Mike & Bryn Robertson - Quarter Horse Racing
John Dowdy:
Hello, and welcome to this week's Equinety podcast. We are swinging way up north across the Canadian border, and we're going to be talking about some Quarter Horse racing this week. We've got a father-son team going on here. Bryn and Mike Robertson, welcome to the Equinety podcast.
Bryn Robertson:
Thank you. We're very excited to be here and share our experience with the product.
John Dowdy:
Well, it's a-
Mike Robertson:
Yeah, we're looking forward to chatting here.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, absolutely. It's a pleasure to have you guys on. A lot of the other podcasts that we have are typically dealing with horses that... They're dealing with some kind of issues and they've been down different paths, just really kind of at their wit's end. And they stumbled across the product and it seemed to be the missing component that really helped their horse, and so there's all kinds of topics that we've talked about. This podcast, which I am pretty excited about, you guys are obviously in the racing industry and doing a lot of winning and you stumbled across our product. But before we get into that, let's just first talk a little bit about the history. How long have you guys been in the racing industry? How did it all start? Let's just kind of pick it up from there.
Bryn Robertson:
Well, Carol and I got married 54 years ago. We moved to the farm here, and we barrel raced in the '90s, then we got into the racing. After that, Michael and his wife come in with us and we've be going as a team ever since.
John Dowdy:
So a whole family affair?
Bryn Robertson:
Yes, it is.
John Dowdy:
That is awesome. Well, what have been some of the biggest challenges through the years, being in the racing industry?
Bryn Robertson:
Well, getting the right horses and keeping them fit and keeping them sound. Keeping a horse sound is a big job.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Bryn Robertson:
So it's a lot of work, but that's the secret. You got to have a horse that wants to do it, and you got to have a horse that is feeling good and sound.
John Dowdy:
Right. Out of curiosity, how many horses do you typically go through in a year to try to find that right horse?
Bryn Robertson:
Oh, we went through quite a few and we've had three or four really good ones and some decent ones.
Mike Robertson:
We run about eight a year though, on average.
John Dowdy:
Eight, okay. Yep. Let's just jump right into it, because this is the exciting part of the whole podcast here, is your five-year-old quarter horse Had To Be Ivory. What's the history on this horse and what kind of accomplishments have you had with this one?
Bryn Robertson:
Well, Ivory, we bred him. He's by Ivory James and Had To Be Fandango mare, which is nominated for Horse of the Year AQHA. Broodmare of the Year. He's ran 11 times. No, he's run 14 times, sorry. He's won 11, two seconds out of 14. So he's done really well.
Mike Robertson:
We've been lucky enough to breed him as well. We had him right from the beginning, so it's been a treat.
John Dowdy:
Wow.
Mike Robertson:
...watch him come along.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's great. Was it two separate awards that it won?
Bryn Robertson:
Yeah. He won the AQHA award for the Top Canadian Horse two years in a row, and he was Horse of the Year last year. And with all the stake race, he won two. So he's been fantastic.
John Dowdy:
Wow. Now, how common is that to win two consecutive years?
Bryn Robertson:
Not too common.
Mike Robertson:
We got lucky back in, what was it, 2013? We had Horse of the Year as well. We didn't think that was going to come back around and lo and behold Had To Be Fandango popped a real nice baby out. Actually, he's got three right now. The two-year-old right now is really piquing our interest. So we're pretty excited about this one as well. Actually it looks like a twin brother to Fandango.
Bryn Robertson:
To Ivory.
Mike Robertson:
To Ivory. So-
John Dowdy:
Oh wow.
Mike Robertson:
...pretty cool.
John Dowdy:
Well, I'm sure with all of that winning, there's probably been a few eyeballs on you guys with testing. It's pretty strict in the racing industry, I'm sure people hold things close to their chest. Has that been more common with you guys winning as much as you have?
Bryn Robertson:
We've had the guys from AGCO, they call it now. They've been here three times and tested pre-race. We get blood tested every time and everything. We're clear all the time.
