prior to military, or that's married to military and maybe your spouse that's active or the vet is not into it, but you want to, you're more than welcome to compete. We have a ton of fun.
John Dowdy:
Oh, that's great. That is great. How old is your son now?
David Teets Jr.:
Antonio? He is seven years old right now. He really got into it big this year, started riding last year, but he skyrocketed this year for sure.
John Dowdy:
Well, I know you send me often every time, well, it seems very often, but I know with your travels, it's been broken up a little bit.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir.
John Dowdy:
You're always sending me pictures and he's got probably more buckles than most that have been doing this for many years.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. He definitely been having some great success, it helps when he gets to ride mom's good barrel horse and go out there and compete with the youth, that definitely helps as advantages. I think I sent you a picture, he just got a buckle in the mail, I think two days ago from before we left Cheyenne, they were finishing everything out, obviously COVID had things behind, but he was the boy's goat tying champ out in Cheyenne, which was funny because him at seven years old, the other kids his age were doing the goat tying where you take the ribbon off the tail and stuff or the goat tail, but he was actually competing with some of the teenagers and somehow pulled out the season victory. So he's pretty excited about that.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, I bet so, that's awesome. So let's get into a little bit of some of the challenges and we'll talk before you found out about the Equinety products, what were challenges you were dealing with, prior to that, with all of the moving and the different environmental changes and supplements, what were some of the challenges that you were facing?
David Teets Jr.:
So, my main horse was obviously my main concern. All of our horses are on the products, but my horse, we picked her up in San Antonio years ago, raised her. She went from San Antonio to Tucson, Tucson to... We lived in the Virginia DC area, then got orders out to Cheyenne, and now we're back on the East Coast, out in Delaware. So she's a hard keeper to begin with and she's wired a little high-strung. So I had some concerns just on how much I push her, and does she look at healthy as I want her to be.
I know the big thing was I reached out about the products and we had talked, and I asked for some education, "Help me out here. I want my horse to, at least if she doesn't look like some of these other ones, I need to know that she feels like those other ones." So I needed to find something that was a consistent for her, that no matter where we were going to move and hay quality might change while we're getting settled in, things of that nature, that I knew that she was going to have the health benefits that I was looking for and it's worked out great.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Well, you started off with the Equinety Horse XL about almost a year ago.
David Teets Jr.:
Correct.
John Dowdy:
What were some of the changes that you saw and how quickly did you see them just by using the product? We were talking before we got on the podcast and you'd tried a lot of other different supplements and things like that, but what were some of the specifics around the Equinety Horse XL?
David Teets Jr.:
So the biggest thing was that I didn't want any supplement that was going to make her stressed out or more high-strung than what she already was. That was a main concern. So as we started her on the product, as you know, we spoke about what... It didn't change her anxiety levels, which was super important to me, I needed her to stay as calm and level-headed as possible. So that was one of the positive things right away that I noticed is, "Hey, look, she's not acting different." But I could tell over time that she just started to look healthier. She started to look like I hadn't run her into the ground. You could notice right away that she wasn't stressed, she started to look better, her coat started to look a little better.
This was, I think, beginning of April. So this was the winter had taken a toll on her up there in Cheyenne, and it had been four or five months deep into the colder windier weather. I noticed probably within 30, 45 days a drastic change just in the way that she looked, but also the way that she began to ride and things like that.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Then specifically with her being a hard keeper, somewhat hot headed, environmental changes, did she just seemed more balanced, just low key?
David Teets Jr.:
Yeah, she didn't seem... Especially, with the wind and the weather up there, they already get stressed out and somewhat flighty already. That was the biggest thing that I noticed was she started to, over time I could tell she started to fill out a little bit, because I feel like that was part of her issue with being with the hard keeper thing, the anxiety was just wearing her out at the same time and that weather wasn't helping.
So I noticed that as she started to level out and was getting the nutrition that she needed, on top of the good feed that we were giving her, she looked like a totally different horse, like I said, 45, 60 days later and just maintained it. It's not like she got over fed and started to get more excitable or not listen as well. She was the same great horse, just looked a lot better. I know we talked about it as well, her feet have always been a concern of mine. I could tell that her hooves were getting stronger, the soles were stronger. She could get sore here and there on then bottom of her feet, she didn't have those issues either, but definitely focus and the way that she looked was much different.
John Dowdy:
Sure. You had mentioned to me earlier too, with having a lot of different horses and this one in particular has white hooves. So therefore, they're somewhat prone to having more issues than others.
David Teets Jr.:
Correct. Yes sir.
John Dowdy:
So just by using the products now for about a year there, how would you rate the quality of sole depth and just overall hoof quality?
