Stacey Smallwood - Navicular - Injections - Performance Horses
John Dowdy:
Hello and welcome to this week's Equinety Podcast. We are swinging way up from me anyways. I'm down here in Florida, but we're swinging up into the awesome state of Wyoming. We've got Stacey Smallwood on the call this week. Stacey, welcome to the Equinety Podcast.
Stacey Smallwood:
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
John Dowdy:
Well, we're excited as well. We've got some really neat things to talk about. First, you've got a horse that's getting, well, early 20s, but had a lot of navicular issues. Just a real diva, I guess you could say.
Stacey Smallwood:
Not a diva since he's a guy, but...
John Dowdy:
Well, he could be a guy diva.
Stacey Smallwood:
High maintenance for sure.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. There are guy divas. Come on. In this day and age.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yeah, there are guy divas. That's true.
John Dowdy:
Maybe your horse is not one of them, but anyway-
Stacey Smallwood:
Well, he did have to wear a little pink and bling.
John Dowdy:
See, I knew it. It was in there somewhere.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Well, tell us about Reggie. How long have you had Reggie? How'd you get him? What kinds of things and why is he such a high maintenance type of a horse?
Stacey Smallwood:
Well, we acquired Reggie about 14 years ago. He's now 23 years old and we purchased him for fun, Rowdy. At the time, Rowdy was seven years old and just getting started in junior rodeos and stuff and did a lot with 4-H or just starting in the 4-H. But Reggie was one of those horses that caught our eye because I was just riding for fun at the time. And Rowdy was just learning and was interested in rodeo and doing all the different sports and speed events. So Reggie was one of those horses that had been there, done that from 4-H stuff, to all the speed events and rodeo, whether it be roping, barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, heading and heeling, reigning, he did everything.
Stacey Smallwood:
So we thought we could learn a lot from him. We did buy that horse and he won Rowdy several buckles and awards. And then also taught me how to barrel race and got me going in the barrel racing industry. He is a navicular horse, so he's always been one of those horses that's high maintenance. So we've always had to inject him, take care of his feet, make sure his feet were done correctly and shod just perfectly. The injections in itself were expensive. So we were always looking for options.
Stacey Smallwood:
We semiretired Reggie about four years ago. That's when I just started seeing him kind of just go a little bit downhill with his older age and he not being rode all the time or more consistently needed something extra. And that's where I fell into place with Equinety. And I saw that Equinety advertised as a multi-horse supplement. And I saw the price point was perfect and I thought I would try it on him as well as some of my other horses. And the two horses that I mainly wanted to try it on were my lameness issue horses. So Reggie, I saw the biggest difference with him and as well as my other lame horse at the time. Just started using it and have enjoyed the product.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. So now you've been using the product now for close to, well, right around three years, just the Equinety Horse XL.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yes.
John Dowdy:
So what are some of the things that you noticed right away in Reggie, who a lot of maintenance, but especially-
Stacey Smallwood:
With his navicular and high maintenance?
John Dowdy:
Yeah, especially with the navicular and the injections-
Stacey Smallwood:
Right.
John Dowdy:
And of course, he was on the verge of retiring, but what did you notice and how quickly did you notice changes happen?
Stacey Smallwood:
Well, since we weren't riding him as often, we didn't want that high maintenance expense. So Equinety was great for that because we weren't injecting him at the time or anything. After the first 60 days of being on Equinety, I saw a difference right away in his attitude. He barely would go out in the pasture, let alone trot or lope. After the 60 days, he would actually go out and run with the horses and have some fun. And it was like, Oh my God, amazing. So I'm like, "Oh, this is the magic powder."
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's quite amazing too, because I would say the vast majority of people notice changes in 30 days or less. And there are those scenarios and this one is one of them where it did take longer, but-
Stacey Smallwood:
And we also would give him two scoops a day. And I think that really helps with the horses that have lameness.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, absolutely. With lameness issues also, even with performance horses, because it really helps with the recovery and the stamina and things of that nature.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yes.
John Dowdy:
Now speaking of performance horses, you are a PRCA barrel racer.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yes.
John Dowdy:
You also have your own business, Silver Sensations, but in regards to-
Stacey Smallwood:
And Chic Couture. Yeah.
John Dowdy:
Yes. So in regards to... So you kind of transitioned from learning to barrel race, and then you went into the pro barrel racing. So how did this product work on your high performance horses?
