John Dowdy:
Hello, and welcome to this week's Equinety Podcast. We are swinging out into California this week, and for those of you who tune in regularly, you might recognize this guest because she's been on before, Saralyn Sells. Saralyn, welcome to The Equinety Podcast.
Saralyn Sells:
Hi John, nice to hear your voice again.
John Dowdy:
Well nice to have you back on. I believe it was a couple weeks ago you insisted to come back on the podcast, and I said, "Well how can I refuse?" But let's make it more of a challenge. I want you to... Was it you I believe who brought somebody on last time? Or was it-
Saralyn Sells:
Nope, nope.
John Dowdy:
Okay, that was somebody else but that's okay because I said, "You know what? What would make a really great podcast? That's just not having two guests, but let's have three guests, but you better bring some heat." Yeah, so you-
Saralyn Sells:
Brought the big guns.
John Dowdy:
Brought the big guns in. So this is a podcast with three guests on it, including myself. So a lot of hot air might be flowing, but some great information. So we've got Lynn [McAnespie 00:01:07], a USEF dressage judge, clinician, and international Warmblood breeder. Lynn, welcome to The Equinety Podcast.
Lynn McEnespy:
Thank you for inviting me. I appreciate being here.
John Dowdy:
Well thank you so much. And we've got Gretchen McDaniels, an Arabian all-around trainer and your own training facility I believe. Gretchen, welcome to The Equinety Podcast.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Thank you for having me [inaudible 00:01:34].
John Dowdy:
Oh, it's always a pleasure. So I know you ladies are super busy. And Saralyn, we'll go back to you, for those who might just be tuning in for the first time, give us a little bit of your background, some of the stuff that you do, what really interested you in the Equinety product, and how it's been working in your business.
Saralyn Sells:
Well for one, when I started with Equinety, my horse was at it's... I thought I was going to have to make the call to the vet, she was at her end. We had a very productive conversation, my horse is still with me today, and I truly believe it's teamwork and Equinety. My vet, my shoer, and Equinety have kept her alive, and... She's not sound, she had her coffin bone come through the bottom of her foot. She just turned... Well, actually the 20th she'll be 28 years old. She's still here, she still stares me in the face in the morning, and I do owe it to Equinety for putting her over the top and getting her on the right side of health, at least surviving, pain free, but to hold out the rest of her life. So I'm very appreciative of Equinety, my vet, and my shoer.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, well I don't think you can get much more serious than a coffin bone coming through, that's some pretty serious stuff.
Saralyn Sells:
Yeah. Yeah, it was bad.
John Dowdy:
Wow. Well and as we get into the podcast, I'll get into a little bit of the science and how the stuff works, why it works. I tell people it's not a miracle supplement, it's not the end-all be-all, but it sure helps speed up recovery and gives your farrier more to work with in a shorter amount of time. And in a lot of cases gives the horse and the horse owner hope that maybe you can change things in for the better. Now as far as your business goes, what kinds of things do you do in the Arabian world?
Saralyn Sells:
Well actually in the general I put on cowboy dressage shows, I'm a show manager. I put it out there every time I can, I can probably have 10 people on a phone call right now giving you the positives of what it's done. But I use it, I take it out, I have a [inaudible 00:04:04] every show that I can. I put it out there and I also give it as prizes and that gets them to at least be aware of what's happening, and they see the change, whether your horse is not sound, or has inflammation or anything. It could be a show horse, it just gives them their optimal level of amino acids to help them.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Saralyn Sells:
And give them the positive. You can't give them any better than what that Equinety is. So I truly, truly believe in this stuff and your horse doesn't have to have a problem to take Equinety. It's like giving them a multivitamin to keep them well, to keep them at their optimal level.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Now you had spoken, as far as a coffin bone coming through, that's to the pretty extreme. What are some of the other things that you've noticed? Now you've been using the product for about a year and a half now so you've... Not only using it on your own horses, you've introduced it to a lot of other people. What are some of the general things that you are noticing on an every day basis?