David Teets Jr.:
Definitely, 10 times better than it was and that sounds crazy, but like I said, her feet... Before, she's always had to have shoes. I keep her shod all the time just because I know that she get sore whether it's rocks or whatever the case may be, she's the first one to shy away from those things. So I always keep her with shoes on just to keep her off the rocks a little bit, but I just put some new shoes on Saturday, today is Monday, so two days ago we put the new shoes on and as wet and nasty as it is out here, her feet were still very solid. They didn't seem to be soft. They were growing just fine, which was surprising to me, because I would've thought with all the standing water that's been out here for quite a while in Delaware, we've been here about 60 days now, that that would have taken a toll on her and surprisingly, it really didn't.
John Dowdy:
That's great. Now, one of the other challenges and we hear this a lot in the professional world, where people are hauling their horses all over the place and a lot of times they've got many horses to choose from depending on what they're doing.
David Teets Jr.:
Correct.
John Dowdy:
You don't have that luxury so much, so tell us more about that.
David Teets Jr.:
Correct. So before we got here, we were just fortunate that the Air Force base that we were assigned to in Cheyenne actually had a horse barn. So we helped run that and it's reasonably priced, so not an issue there, we had a couple extra horses, but then we come out to the East Coast and it's a lot of unknowns for us. We didn't have a barn on the Air Force installation. We had to find somebody off base to house them. Obviously, if anyone knows, you've got two or three horses, that's pricey enough, but when you've got more than that, it starts to get extremely expensive. So, so we downsized before we got here and we kept our two good ones or actually we kept our two really good ones and two backups.
So this mare specifically, Starr, that we're talking about, she's my go-to for everything. She's great. So we obviously keep her, and then my wife's good barrel horse, but that's the thing is her being my number one, oftentimes, she's got to be the all around and it may not be fair to her, but it's how it goes. So keeping her consistent to where I can go from one event to another is extremely important, because I don't have the nicety of having a lot of backups, just with the unknowns of us moving and where we're going to go to. It's hard for us to maintain a calf open horse, a team roping horse or whatever the case may be and multiple backups. Until we retire, it's going to be how it is.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
David Teets Jr.:
So she's fills in, like I said, on Saturday did great. We won the calf open out here and then we go right into the team roping right after, it's just how it is for her. So me keeping her in a state to where she can take multiple runs in one day, if you will, and bounce back from it quite quickly is what I need.
John Dowdy:
Right. Right. So initially, you were using the Equinety Horse XL, which you still are, but then you also added the other product that we have.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir.
John Dowdy:
We brought this out in March of 2020, it's called the Equinety Ultimate OEC, which is a flaxseed-based omega-3, it's got 1,000 IU's of natural vitamin E and colloidal silver, all in one.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir.
John Dowdy:
Did you notice, or what did you notice by adding the OEC product to the Horse XL?
David Teets Jr.:
So I think the biggest thing with my horse, she can be quite clumsy if you will. For some reason she's always banged up, whether it's in the trailer or out in the field, she has always got nicks and cuts all over the place, specifically her legs. I have noticed that her legs have maintained normal stature in terms of, there haven't been a lot of inflammation, things like that. So I think it's helping that way, because before we were on the product, like I said, she's always banged up, specifically her back legs. I don't know what it is, but if she can find something to hit her back legs on, she does.
There's been times where I've had to take a break from some events, just because the swelling and whatever the case may be. This is the only thing I can attribute it to, because we made it all the way across the country, went from Wyoming to Oklahoma, went there for a little bit and then made our way up to this assignment. She's been doing great for last 60 days without any major issues to those legs.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That's great. Well, for those who are tuning in for the first time, and maybe you've seen our ads on social media, or you had somebody in your barn using it, or you've heard about it from somewhere, what this product actually is, there's two products. So the Equinety Horse XL, we've been on the market seven years with this, it's 100% pure amino acids. There's no fillers, no sugars, no starches and there's no loading dose. What it's specifically doing is giving the horse what it needs to release its own repairing hormones. When you can get the horse to release its own repairing hormones, and the body's able to now send its own hormones to the problem areas, which is why it helps in so many ways.
So, I'd say, 99% of all the testimonials that people read out there are coming from the Horse XL. The reason why we came out with the Ultimate OEC, Dr. [Brogan 00:16:14] out of Arkansas had been using our product for about a year, and he had reached out to me and said, "Hey, have you ever thought about coming out with another product?" I said, "Well, not for the sake of coming out with one." He says, "Oh, that makes sense." I said, "Well, it just has to work with what we have." He says, "Okay, that makes sense." He goes, "Well, I'm a big fan of oils." I'm like, "No! There's so many oils on the market." He says, "Well, there's nothing like this." I said, "Okay, well, you have my attention.
So with so many oils being on the market, there's some great ones out there, but the combination that we came up with, one, we wanted a flaxseed-based omega-3 oil, which helps reduce inflammation. We wanted natural vitamin E, which also helps reduce inflammation. Then the colloidal silver added into this also helps with reducing inflammation, among other things. There was a lot of other benefits to these, but what you have is a really power packed ingredients in this, these three main ingredients that really help reduce inflammation, which is a cause of a lot of the problems in people and horses and everything else. So that's one aspect of it.