Stacey Smallwood:
Well, my most amazing horse that I did do Pro Rodeo on majority of the time, Kivalina County JR, nicknamed Junior, he was a 16-hand horse and also was 14 years old when we started the Pro Rodeo industry. I noticed the difference in him. He was very low maintenance. Unfortunately I lost him to a tragic situation last summer, but I still love to talk about him because he was a rockstar and so amazing. So Junior was 16 years old as of last summer. He never needed an injection. He was very low maintenance, never had to go to the vet, nothing. So I thought, "Oh, you know what? I can't wait to see what Equinety does for this horse."
Stacey Smallwood:
So I put him on the Equinety probably beginning of January of 2018. And then when I started performing more and more last summer of 2019, going to the Pro Rodeos and whatnot, I would start to use that twice a day because I was just using it once a day. I saw a big difference in how he would perform. It also helped calm him at the rodeos. So I could use it as a pre-performance pace as well. I thought that was amazing. A very inexpensive way to use as a pre-performance supplement. It definitely helped his stamina, his overall muscle tone. Great as an anti-inflammatory. He was one of those horses that would stock up in the back. And I thought that it was a great supplement for that as well. He was ulcer prone majority of the time. So it was great for ulcer prevention. I think it helped him as far as increasing focus, just his overall immune system and wellbeing.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Sure. Now for those of you tuning in, we're talking with Stacey Smallwood out of Wyoming, and we're talking about two different horses here. One of them is an older horse that was just very high maintenance. And then we're just now talking about her high-performance horse, who unfortunately she lost last year that really didn't have a lot of issues going on, low maintenance. So the question is how can this one product help in two extreme differences, really? I mean, a low maintenance and a high maintenance.
John Dowdy:
So for those of you tuning in, maybe you're just now learning about the product, the Equinety Horse XL. It's 100% pure amino acids. There is no fillers, no sugars, no starches. And there's no loading dose. Although we talked about giving two scoops in a day and I'll get into that a little bit, but what the product is specifically designed to do is give the body what it needs to release its own hormones. And therefore the body is sending those hormones to the problem areas to help with repair. So whether it be a senior horse or a younger horse or performance horse, you could have 50 different horses with 50 different things going on and essentially it's customizing to each horse. And that's why it helps in so many different ways.
John Dowdy:
And when you're talking about your first horse, Reggie, with the injections, and although you did retire him and maybe you did need to give injections at that point anyways, what we've heard from a lot of performance horse folks that do give injections on a regular basis, what they've reported to us since they started giving the Equinety Horse XL, they haven't had to inject as often and sometimes not at all, depending on the severity of what's going on.
Stacey Smallwood:
Right. Yes. I'm a firm believer in only injecting when you have to.
John Dowdy:
Yes. Yeah, its-
Stacey Smallwood:
Helps tremendously with not having to inject even my other horses as often with them all on Equinety.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Now, another interesting thing, because a lot of people deal with navicular and maybe there's somebody tuning in that they've been blessed with a horse that doesn't have navicular and maybe they're not sure exactly what that is. What typically happens in a horse that is dealing with navicular issues?
Stacey Smallwood:
Well, they pretty much... I mean, it's all with the hoof growth and whatnot and the navicular horse, they have issues from the hoof all the way up their body. I mean, if you don't shoe their front feet right or set them up just right, mass up their knees, then they're still going to be lame. So I mean, with the Equinety too, it also helped the blood flow and whatnot with the hoof growth. And believe me, when I say that this product, if you have trouble with their hoofs or their feet or the growth of their feet, this product helps tremendously.
Stacey Smallwood:
So that's also good for his feet because well, good and bad, I guess. You have to kind of watch the farrier... Getting to your farrier on time, but for navicular horses, they need that growth and they need that extra amino acids and whatnot that Equinety gives. They need that extra to help build those hoofs strong and make them more durable with having everything else going on with the navicular issues.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. And I would say it's probably one of the most common things that we hear as far as benefits go of using this product are healthier, faster, stronger-growing hoofs with thicker soles.
Stacey Smallwood:
Stronger, yep. Yep.
John Dowdy:
And even if your horse has perfect hoofs and they don't need any help in that area, it's not like you give this product to them and all of a sudden their hoofs are going to do anything different. I mean, again, we're giving the body what it needs to send those hormones to the problem areas. So it might not be the hoof. It could be soft tissue repair.
Stacey Smallwood:
Well, especially in Wyoming because it's really dry here. And so this also helps that area in the sense that it helps prevent the cracking and giving them that extra of whatever they need because it focuses on what they need, but it also helps maintain those good healthy feet.
John Dowdy:
Yes. Yep, absolutely. Yeah. So if you have a horse dealing with hoof issues, your farrier is going to love this product because it just gives them more to work with in a lot shorter amount of time.