Saralyn Sells:
The hoof wall, when the shoer comes he really has a hard time even trimming the shoes because her hoof wall is so strong, and she has some coverage underneath on the bottom of her foot. It has taken a little bit but she was extreme, major extreme, and the hoof wall is unbelievable. Her hair coat, she is a Cushing's horse also, and the coat, they're so shiny. You can just see she has carried her weight. At that age, you wait for things to drop off and absolutely not. She looks the same, she looks beautiful. I take a lot of pictures of her because you just don't know. We're all going to go, we're all going to die, it's inevitable. But I want her to go on her terms, not because of. And with Equinety, she is definitely going to go on her terms.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that is great. Well your first big hitter here, Gretchen McDaniels. How long have you known Gretchen, and tell us a little bit about Gretchen. And Gretchen, welcome back to The Equinety Podcast here.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Thank you.
Saralyn Sells:
Yeah, I've known Gretchen over 25 years, and she is one renowned trained in the Arab world. She is one awesome person alone. She's had my grandchildren in training, she's had my daughter with her. She's just there, she's just one of those people who know. She has had my granddaughter since she was two in the saddle, and now she is showing under Gretchen. They just went to a ranch versatility show where, like I said, she is a mini-me of Gretchen period. She walks like her, she talks like her, and Grammy doesn't know squat. It's Gretchen knows everything, Grammy's just standing there.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Saralyn Sells:
Yeah, but Gretchen knows. The Arab world, the Arabian Horse Association, she's been on their board. She has her fingers in all of it, so she... With reining, English pleasure, Western pleasure, hunt, there isn't anything she doesn't do. We started out calling her Mary Poppins, when she does sidesaddle she looks like Mary Poppins. So that's what started my granddaughter, no Mary Poppins in [inaudible 00:07:45].
John Dowdy:
That's awesome.
Saralyn Sells:
But she's one awesome lady besides.
John Dowdy:
Right.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Well thank you.
John Dowdy:
And how long was it before you had started products, Saralyn, before you introduced it to Gretchen?
Saralyn Sells:
Whoa. Well I've been with her quite a while. My horse China, who's the one that had the problem, actually her husband is the one that trained her when she was broke, so she knows my horse very well. So it isn't every weekend that I don't talk about, "And she's still going, she's still going," kind of thing. Her husband, that was his baby, China was. It was always-
Gretchen McDaniels:
Well I think we all showed her. I showed her, my husband showed her, my oldest son showed her, we all showed her [inaudible 00:08:38]. And I think that's what started the conversation because I have the older horse that has Cushing's, and we were discussing treatment for Cushing's. So I said that I don't like to just try random things because sometimes you just can't tell whether it makes a difference or not. You're just feeding it, you can't see any results. So Saralyn got me to try the Equinety and I said, "Well this will be the test because nothing else in her life will change other than we're going to give her this supplement." There was a significant visible difference in that particular horse, and that's what kind of sold me on it.
And then I have a barn full of older lesson horses, all 20 plus years of age, that work every day giving lessons. So I started giving it to all the older horses, and then I liked the results from all the other horses so I head-slapped myself and said, "Why don't I give it to the young training horses? If it's doing this good on the old ones, why aren't the young ones that work hard getting it?" So like I said, most every horse in my barn gets it now.
John Dowdy:
Now going back to the Cushing's horse, because we get a lot of emails and people calling in and they want to know that it's safe for the Cushing's horse. What are the things that you saw specifically with this one?
Gretchen McDaniels:
So it improved her muscle tone, and her hair coat, and her ability to shed. Which I think it's a pituitary gland thing where they just can't fully shed their hair anymore. And they're not [inaudible 00:10:12] anymore so they tend to lose weight across the topline and all that sort of thing. She still at 26 looks great, full topline and carrying her muscles very well, nice and shiny coat. And she gave a lesson yesterday, still gives lessons every week, so going strong.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, and then with all of your older horses, your lesson horses, what were some of the maybe more dramatic things you've seen in them, maybe versus all the commonalities with all of them being older horses?
Gretchen McDaniels:
Well of course they each have their own little something that's slightly... A little arthritic here, a little arthritic there, it's how they end up being retired. But still, you can just see an improvement in all of them whether it's in their feet, in their hair, in their muscle tone, in their ability to maintain their weight, carrying their weight and muscle tone. You can definitely tell in all of their coats, it makes them have great hair coats and that's nice too that they can still look like a nice shiny show horse even when they're old.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, and then as you then decide to move them into your performance horses, what did you notice in the younger ones?