Mike Robertson:
They've been doing hair testing too, which is great because you can sure see a lot more with the hair test and it covers a lot farther back as well. So it kind of nice that they are doing that to keep everybody on the same playing field. But you see the testing up here is, well I'm sure it's everywhere, I think it's more stringent. Stricter than the Olympics for people.
John Dowdy:
Oh wow.
Mike Robertson:
They don't allow anything, like there's no allowance. You're positive or you're not. Whereas the Olympic people, they always have something. They're allowed to have a certain amount of something in their feces. But you can't, you have to be strict. You got to make sure every piece of food you give that horse, you know where it's been, you know how it's got there, you know what that bag says, "contamination free." You have to be really careful. Even when we were first brought onto this product, Tommy, he was telling us about the product and heard a lot of people tell us about products. And I'm like, "Great, just another cost to be added to the pool.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Mike Robertson:
Well then, we have to trust Tommy because he's a longtime goodness friend and he's a great horseman. Since we went along with it, not really thinking, "You know, it's just another thing." But anyhow, we seem to be on a good roll with it. I exercise a lot myself. So I actually, Tommy got me taking it myself and I feel better all round at the end of the day, as I'm getting older, it's not as easy.
John Dowdy:
No, it's not.
Mike Robertson:
Well, I hope the horse is feeling it too. We don't have much to go on anymore. You got to go on a good feed program. I think Equinety right now is our only supplement we're feeding, other than good feed.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Mike Robertson:
Another thing too, we had the vets look at it and make sure that it was not... So we did our homework on it to make sure it wasn't going to test. Sure enough, it's good.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Now what I found, of course, we've been on the market now five years and of course we're big in the barrel racing industry, and a lot of other disciplines use the product. A lot in the racing industry, although we don't hear about it a whole lot, it seems like the folks in the racing industry don't want to share with people what they're using, because, well, why would they? But that's why I was very excited to have you guys on. So when you first learned about it-
Mike Robertson:
I've got something to add about this product though, is that in the barrel racing world, when we went to barrel races and stuff, you take your horse on a Friday, you tie him to the trailer, have a stall, if you're lucky and you run them that night and you run them again, maybe in an exhibition, and you'd be entering him that night in a jackpot. The next thing you'd enter him in the morning, and you enter him in the evening and you work him all day, you tie him to the trailer.
Mike Robertson:
Your horses managed to do all right all the time. It was never seen any problem. When you get into racing, you take one horse down that track, even if it's 250 yards, that horse has spent every last piece of life he had in him. They're exhausted. They don't come home and be like... They ran, they're exhausted. It takes them two days to get over a... Even as easy as the 250 yard race there, it takes them, it drains them so much that they go off their feet. They're exhausted. They're mentally and physically exhausted. So I think that product has been a real kind of blessing to come along,-
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Mike Robertson:
...because we've never really experienced like being back in the days of those barrel horse and stuff. It's great. I mean, but we've never seen horses get drained so easy and it's good to have something to help recover these horses.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure there's a big component of it too. I mean, they know what they're about to do. And just like you said, that it takes a mental toll on them and everything else. Now, for those that are tuning in for the first time we're talking to Bryn and Mike Robertson, quarter horse racing, and the Equinety Horse XL product itself. It's 100% pure amino acids. There's no fillers, no sugars, no starches. There is no loading dose and it does not test. How long have you guys been using the product? Now?
Mike Robertson:
I think we bought it off Tommy over a year ago.
John Dowdy:
Okay.
Mike Robertson:
He was pushing around last year, like "Try this miracle, miracle potion here."
Bryn Robertson:
We had the best year we ever had on her too. I was pretty skeptical, but as their record show, I mean, you got to hope you get a lot of luck in this. But you got up stack your odds and all components, you know, right from the top to the bottom. Races are won on inches and noses.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Bryn Robertson:
So I always look at it, when you run to get the finish line, let's say you don't win it, you got your nose there for second. That's 50%. Usually, you know, everything goes back 50%, 50%. So if you can get second rather than third, third rather than fourth, first rather than second, you're doing a lot better. So if you can grab an inch here, there, and that we're still that much better, that's where you're going to end up.
John Dowdy:
Absolutely. With genetics being a huge part of it, and you guys have been winning long before you came across Equinety, but we're going to take as much credit as we can here. Just so you know.
