Steve Jones – Severe Founder – Rotation - Abscesses – Ulcers
John Dowdy:
Hello and welcome to this week's Equinety Podcast. We are swinging out to the show me state of Missouri. We've got Steve Jones on the call this week. Steve, welcome to the Team Equinety Podcast.
Steve Jones:
Thank you and thank you for allowing me to tell my story. [crosstalk 00:00:16] interesting.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. I tell you, when we saw this story and saw the pictures... Well, the first picture is just downright heartbreaking. There's no other way to put that but the transformation is absolutely incredible. So you've been around horses for 18 years. Just a little bit of your background and mainly trail horses is what you're you've been involved with?
Steve Jones:
Yes. Yes.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. So give us some insight. Now, this horse, severe founder abscesses and I'm sure some other things going on there but give us the backstory on this horse and then, what happened? As we were talking, it's just like, the wheels just fell off but give us some backstory here on this horse.
Steve Jones:
Sure. So this horse, I started [inaudible 00:01:09] saddle when she was two and for a lady, who used her for a trail horse, until now, 14 and she's retired from horses. So I was able to obtain her from this lady. When I went to get her, I hadn't seen Lena for a while. So when I went over to pick her up, she was obese and I thought, wow, this girl's heavy. So we got her in the trailer and she was a little sore but she was manageable. So we brought her home. She had to go on a diet. We took her off of the grass and put her in a dry lot with just some maintenance feed. And then, we rode her pretty hard because she needed to lose some weight.
Steve Jones:
I don't know if it was just the stress from the move, the weight loss, maybe being somewhat insulin resistant already. Anyway, all of it combined, she came up lame one day. And we're trying some different things. Put some boots on her to get that help and it wasn't helping. So we figured, she's probably abcess. We let her rest a little bit and then she got worse. On the one foot, she couldn't carry it around. And then, it got a little better but she went lame on the other foot then. She's losing weight this whole time. Finally, she just ended up laying down one day and my daughter was watching her while we were going out of town. She said, "She laid down. She's not getting up." But she would eat. She wouldn't even get up to eat. We had to put her food down by her head, and hay. She would just lay there and eat and wouldn't get up. So after three months of having her, she lost 500 pounds.
John Dowdy:
Oh, my gosh.
Steve Jones:
From laying down, she lost her hair on her hip. She had sores. You couldn't get your hand width between her front legs. And this was a stout girl but her front legs, her chest had just gone down to nothing. Plus, her feet, you could tell they already had started rotating, you could tell by her hooves. And then, sore all over. She just looked like she's had the heart break. We didn't know what to do. I called another horse trainer in the area and he's a farrier as well. He came out and gave her some Bute or something. Anyway, put some special shoes on her and that didn't help any. We had to pull the shoes and she just was helpless.
John Dowdy:
Wow.
Steve Jones:
It was scary. It was bothering to us.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. For you to be around horses for 18 years, had you ever seen anything comparable to this happening?
Steve Jones:
Not at all. Not even remotely. I've seen horses that had laminitis at some point in their life. They had rotated. I had seen stories of horses that foundered and they'd have to put them down but I'd never seen them like this. It wasn't just that she'd foundered in her feet. It was her whole body. She probably had [inaudible 00:05:51] because we were on four grams of Bute a day for a while, just to get her to stand up. So-
John Dowdy:
Yeah. So it literally was just-
Steve Jones:
She probably had [inaudible 00:06:03] too.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. Just sounds like, complete wheels fell off and deterioration happening right before your eyes.
Steve Jones:
Quickly. Just like that.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. And then, you had tried to get an X-ray, as well?
Steve Jones:
Yeah. So the vet came out and we got her up, which was a chore. In the process of getting the X-ray on the feet, we got one X-ray, which was real quick. And she went to fall down and that's the best we could do. There was no way we could get her back up to do another X-ray. But it showed rotation. A considerable rotation and the other one, we knew had also. We really didn't have had X-ray.
John Dowdy:
Right.
Steve Jones:
We knew what had happened. Yeah. Both feet had rotated and probably [inaudible 00:07:01] both of them as well. So it was a bad case of founder.
John Dowdy:
Yep. So after trying to get the X-ray, then what was your plan at this point?
Steve Jones:
So, after that, the vet said, "You really need to consider putting her to sleep because she had been bred." And by this time, I'm pretty sure she had lost her baby. She lost her baby at some point during that time but I don't know when it was. Early on, we didn't know if she'd lost it yet or not. So I really don't want to put her down yet because of, what if she does have the baby. But I also knew what kind of condition she's in.
John Dowdy:
Right.
Steve Jones:
So I told her, I said, "We'll give her one month and see what happens. And if she's not any better, then we'll put her down." And in the month, and of course about that time, is when I came across the Equinety.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Now, and we're specifically talking about the Equinety Horse XL, how did you come across that?
Steve Jones:
Well, that was interesting because of course, my daughter and another lady, I've worked with her horses a little bit and... Especially, this other lady came to me first, she said, "You ever heard of Equinety? And I said, "No, I haven't." She says, "Well, I saw an ad on Facebook for it and it sounds like it might be something that your horse could benefit from." I said, "Well, I'll look into it." So I think it was the same day, my daughter calls and said. "Have you ever heard of Equinety?" I said-
John Dowdy:
It might be a sign?
Steve Jones:
I said, "Well, Terry just told me about it earlier today." She said, "Well, I saw a Facebook ad on it and it really looks interesting that maybe that might be something to look into. So I said, "Well... So I told her, I'd look into it. Well, that evening I was on online and on Facebook and I saw a Facebook ad for Equinety.