Gretchen McDaniels:
It helps them with their muscle... A lot of them are reined cow horses so they work very hard, and they're young, I have a lot of young ones. So I just felt that it really helps them with their muscle recovery, not being so sore they couldn't go on and work the next day, that they could just maintain a lot better physicality through the training process and showing process. Especially when we do a major show, we'll have to go hard multiple days in a row, four days in a row generally speaking.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Gretchen McDaniels:
So I really felt that I could definitely see the improvement in the young horses, in their ability to recover quicker. Muscle wise, they're not as sore, I don't have to [inaudible 00:12:32]. A lot of times we go to the shows, everybody has the chiropractor, and the this or the that, all this therapy stuff, and mine maintain quite well, they don't need a lot of extra work.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's pretty incredible. So when you look at the years that you've been doing this prior to having the product would you... Just probably I would say higher maintenance to try to keep them at the top of their game?
Gretchen McDaniels:
Correct.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Yep, you're part way in through the competition, my horse is sore, we need the chiropractor, we need the Theraplate, we need the whatever we have... Something to help that horse to get it through so it can make it on to the rest of the performance. And with the Equinety, we're not having to do that, everything. We're just doing much, much better through their day to day training and the competitions.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's pretty incredible, and we hear that a lot with the... In the performance horse world, just the fast recovery, more stamina, the focus, probably the biggest things that people are seeing. Yeah, that is pretty awesome.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Right, right.
John Dowdy:
Is there anything else that jumps out at you since you've been using the product you might want to share with anybody? And I don't know, there might not be.
Gretchen McDaniels:
No, other than that my... I'm kind of a tough sell because I just am not always a believer that putting stuff in the feed is going to make a difference. There is a... You can tell the difference when you feed it and if you don't feed it, there is a difference in the ones that get it and the... Like a new horse comes in for training and isn't on it, there is a difference in them and you can tell. A lot of things that we give horses we're like can you tell whether... Can you tell? Did it make it better or was it going to get better anyway? You can't tell.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, right.
Gretchen McDaniels:
And with Equinety there is a difference and you can tell.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Now you've also been using not only Equinety Horse XL, but you've been using our second products. We have two products and the other one is the Ultimate OEC.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Correct, I use the oil as well. So let's just call it the oldest of my old ones get the oil. I have a cow horse who has some soundness issues and he gets it, it definitely helps him. So yeah, I have not all of them on the oil, but quite a few of them get the oil as well.
John Dowdy:
Sure, sure.
Gretchen McDaniels:
And yes, it can definitely help.
John Dowdy:
That's great. Well for those of you who are tuning in for the first time, maybe you're just learning about the Equinety products. For the most part, these podcasts have all been around the Equinety Horse XL which is 100% pure amino acids. There's no fillers, no sugars, no starches. And there's no loading dose, it's just 5.2 grams which is about a teaspoon, regardless of the size of the horse. And what these amino acids are doing specifically is they're targeting the pituitary gland, which is the glad that releases hormones specifically for repair. So when you can get the body to release its own repairing hormones, then it's the body that sends its own repairing hormones to its own problem areas. So this is why the product doesn't fit into a specific supplement category, such as a hoof supplement, or joint supplement, or coat, or muscle building, or any of these types of things. We're giving the body what it needs to help repair itself at the cellular level.
The Ultimate OEC we came out with in March 2020, with the help of a veterinarian. What this is, it's a flaxseed-based Omega 3 oil. It's got 1,000 IUs of natural vitamin E and colloidal silver all in one. It's serving two purposes, one it works in combination with the amino acids to give those repaired cells some nutrition to help them operate at optimal levels, and secondly it's a really powerful antioxidant which helps reduce inflammation. So if you can use both of them, highly recommend it. They're just a great combination of a product. If you are at the website and you're like, "Oh, well which one do I pick?" Always go default with the amino acids just because you're going to see results [inaudible 00:16:59] with either of these products, but specifically with the Horse XL, the amino acids.