Bryn Robertson:
No, we have never had a good a year as we did last year.
John Dowdy:
Oh, that's awesome. So when you-
Mike Robertson:
Yeah, the cards all laid in place last year, I must say. It was pretty cool.
Bryn Robertson:
We had a 55% winning average.
John Dowdy:
Holy smokes. You're probably not liked that much out there on the track. Huh?
Bryn Robertson:
No, they don't like us anymore.
Mike Robertson:
It was fun but it was stressful. They just kept going on a little bad period. I think the first eight races with other, I mean, this was odd, we went eight in a row. I mean, this had a good run of luck. It takes being in the right race and the right timing. But the horse has to feel good to come down to inches.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Mike Robertson:
We inched our way through a few races.
Bryn Robertson:
Ivory, he set a track record too last year.
John Dowdy:
Holy smokes. How old is Ivory?
Bryn Robertson:
He's five now. He's four last year right when we raced him. We had other horses that did well too. We had another two-year-old, Eazy Street, that was the two-year-old of the year. He won, he went four races, he went two stakes and two trials and so he was a great horse too for us.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Mike Robertson:
He was our surprise. He came along at the right time. We didn't expect them to be very good. He was kind of a grumpy little guy to break and train, but he loved race day. Loved all the aspects of the challenge, I think.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Yeah. Now when you first got the product, so you did all your homework, you had your vet look at it, everything, then you're comfortable using it. What were your initial thoughts when you saw that tiny little scoop in there?
Bryn Robertson:
Tiny little, pardon me?
John Dowdy:
The tiny little scoop that's in there in the tub.
Bryn Robertson:
I didn't think it was very much for a big horse.
Mike Robertson:
We didn't give it a whole lot thought. We went there actually on an interesting note. We were skeptical. We did it, because Tommy told us it was this great product. He's a good horse, not one to beat around the bush. Then we went in on it. So we were skeptical even down to the one scoop. But we used it religiously all year long, from the beginning to the end. We ain't going to stop now.
Bryn Robertson:
We had a three-year-old in filly that was three-year-old filly of the year too.
John Dowdy:
Holy camoly. Some of this-
Mike Robertson:
They were all on it. Every horse went on it, though.
John Dowdy:
Wow. That's incredible. So from the time you started using it, how long, or how soon rather, did you start seeing results and what were the results that you started seeing?
Bryn Robertson:
Well, very shortly, we seen this, you know, starting to put on some muscle lately. They build up very nicely and they seem to have stay in power more. So that's the difference between winning and losing. If your horse can get out there and stay there, there for a quarter of a mile instead of fading, and they seem to have more finish.
Mike Robertson:
The way you asked it, because they're kind of interesting because when I look back at the horses, the horses seem to bigger last year than normal. Like they seem to be carrying more weight. We were actually concerned about that at one point, like, "I don't know, should we be putting these horse on a diet?" I was actually concerned halfway through the year, we were like, "Oh, a couple of these horses looking heavy," but they ran great. They seemed to, and we enjoyed the recovery part of it, I think as much as anything.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. I want to get into that a little bit. Now Mike, you're also a farrier.
Mike Robertson:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
How long have you been doing that?
Mike Robertson:
28 years.
John Dowdy:
All right. So have you noticed anything specifically with their hooves? Soles, yep.
Mike Robertson:
I was watching that, as you said that Tommy and I were seeing how good it was that people were finding it good for their hooves. Looking back, I wasn't looking at that for that purpose, but looking back, we didn't have any feet problems last year either. So on that note, it did work, and I just wasn't looking at that compartment. But looking back, we had no problems, and the feet were really good. See with my horses I re-set them probably, I don't know, I'm probably three to four weeks. I do not like to take you on. As far as I'm concerned you're on a light shoe. You're fit tight. They're not meant to last, they're meant to be on for racing three weeks, so I need the horse to grow foot, so that when we... Before a race, I'll put new shoes on my horses every time.