Stacey Smallwood:
Correct.
John Dowdy:
So if you've tried everything else out on the market and nothing seems to be working for your horse, I would encourage you to give this one a try because I think you'll be very pleased. There's so many other benefits that go along with it as well. And then we get talking back into your Pro Rodeo horse who really didn't have a lot of issues, but it was a little bit ulcer prone and things like that.
Stacey Smallwood:
Right.
John Dowdy:
But you noticed specifically the recovery stamina focus were the big things with him.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yes. I mean, a 16 year old horse, they think, "Oh my gosh, that's old for being a Pro Rodeo horse or going out there and working that hard." But a lot of horses don't come into their prime until after they're 10 years old. It's different for everyone. They're all different anyway. But I believe that this product helped his mental focus too, because he was one of those horses that had anxiety. So I would give him the normal one scoop a day. And then if I would go to a barrel race or a big rodeo, I would also give him, not always, but sometimes as a pre-performance liquefied pace scoop.
John Dowdy:
Right. Yep. Yeah, and I didn't touch upon that earlier, but so the benefits of two scoops, and again, there's not a loading dose with this. A serving size is 5.2 grams, which is like a rounded teaspoon. But when you give one scoop in the morning, what that does is it stimulates the pituitary to release hormones, which that's what helps repair at a cellular level. But those hormones have a 23 and a half hour life cycle. So if you wait until the next morning, then the hormone levels would be where they would normally be for that age of a horse.
John Dowdy:
So if you give a scoop in the morning and a scoop in the evening, it just helps keep everything elevated. And that's what promotes the faster healing. So we hear it time and time again, where injured horses or ones that are coming out of a surgery and they're giving the Equinety product, especially when they give the two scoops, they seem to always are ready to go ahead of schedule pretty much like clockwork. So, pretty blessed in that way.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yeah, and I also think at his age, it helped his overall wellbeing being a rodeo horse and working that hard because it's hard on their muscles, their joints, their bones, everything. And I saw a big difference with him when I was giving two scoops a day. His stamina, his get up and go just the way he felt. He was out there winning races and winning money and doing great. And everybody of course wanted to know what in the world do you have that horse on? So he just took a liking to Equinety and did really well on it. And I was very, very happy for that.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's great.
Stacey Smallwood:
And thankful for not having to spend other money because Equinety's price point was perfect for giving him two scoops.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, it's a dollar a day. Yeah.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yeah. And a lot less money than a lot of the pre-performance pastes and stuff that are out there.
John Dowdy:
Well, before we wrap this call up, one of the other things that you do on an annual basis in honor of Rowdy is you have an annual barrel race. So tell us a little bit about that. How long it's been going? And, and yeah, let's hear about that.
Stacey Smallwood:
So we did lose our son in October of 2010 to a tragic ranch accident. So we started his foundation called Rowdy's Hope In Motion, which is online and we have a website, rowdyshopeinmotion.org. We started this in his memory and we reach out to farm ranch and rodeo families that have been in some type of tragic farm ranch or a rodeo accident, or if they're a farm ranch or rodeo family that have had tragedy going on or have been hurt in some way, then we try and reach out to them. And it doesn't have to just be in Wyoming. We reach out to people all over the world.
Stacey Smallwood:
So we have this annual Rowdy's Hope In Motion and Cowboy Rowdy Memorial Race every year. And this year is our 10-year anniversary. We're excited, yay, that we've been helping families.
John Dowdy:
Absolutely.
Stacey Smallwood:
And we also have to thank Equinety and you guys, because you guys have always supported us. And we appreciate that. And we basically have this once a year so that we can raise money for his foundation and reach out to people and help them.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's great. Now I know this year-
Stacey Smallwood:
So this year... Oh, the dates. This year's dates in Laramie, Wyoming is June 26 through 28, here in Laramie, Wyoming. And you can go to the website to learn more about what's coming up. And we've got the COVID-19 thing going on, so we're hoping and praying things still go through.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, absolutely. Now give us-
Stacey Smallwood:
We'll keep everybody updated on the webpage.
John Dowdy:
For sure. Give us that website one more time.
Stacey Smallwood:
It is rowdyshopeinmotion.org.
John Dowdy:
Perfect. Awesome. Well, Stacey Smallwood out of Laramie, Wyoming, thank you so much for taking the time to share your stories here on the Equinety Podcast.
Stacey Smallwood:
Yes. Thank you, John.
John Dowdy:
All right. Thank you. Bye-bye.