It starts working in 24 hours and we've had a lot of people say that they can see just demeanor changes within two to three days with horses that have stress, anxiety, maybe a bit spooky. You get into the week to two-week mark, faster recover, more stamina. You get into the 30 day mark, softer shinier coat, maybe filling out a little bit, even some better hoof growth which ultimately is going to give the farrier more to work with in a shorter amount of time. But I would say the vast majority of people see changes in 30 days or less, which is pretty remarkable. And Gretchen, based on all the horses you're using it on, would you say that's a pretty accurate thing, within 30 days?
Gretchen McDaniels:
Yep, yeah, I would say yes, absolutely.
John Dowdy:
I'm glad you agreed because I didn't ask you that question before.
Gretchen McDaniels:
No, and this is... Yeah, so as I get horses that come into training that are new to the barn and haven't been on supplements, you can... Which is nice because you can see a difference in a short period of time, and so then the... I charge my owners for the supplements so they're paying for it, but they can see a result, what they're paying for, right away which is nice.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah, and-
Saralyn Sells:
And also, there's no loading dose. You just give them the one scoop, one scoop. There's no loading dose.
John Dowdy:
Yep, that's right.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Right.
Saralyn Sells:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
And that's the other thing too, which Gretchen you bring up a good point with, in your business model where you've got people coming in on boarding and doing things, and bringing in all the supplements. We always recommend do not change anything they're doing and just add this to it because they already have a baseline and they already have an idea of what their supplements are doing or not doing. And then when you add this little scoop of Equinety, then you can see results in 30 days or less, is upper 90 percentile that people see changes that quickly. So then people, at that point, can decide well maybe I don't need to give them this, or I can reduce that. I would say people are typically saving 20 to 40% in whether it be veterinary bills or other supplements just by using this one little product.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Right.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That's awesome. Well as people are listening into this, if somebody's on the fence and thinking, "Well, this sounds pretty good but I just don't know," is there anything other than what you've already talked about that you might tell them to get off their duff, and off the fence, and give it a try?
Gretchen McDaniels:
No, but I would just say just give it a try, because I think they are going to see a difference and it is a noticeable change in the horse very quickly.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Gretchen McDaniels:
And you're not wondering well is it just because now it's spring and it's not winter, or is it because of anything else? You can see it right away.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Gretchen McDaniels:
You can definitely tell.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, awesome. Well Gretchen, I know you are super busy. Do you want to hang on for the rest of the podcast or do you need to tend to other things?
Gretchen McDaniels:
I think I will jump off and go back to work.
John Dowdy:
All right, well we really appreciate you taking the time to share all your stories and your feedback. Really, really appreciate this so thank you so much.
Gretchen McDaniels:
I appreciate you having me, I really enjoyed it.
John Dowdy:
Okay, you get, bye-bye.
Saralyn Sells:
Bye Gretch.
Lynn McEnespy:
Bye Gretchen.
Gretchen McDaniels:
Bye.
Saralyn Sells:
Bye.
Lynn McEnespy:
Stay on.
John Dowdy:
So awesome. All right now we've got Lynn has been waiting patiently I think.
Lynn McEnespy:
No, I've been drinking coffee with Saralyn-
John Dowdy:
Oh man, she is jacked up on some caffeine.
Lynn McEnespy:
Yeah, you betcha.
John Dowdy:
If it truly is coffee.
Lynn McEnespy:
Yep, yeah, [inaudible 00:20:50] coffee.
John Dowdy:
All right. So Lynn, hopefully I didn't mess up the little intro. Was I fairly accurate there?
Lynn McEnespy:
Yeah, and I've had horses for a very long time. I won't say how long because it's embarrassing-
Saralyn Sells:
She's old.
Lynn McEnespy:
Yes I am.
John Dowdy:
Aren't we all?
Lynn McEnespy:
Yes, started out Western, did some English jumping, three-day eventing, and then got really actively involved in the dressage world. And then, through the cowboy dressage, I met Saralyn, and that's how we got to be friends, so that's how I ended up using the Equinety products. And actually, one of your tubs of Equinety is going to be a raffle prize at the California Dressage Society Sacramento chapter adult dressage camp, emphasis on the adult.