Mike Robertson:
I'm OCD about running a race without their feet being done. So I need them to grow good quality foot, because if I got to deal male shoes on every three weeks and they're not growing foot, I'm in trouble. Last year I had not found a single problem last year on the feet. That says a lot because I wasn't even looking at it until you mentioned it. It was great. So overall, you're right. I did see a difference, but I never gave it a lot of thought, but it was great. We had no problem last year at all in the feet department.
John Dowdy:
Well, that's great. How about injections? Is that something that you've had to do with joints and stifles and things like that? Is that an issue?
Mike Robertson:
Yeah. If they need it, we want them to feel good. I would never want a horse running and not feeling good. At the same breath, you do not want to do it too much, because there's only so many times you want... Every time you go into a knee or a hock, you're taking a chance.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Mike Robertson:
We've been very lucky and haven't had a problem. But this last year we did not inject. Probably not near as much as we've had to in the past. With that being said, yeah, we didn't use... Our vet didn't make as much money off us last year, if that's what you're asking.
John Dowdy:
Well, I asked that question because we hear this all the time with horses that are injected regularly, whether that be even once a year or twice a year, when they start using the product, they always say, "You know, I didn't have to inject as often, and sometimes not at all, depending on the severity of what's going on." So I was curious if that's what you had found.
Mike Robertson:
If Equinety helps keep on with the, I don't know, maybe this helps them out, even if you do inject, maybe it helps the legs at the time or something. I ride all my own horses, so I take the feel really. When I'm riding, I am obsessed about feeling them. If I don't feel right, I get after dad. We didn't do very much. Like I said, the Equinety was the one thing I could maybe say was the dividing factor on the whole thing.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Mike Robertson:
Not much else we can say. We didn't have any tricks, or there's nothing, there's no magic potion to make a horse run. So you have to do it with what's in our legal boundaries.
John Dowdy:
Right. Yeah. Now, and without naming any other supplement brands or anything like that, were you guys using other products prior to the Equinety product? And able to wean off and now you're only using the Equinety or what would that look like?
Mike Robertson:
We're only using Equinety, other than maybe some red cells to boost up some iron, but good feed. A good feed program is key. I'm sure with the Equinety, as any athlete out there is going to have to be fed well, before your supplements actually even probably kick in as well as you'd like. So I think the combination is really the key as far as I'm concerned.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. I would agree with you-
Mike Robertson:
...with the Equinety.
John Dowdy:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. Now getting back to you were talking, Bryn, a little while ago about just finishing strong. What have you guys noticed since you've been using the Equinety compared to years past without using the Equinety, have you found that they do finish stronger?
Bryn Robertson:
Yeah, that's what I said in earlier. They seem to finish stronger when it comes down to the vote, the last 50 yards, if they fade a bit, you're out of luck. But you got to have that horse keep kicking for the last 50 yards. If they do that, and then we had that happen, we've had them come up right at the end and just wind.
John Dowdy:
Wow. Yeah. That's great.
Mike Robertson:
Racing is a game of inches.
John Dowdy:
How are they-
Bryn Robertson:
I've seen lots of horses, they get out front and they get up to three quarters the way down and all of a sudden, they're going backwards.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Going the wrong direction.
Mike Robertson:
Yeah. You're not always going to be on the best side of the track either. There's always known to be a slow side, fast side, good days and bad days. You hope that if you get on the deep side of the track, they can power through it rather than fade out on you at the very last 50 yards.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Yeah. How are they post-race when they're in the paddock and everything, what's their demeanor and behavior and everything there? Do you find they recover-
Bryn Robertson:
We got some really good horses in the paddock this year. We haven't had any crazy horses, or last year or so, they seem to be keeping their minds together. That's a big thing too. And in the gate and they've been really good in the paddock. We haven't had a bad horse last year, so.
John Dowdy:
Great. Also the-
Mike Robertson:
Nothing scares me worse than taking a two-year-old to the track and you're like, "I just hope they enjoy this." Oh and you just cross your fingers.
Bryn Robertson:
Last year, even the one that was rough to handle at home, he was a firecracker. He actually enjoyed race day and actually all the shenanigans went out the door when he got to the track. So...
John Dowdy:
Wow. Yeah.
Bryn Robertson:
It says something for it, maybe.