The second thing is working in combination with the amino acids, where the amino acids are giving the body what it needs to help repair at the cellular level, this OEC product is giving those repaired cells some nutrition. So that's why they work so well together. I always tell people, "If you just have to choose one over the other, always go with the amino acids, because that's going to help the repair process." People typically see results in 30 days or less. Then when they add the OEC, then there's just a lot of other benefits that come along with that, helping to keep those cells operating at their optimal levels.
So it's so important, especially in your environment, where you're changing environments all the time and you've had to consolidate to only having, well, I'll say, fewer horses than what you would typically have to have, and you have to keep these horses in the top shape, because they're having to be all around.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir.
John Dowdy:
They may not be the best horse, however, you're keeping them the best that they possibly can be by allowing the bodies to help repair themselves, which is so important.
David Teets Jr.:
Right. I think that, a big push point for me when I was curious about the product and nervous at the same time, over, "Is this going to wire my horse, like other things have? Is this going to work, and there's a negative instead of the positive?" To me, once I started doing the research, it was a no brainer just because, it's funny, because I go in there and I'm like jumping on a treadmill or jumping on the elliptical, because right now the weather got me [inaudible 00:19:09] from going outside, but I always grab my water and my amino acids at the exact same time. I thought, "If I'm doing it, what's the difference? How can this not benefit my mare in this case?" Because it just would make no sense for me to use like products and not expect it to help my horse out. So no surprise, it was a win-win.
John Dowdy:
Absolutely. To get it a little bit more in depth on the science-y part, since you brought it up, amino acids are the building blocks are protein. So whether it's us or, I mean, any mammals, when we eat protein, the challenge with a protein molecule is it's too big to be absorbed. So the body has to break it down into amino acids, where they can be absorbed. So our product, the Equinety Horse XL is already in the amino acid stage. So that's why it starts working in 24 hours and why the majority and I say, upper 90 percentile of people do see positive changes in 30 days or less. The great thing is there's not any negative side effects to it whatsoever. You can use it with any medications or any situation. It's pretty remarkable, but we're definitely blessed for sure, because it's really helped these horses in a lot of ways.
This has been pretty awesome. I know it's going to be really helpful for those that are looking for something that's going to help. I mean, just cliff noting this whole thing, just with the environmental changes, your hard keeper, hot headed mare, just leveled her out, non-stressed.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir.
John Dowdy:
It's kept your performance horses in top condition. The one in particular, the hooves are in great shape, which has always been a challenge.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir.
John Dowdy:
Is there anything else that maybe somebody who's tuning into this and like, "Well, I don't know, this sounds too good to be true." Now I will mention this, this is not a miracle supplement or supplements, by the way.
David Teets Jr.:
Right, right.
John Dowdy:
I mean, you still have to have horses that... Performance horse wise, you still have to have the genes there, but it just helps keep them there. But these products work on any horses, whether it be pasture ornaments or rescue horses, or anything like that.
David Teets Jr.:
Right, right.
John Dowdy:
But is there anything that you might want to say to anybody that still might be on the fence of thinking, "Well..."
David Teets Jr.:
Well, the biggest thing is it's not just me, I've noticed all these things, but it's funny, because I swear last week my wife was all over me, "David, we're running low. David, we're running low, we got to get stocked back up on this." Because she rides a completely different horse, and she's noticed it with her barrel horse, Gunner. He's done great on the product and for her to make sure that, "Hey, look, we don't run low because we don't want to run out and start these guys all over. We want to keep them going." With her big races going on, she's 100% on board. So this isn't just me, this is a household thing and we've noticed it on different horses.
I've spoke mainly on my main horse, but she has noticed the same thing with hers. Obviously, she doesn't want her barrel horse to get overly excited or extremely hot or lose focus, especially with these big drives that we're taking, want to make sure that we leave all three cans standing and that we give it the best that we can. So that's what I would say, is it's not just me, we're riding different horses and she's just as adamant about the products as I am.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That's great. Well, David Teets out of Delaware. Thank you so much for taking the time here to share your story on the Equinety Podcast.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes, sir. It was a pleasure. I appreciate it. I thank you for informing me 11 months ago that, "Hey, this is the real deal and this how it works." Giving me the background, you've very, very good at educating me. I am not a vet by nature, nor am I the expert, so I rely on the experts and I jumped on board and I'm glad that I did, no regrets.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that is awesome. It's one of the reasons why I started putting these podcasts out. We've got, at the time of this recording, about a 100 of them up there and they're everything from one extreme to another. It was really a way to capture stories like this, people from all different walks of life, their horses are doing completely different things, and it was again, just a way to capture these stories, to hopefully help other folks that are looking for a solution to help their situation, so I-
David Teets Jr.:
Yes sir and I appreciate it.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, well, I appreciate your time with this and again, appreciate your service, active military and thank you so much.
David Teets Jr.:
Yes, sir. Appreciate it.
John Dowdy:
Okay. Thanks. Bye-bye.
David Teets Jr.:
Bye.