John Dowdy:
Right, nice.
Lynn McEnespy:
Weekend. So there will be somewhere between 30 and 40, shall we say, mature ladies hanging out with their horses and a lot of wine.
Saralyn Sells:
And a lot of wine.
Lynn McEnespy:
There is quite a raffle that goes on with this, and I asked her if I would be okay if I took one of your products out there and put it up as a raffle prize. So it will be out there and it will be getting to that particular group of people.
John Dowdy:
Awesome, that is great. That's this coming weekend or next weekend?
Lynn McEnespy:
This weekend, actually we'll be there tonight.
John Dowdy:
Ah, well let the bidding begin.
Lynn McEnespy:
The bidding I think is going to be either... It'll be Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning, probably Saturday afternoon before dinner.
John Dowdy:
Gotcha.
Saralyn Sells:
Before they start drinking the wine.
Lynn McEnespy:
Well, you're going to start drinking wine after you're done riding, but [inaudible 00:22:37].
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's awesome. So with your background and being around horse for some time, give us a little bit of maybe some common things that you're dealing with, with your horses. Then obviously you've been the product too almost a year and a half, thereabout.
Lynn McEnespy:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
And then maybe just a comparison pre-Equinety versus now, what have you noticed since you've been using it?
Lynn McEnespy:
As we were talking about a little bit earlier, my [inaudible 00:23:13] is private. I'm not like Gretchen, I don't give lessons. I do a little bit of training, mostly my own horses. So I watch them like clocks, they have been competition horses at very high levels. And right now I have an Oldenburg mare, she's 17. She had a baby last year, I'm bringing her back into work. She's an FEI dressage horse, did quite well in competition. I can't say that she has been unsound, or unhealthy, or anything along that line, but she has been getting the Equinety pretty much since Saralyn gave it to me, and that's simply because I just put it in her tub. She doesn't get much of anything else. Her hoof quality is excellent, her coat quality is excellent, and at 17 I did not expect her to come back quite as quickly as she did in terms of physical conditioning and that sort of thing, and she looks super.
[inaudible 00:24:12] a cowboy dressage show a couple of weeks ago and she did very well. One of the main reasons why I was really interested in the product is, I have another gelding, he's 17 too, and he tore a hind suspensory up high. That's basically a career-ending injury. His was not quite that bad but he was still not what I would consider sound for riding. So this has been six months ago, which his a rather short period of time for healing to occur with that type of an injury. His last ultrasound report showed that it had healed, that it had healed very well, and probably quite a bit quicker than a lot of the horses would have without having some sort of nutritional support to do that.
So I think just empirically, that is a good thing for the product in terms of how it helps support the nutrition and the repair of those types of injuries. And as we all know, tendons and ligaments are terrible to try and fix. They take forever, particularly suspensory injuries. So he's doing well, he's getting back to work, and I will definitely be in touch with Saralyn because she's going to be riding him, about how well he's doing and hopefully he gets back into his dressage career, he's an upper level horse also, as well as probably doing a little of the cowboy dressage. Those are the only two that I've really experimented with.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Lynn McEnespy:
All I can say from what I have seen, it has had a positive effect, particularly on the gelding with the injury.
John Dowdy:
Sure. I think we've been on the market seven years with this product, the Equinety Horse XL, and of course we don't hear from everyone but enough to know that the ones that are injured, they seem to always get healed up quicker than what was projected when using the product.
Lynn McEnespy:
Yeah, that's what happened here. It was diagnosed in... Well, it was right before Christmas last year.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Lynn McEnespy:
With the torn suspensory. Actually, it was torn in two places a little bit, and of course that means you're getting to be a pasture prick for a while. But he's done some little work in walk with rehab, multiple ultrasounds just to see how things are healing. And it's the first part of May so it is a pretty short period of time for an injury of that type to heal, so I'm real pleased.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's great. Now Saralyn had a side conversation with me and told me that you are a pretty in-depth researcher and things. Might be putting it mildly.