John Dowdy:
Now how about, you mentioned while they're in the gate, have you noticed a different bit of a demeanor in the gate since they've been on product? Or what have you noticed there?
Bryn Robertson:
Yeah. We haven't had much trouble with gate horses. A lot of people have trouble with gate horses. Our horses seem to be pretty settled. The big horse, sometimes he gets a little anxious, but other than that, we've had great luck in the gate this year.
Mike Robertson:
I think our big horse broke, probably out of his races. I don't know what to say. I can't remember if he ran five times? Probably had three of his best breaks he's ever had. One pretty good. Then one time he caught a shoe, but I don't want to say that because I'm blaming the blacksmith at that point. I can't fire myself.
John Dowdy:
No. Now how about-
Mike Robertson:
But so...
John Dowdy:
Oh, go ahead.
Mike Robertson:
He did. He seemed to settle down in the gates, but he's on a hair-trigger and last year he was holding it better, definitely better than the year before.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. And-
Mike Robertson:
And our two-year-old. I don't understand why he decide to like it so much. Because he, like I said, he's a firecracker at home. He'll buck you right off if you ain't paying attention or you take him out the wrong day. You better be ready, because he'll lay down a major bucket. When he went to the track, he was as happy as pig in mud.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That's funny. Now, have you had any specific feedback from the jockeys? Are they noticing anything different? Just...
Mike Robertson:
Yeah, they're winning. They're always happy if they win. Our jockey just loves our horses. We're lucky. We got Tony Phillips and he's damn near a family member to us. He's been true and blue and stayed with us through the horses. He's been with us for the last few years, and then he's been really loyal. We couldn't ask for a better jockey. I always look for a jockey that can get out of those gates. Try not to-
Mike Robertson:
They can get out of those gates. A good jockey can get out there nine out of 10 times. He's there every time with us, he's ... doesn't miss a beat. So he really helps of course, and belong too. He's been thrilled...
John Dowdy:
Well, yeah.
Mike Robertson:
He's been absolutely thrilled this year.
Bryn Robertson:
And he was jockey of the year this year as well.
Mike Robertson:
Last year.
Bryn Robertson:
Last year of course.
John Dowdy:
Man.
Mike Robertson:
That was a pretty big thing for him. You had to listen to a 10-minute speech. That was fun and fun. A little rapping involved there, but oh, he got the top jockey award this year. He rode another great horse, but he didn't [inaudible 00:21:59] , best year with ours. It was pretty awesome.
John Dowdy:
Well, you guys-
Mike Robertson:
We had some pretty exciting times last year.
John Dowdy:
So basically whatever awards there were to win, you guys just took it all home.
Bryn Robertson:
Yeah. We had a fun year last year.
Mike Robertson:
Probably never to be repeated again. If we could even come, if we can even get a snippet of what we had last year. I think the product still speaks for itself. Going into it, I'm like I have to tell myself that, "Okay, don't count on it being like last year."
Bryn Robertson:
Everybody's saying we're cheating, but we weren't.
John Dowdy:
Tommy G, who you've mentioned several times, or it may have been Mike when you and I were having a conversation before, because when whatever the organization was that come out to do the test and you opened up the tack room and there was the Equinety sitting there. What did they did... Did they pick it up?
Bryn Robertson:
They looked at it and said it was fine.
John Dowdy:
Which it is, yeah.
Bryn Robertson:
They can come in at any time and check everything. They can even come up to your house and go in your fridge.
Mike Robertson:
They don't make an announcement. They should, I don't know how they do it because they just show up. So what's on your calendar, what's in your house, what's in... you don't know. It could be the day before the race. It could be the day after. It could be middle of the week. Sometimes they were just so random, you wouldn't know. But they're welcome to come any time they want.
Bryn Robertson:
They read it and they said it was completely legal. So it was great.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Bryn Robertson:
We don't hide it.
John Dowdy:
No. I [crosstalk 00:23:29].
Mike Robertson:
We tried to hide it.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, help me then apologize. As long as nobody listens to this, we're fine.
Mike Robertson:
Yeah, I prefer to just keep this between our family members. [crosstalk 00:00:23:37].