Lynn McEnespy:
I have a good internet connection and when the weather's bad I'm in the house avoiding the vacuum cleaner. [inaudible 00:27:22] I get involved with looking at one article after another, after another, after another, plus I do have a scientific background.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yep, that would do it right there.
Saralyn Sells:
I told you, she picks it apart. For her to just have her horses on Equinety, she has picked that thing apart and deciphered it scientifically whether it's going to work or not. So for her to have her horses on it is quite the deal.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Lynn McEnespy:
I think she's a little bit over-exaggerating.
Saralyn Sells:
Oh yeah.
Lynn McEnespy:
No.
John Dowdy:
That's funny, that's funny. Now of course being friends with Saralyn, she just said, "Here try it," you said, "Okay." Was there any question? Did you just say, "Okay, I'll try it," just being nice? Or did you look at it and say, "Oh this looks interesting"? Or did you just say, "Hey, I'll put it on my horse and see what happens." What was kind of-
Lynn McEnespy:
All of the above.
John Dowdy:
Yeah?
Lynn McEnespy:
And she gave it to me and like Gretchen I'm always sort of like, "Yeah, yeah, another thing." And then I did look at your information on the website and I... I did. Because the first thing that I look at is, am I already giving my horse some of this stuff, whatever happens to be the ingredients in it, and no I was not. So that made me pursue it a little bit more like well what's in it, how does it work, how does it compare with what is available for all the things that we all want to try and fix or prevent in the horses, generally lameness of some kind. All kinds of joint supplements and things out there now but they're injected, et cetera, et cetera, with various rates of efficacy.
This was an entirely different approach, it's not Adequan or Legend, it's not any of the [inaudible 00:29:21] products or anything along that line that tries to target the joints, the synovial fluid specifically. It does the different route, like you were talking about going through the pituitary, allow horses bodies to heal naturally and quickly. So to me, like I say, mine don't get a whole heck of a lot of supplements, mostly because I don't think most of them are necessary and my horses look fabulous by the way.
John Dowdy:
Of course.
Lynn McEnespy:
I did try it thinking that okay, the one with the suspensory injury, see what happens here, and with the older mare great, see what happens here and are they doing a second approach as opposed to the feeding or injection type thing to try and get at certain things. It makes a lot of sense, and they're not doubling up on stuff. California is an area where on occasion you run into selenium poisoning. You have to be careful of what supplements that you give your horses. In some areas, we're deficient. So you have to have a little bit of a background on what you're doing and what you're feeding with horses, or you end up with some serious issues.
So that's why I look at all the ingredients that is in the product. Hopefully they have information on how it's metabolized, where it goes, and that kind of stuff. So it passed that test fine, my horses, they don't even know it's there, fine. They look fabulous, the one with the tendon injury, it's healed faster and better than was expected, and the other horse looks terrific and she's doing very, very, very well. So what can I say? And they all have great feet.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that is great. And do you know one of the things that we found over seven years on the market, and just like you said with there being selenium, too much in some areas, not enough in others, you go into different parts of the country and they're deficient in this and that, and they're having to supplement or not supplement all these different things. What we found, just because we've been on the market for seven years, it doesn't matter what part of the country you're in, what quality of diet they're giving their horse, every single one seems to benefit from this tiny little scoop.
Even in some of the high end feeds that are loaded with amino acids, if the feed is pelleted then that requires an extremely high heat to create the pellet, which then destroys the integrity of the amino acids, so it doesn't now matter that the amino acids are in there because they're all shot. So we're blessed in that way, it's why our tagline is helping horses worldwide because that's really what this stuff is doing. For you to have the quality of horses that you have, and giving them the best care, and the feed, and everything else, and being able to see the results like you have is a testament in and of itself.
Lynn McEnespy:
Well I'll give her... We're in Northern California, if you've never been here we grow some of the best alfalfa in the world. I do feed a little bit of alfalfa, not all the time, and we have access to some great grass hay, but that's where you end up with the selenium problem so I get mine tested. So I know what I'm feeding my horses and then if they need anything else, they get it. They don't get a whole heck of a lot of sweet feed, I don't like the sugar and some of the starches. Not that my horses have any problems but this is just sort of being aware of what horses in general need, number one, and you better look out for some specifics with older horses like the mare that I was talking about, and keep an eye on them. And me, an equine pharmacy every time you feed them, I don't think is the answer.