Bryn Robertson:
It's okay. I told a couple of guys.
Mike Robertson:
I haven't. No, just kidding. I've told a bunch of guys too. Told my close friends.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, for those that are tuning in, I've kind of gone over what the product is, but actually how the product works is pretty interesting, because it's different than anything else on the market, being 100% pure amino acids. But they're specifically formulated to stimulate the pituitary gland, which is the master gland in the body. That's what releases the necessary hormones, which then help the body repair at the cellular level. In essence, you're giving the body what it needs to release its own hormones. Therefore, to that horse's body, that's sending the hormones to whatever problem areas, could be soft tissue, it could be hooves, it could be gut, muscle, which we talked a lot about here, and maybe you got the entire batch of Equinety tubs that all had winner on the inside. Maybe that was...
Mike Robertson:
Good. I want the same stuff for this year.
John Dowdy:
The same lot goes to the Robertsons.
Mike Robertson:
No, everybody else they can have that stuff.
Bryn Robertson:
Really, I used it for the birth mares .
John Dowdy:
Ah, yes.
Mike Robertson:
Tony was telling me that the brood mares and also stallions you guys are coming up realizing it's actually working well with the stallions to bring up their sperm counting, right?
John Dowdy:
Yeah. You know, it's been one of those things where we've heard from a half a dozen breeding facilities that they have noticed an increase in fertility since they've added this product. I'm waiting to get some reports, they're signed off so we could have some official results other than what somebody told me, but yeah, it seems to be helping in that area.
Mike Robertson:
Our mare, we put it on her as well, and she looks outstanding. That's all I can say. She is big, she's full, she's huge, actually. She absolutely looks perfect.
John Dowdy:
Well, nice.
Mike Robertson:
It's a absolute... She's a sight to see as far as I'm concerned. Her coat is fantastic. You would think she was kept in California all winter.
John Dowdy:
Wow, that is fantastic.
Mike Robertson:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
Is there anything else that we should go over before we sign off? Anybody else that might be on the fence about this stuff and think, "Hey, that stuff sounds too good to be true?" Anything you could tell them that might get them off their fence to try it, other than what you've already talked about?
Mike Robertson:
Honestly, I can't even explain to you, you have to stack your odds. Like I said, races are run by less than inches, total finishes, and you want to be on the other side of that picture. You want to be the guy in the front. That's what we're trying to accomplish is, stacking our odds. I am huge on like, there's a lot of guys that do it and it's just one other product that we can use. You have to do your shoeing and your teeth and have a good veterinarian. Then when it comes to your feed program, then you can stock your odds. Then you got to rely on luck, but you do have to stack your odds. So that's what we're going with on this product.
Bryn Robertson:
We think that its done a heck of a job.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Mike Robertson:
It's the difference between your last 50 yards and your horse fading out, and going third, or winning. Well, I don't even care about the winning as much as like, "Hold your position. Don't fail us now." If you want the extra mile, especially for me, like I'm 46 now and I exercise every day and I'd be honest with you, it's not as easy.
John Dowdy:
No.
Mike Robertson:
So if you can get things to help you recover and feel better when you're doing it, that's the only way to stay, to gain the inch.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Mike and Bryn Robertson out of Ontario, Canada, in the quarter horse racing industry, I want to thank you guys for coming on and sharing your experience and your win with the product, and I really, really appreciate it. So thank you guys for being on the Equinety podcast.
Bryn Robertson:
Thank you for having us.
Mike Robertson:
You've been more than helpful with answering all the questions I've had and it's been awesome talking to you guys over the phone. One day, maybe we'll get to meet you, but we really appreciate taking this call.
John Dowdy:
Oh, absolutely. The pleasure's all mine and it's hard to find people in the racing industry that'll spill the beans, so to speak.
Bryn Robertson:
Yeah. Everybody has their secrets.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, exactly. So, all right guys. Well, thanks a bunch and I really appreciate it.
Bryn Robertson:
Thank you very much.
Mike Robertson:
Thanks, John.
John Dowdy:
Okay, thanks.
Bryn Robertson:
Bye.
John Dowdy:
All right. Bye-bye.