Saralyn Sells:
Yeah.
Lynn McEnespy:
So like I said, I try to be careful with all of the stuff I give my horses and not double up on some of the things that are required. I do have a question for you that you might be able to answer.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Lynn McEnespy:
With baby horses.
John Dowdy:
Yes.
Lynn McEnespy:
Things like OCD, metabolic bone diseases are unfortunately relatively common in a lot of the breeds. Have you done any research or having seen any testimonials regarding this for baby horses, and I'm talking like weanlings to like two, three... Well, weanlings on.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, so the great thing with this product, we've got breeding farms that use it on their broodmares, so starting at that stage, right when they're born, the yearlings, and all the way through to end of life, and they all seem to be benefiting. In the broodmare stage it's going to help keep weight on the mare and also help with development. As they're born, it's also going to help with that development stage. There was a recent testimonial that we received not that long ago, and this one new little fella hit the ground and it's like one leg wasn't... There was something off with it. It's just like it wasn't really developed the way it should be. They called up and said, "Hey, can I give this to this foal?" And I said, "Yeah." And it wasn't two months and they're like, "You are not going to believe this but man, he has filled right out and doing just perfect."
In every situation I tell people it's 100% safe no matter what. It's 100% safe to give with any medications, to give with any other supplements, whatever condition, because these are amino acids. So for those who are tuning in that aren't that familiar with amino acids, when a horse eats protein, the protein molecule's actually too big to be absorbed and so the body has to break that down into peptides and then break that down into amino acids. This takes a lot of time to do this whole breaking down process. So what we're doing is, we're starting off in the amino acids stage and it's rapidly absorbed within hours, and then it goes right to work. And again, ours is specifically put together to stimulate the pituitary and so with whatever quote issues are going on, it's definitely going to help.
Even with Saralyn in that extreme case, of course older horse, but you're talking coffin bone showing through the sole. I mean, obviously with the help of the farrier and the vet and this combination. But whether you get into ringbone, or white line, or thin soles, I mean you name it. Joint issues, top line issues, recovery, it definitely can't hurt in any one of these situations.
Lynn McEnespy:
I'm going to have to look at... Well, I have several vet friends, they love to hear from me, to see if there has been any research done about that for that particular product, and using the pituitary's ability to help heal the horse through natural methods and incidences of OCD. We're not far from [inaudible 00:37:03].
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. And in our early stages when we first came to market, we would have people say, "Oh, have you done any double and triple bone studies, et cetera?" Which this is coming from typically vet techs or veterinarians, which that's the world they work in so fair enough. And the thing is, we've had some customers and they actually work in that world of doing studies, so I had a conversation with one of them one time because they said, "Hey, have you ever thought about doing a study on your product?" I said, "Well yeah, I've thought about it. What exactly does that entail?" And they said to me, "Well what do you want to show that your product does?" And I said, "Specifically?" And they're like, "Yeah." And I said, "You mean hoof growth?" "Well yeah, that would be a study." I'm like, "Yeah, but it also helps with the joints." "Well that would be a study." "Well what about muscle building?" "Oh, well now that's another study?"
"Well what about with gut, or shiny coat, or attitude, or..." All these things are all different studies which is thousands, if not tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars per study. And I'm like, "Well these are amino acids, there's been so many studies done on amino acids, why should I have to spend money to prove?" So it's one of the reasons why if people do their research and look up what amino acids are, but that's why we give away a lot of product too, just so people can try it and see for themselves. So it's interesting for sure.
Lynn McEnespy:
It is interesting because I don't think you could set up a study, blind, double blind, or however you wanted to do it, to actually be able to analyze all of those effects on the horse, number one. One of the things that interest me in particular with a lot of these, particularly the ones that you see, what ends up in the horse's body, what ends up in the blood stream, how do you get it there? Because a lot of them, they eat them and they probably taste good, and that's about as far as it gets, it just goes right on through.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Lynn McEnespy:
And that's I think particularly why Adequan and Legend work, it goes right directly into the blood stream. But your product works even though it is fed, it works in a different path than the other stuff, which I find encouraging. Like I say, most of the evidence is empirical but it's pretty obvious too.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Lynn McEnespy:
I think I would be interested in the relationship to things particularly like OCD for baby horses because we do see a lot of it in the breeding industry, and probably a lot more than people really would want to talk about. But there's also quite a number of levels there too of what constitutes OCD and bone [inaudible 00:40:01] and all that kind of thing.
John Dowdy:
Sure, absolutely. Well as we move forward, I'd be happy to work with you on that and we can kind of do some of our own field trials and report back to people down the road.
Lynn McEnespy:
Yeah, oh boy. I'll have to ask a couple of my vet friends to send their... Well, they know me and my penchant for sticking my nose in their business.
Saralyn Sells:
Well now you know [inaudible 00:40:26].
Lynn McEnespy:
My morbid curiosity is... If there is a product, and there are numerous ones out there that say that they help prevent OCD, or they help heal OCD lesions, that kind of stuff, but they're all the feed-through types. They're pelleted types of vitamins, minerals, and that sort of stuff, a completely different approach. So it would be interesting just to have a comparison. Or at the worst case, you feed them both.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, there you go.
Saralyn Sells:
She's trying to [inaudible 00:41:09] you John.
John Dowdy:
Hey bring it. You say you were bringing the big guns, bringing the heat, we'll do it.
Saralyn Sells:
Yep, she's on fire, that's for sure.
Lynn McEnespy:
Well we have a lot of new technology, a lot more ability to determine what's wrong with these guys, and we have yet to learn how speak horse or [inaudible 00:41:29]. A lot of the things that they are trying to apply with people now, they can apply to equines. And particularly in Europe, a lot of their research is way ahead of what we're doing because they don't have to deal with the FDA. So just advancement in medicine technology, shoeing that I was talking about a while ago, is making life a heck of a lot easier for horses and a heck of lot cheaper for those of us who try and take care of them.
John Dowdy:
Right, yep. Yeah, that is something. Let's see, oh, we've been going on pretty good here, which is awesome. Well we're definitely going to circle back up.
Saralyn Sells:
I told you John.
John Dowdy:
That's okay, I love it, I love it. I know the people out there that are listening, they're getting a great benefit out of this. And for anybody that... I'll ask you the same question I asked Gretchen, and that is if somebody's tuning, they're maybe sitting on the fence, is there anything other than what you've said that might get them off the fence to give the product a try?
Lynn McEnespy:
Well like Gretchen, I'm a basic skeptic with all of this new stuff and whatnot. It doesn't hurt to try it and I was pleased with the results. So what can I say? It's been proof to both of us that the product does work, and it is a different format than what the traditional feed-through supplements are. And all I can say is, I certainly haven't seen anything negative, I have certainly seen things that are positive, so no hurt in trying.
John Dowdy:
Yep.
Saralyn Sells:
Every horse is different.
Lynn McEnespy:
Right, every horse is different, and it just makes sense to try stuff if you've got issues with particularly older horses, injured horses, if you want to try to keep your lesson horses going which I don't have to do but Gretchen does. It's one more tool we can use to try and help these guys in a positive way.
Saralyn Sells:
And good stuff, not fillers, or additives, or anything like that.
Lynn McEnespy:
Yeah, and it's a tiny amount. It's maybe a level teaspoon if that much.
John Dowdy:
Yep.
Lynn McEnespy:
A dollar-
John Dowdy:
Yep, dollar a day, can't beat that.
Lynn McEnespy:
[inaudible 00:43:49].
John Dowdy:
So-
Lynn McEnespy:
Less is more.
John Dowdy:
Exactly, exactly. Well I would like to personally thank Gretchen McDaniels, who signed off a little earlier, but also thank you Lynn McAnespie and Saralyn Sells. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your stories and experience here on The Equinety Podcast.
Saralyn Sells:
Oh it was great chatting with you, thanks for the call.
John Dowdy:
All right, thank you, bye-bye.
Lynn McEnespy:
Bye.
Saralyn Sells:
Bye-bye.
Lynn McEnespy:
Bye.