John Dowdy:
Oh, gosh.
Steve Jones:
So I don't know how it got [inaudible 00:09:40] our place. Somewhere, the logarithm did something. So I looked at it and did a little bit of research that evening and ordered it and started. That week, I started her on Equinety. I'd put her on some... By now, I'm taking her off of all feed but I had to give her some supplements. So I was at the co-op just for some supplements and I got talking to the lady in there about the condition and what was going on. She told me, she said, "You really ought to try Equinety."
John Dowdy:
Oh, my gosh.
Steve Jones:
I said, "I've already ordered it-
John Dowdy:
Oh, man.
Steve Jones:
... It's going to be here this week. So we're going to try it."
John Dowdy:
That is hilarious. Oh, my gosh. So I actually just looked up the order date. So that was August 29th of 2021.
Steve Jones:
Okay.
John Dowdy:
Is when you ordered that. Yep.
Steve Jones:
Yep. It was by the end of September. 1st of October was when I decided this is going to be, one way or another. And then, towards the end of that, I had a farrier that was recommended to me by my training friend farrier. The farrier, he was lost. He didn't know what else to do. He didn't know. So he referred me to specialist, a farrier down here that's not far from here that specializes in hoof support systems. So all kinds. And then, he told me, they probably will test [inaudible 00:11:35] and put some special shoes on and all of this stuff. And he comes up and looks at him and he says, "Well, whatever you're doing, you've probably saved this horse's life." He says, "This horse is growing her feet out and healing her own feet." And this is at the end of this month.
John Dowdy:
So-
Steve Jones:
Which made me feel really good. And of course, I've done some barefoot trimming and some special trimming for this. And then he told me, he says, "I'll tell you what, There's a product I've run across from some people that say, it's just miraculous. And I have seen their feet have grown hoof walls that were just a dream. It's called Equinety." I said, "She's been on it a month."
John Dowdy:
Oh, my gosh. That is something. So let's back up just a minute here. So you got the Equinety. So within 30 days, is when this new specialist farrier had looked at it?
Steve Jones:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
Okay. So that's when he's like, "Whatever you're doing, keep doing because the sole depth and the overall hoof growth is happening."
Steve Jones:
Yeah. Yeah. He said, "Don't touch it right now, for six weeks. Don't touch the bottom." Because he had dropped it. It was bulging. Actually, sole had just had detached completely from the hoof wall. So that was just [inaudible 00:13:14] all around the hoof wall. So it had sole abscess that was completely covering the inside of the hoof, the sole.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. No wonder.
Steve Jones:
[crosstalk 00:13:27] bulged and concaved. So he said, "Don't touch it." He says, "She's healing". So it was a real encouragement.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Well-
Steve Jones:
To see that.
John Dowdy:
And then, hearing it from three other people at different times. That's pretty funny. Wow. Yep. One of the things, as we were talking, before we jumped on the podcast here, you were telling me that, because you're around the horse every single day, you weren't necessarily seeing changes going on but your daughter was popping in. So tell us a little bit about that.
Steve Jones:
Yeah. So it's hard when you're seeing anything. You're doing weight loss. You don't see, day by day, changes. So I just see her every day and it was, sometimes, hours a day just trying to treat her, just re-wrapping feet and medicating feet and just everything I could do to keep her comfortable. So I wasn't seeing everything but then, she would show up and say, "Oh dad, you see this? She's looking so much better." And then, she would point out parts of the body because her top line had completely sunk in between her chest. She lost all muscle in between her chest. You couldn't get a hand width between her chest. Now there's two and half hand width in between her chest. She would point some of these things out. I'm concentrating on the feet.
John Dowdy:
Right.
Steve Jones:
That's what I'm working with constantly and she's telling me, "You've got to notice. Look at the hair where it's growing back." Yeah. It is, isn't it? Some of these other things that's happening, that's visible but it was hard for me to see things because I just focused on the feet.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Steve Jones:
But her feet was also getting better. So it just took a little longer for me to see that and probably, took the special farrier to help me see what was happening too.
John Dowdy:
Yep. Absolutely.
Steve Jones:
[crosstalk 00:15:58] with the feet but her hair was growing back quickly.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That is something. Well, I tell you what? For those of you who are tuning in for the first time, maybe you're looking for something to really help your horse from the inside out. The Equinety Horse XL, we've been on the market now, going on eight years and it's a hundred percent pure amino acids. There's no fillers. No sugars. No starches and there's no loading dose. So it is just a tiny little scoop, 5.2 grams, which is about a teaspoon. You just give it once a day. There's no loading dose, as I mentioned. However, with an injured horse or working performance horse or one that you're trying to keep the recovery strong, you can give a scoop in the morning and a scoop in the evening. And it helps to keep the hormone levels elevated.
John Dowdy:
How that actually works, the amino acids are specifically designed to rapidly absorb and it stimulates the pituitary gland, which is a gland in the body that releases repairing hormones. When this happens, which it happens within hours, then the body is able to send its own hormones to its own problem areas. So this is why it works in so many ways. I tell people all the time, it's not a miracle supplement but you hear stories like this and you got to scratch your head a little bit.
John Dowdy:
It's one of the reasons why we started the podcast because there are so many stories like this and mystery lameness things. When you've tried everything else and don't know what to try. Even, Steve, based on three recommendations from people, the word is getting out that, "Hey, you know what? If you don't know what else to try, then give the Equinety Horse XL a try." Of course, hopefully, you don't wait until you're in a desperate situation because the earlier you can start it... We have a lot of people that use it as a preventative. So it'll keep a lot of this stuff at bay. Although, mother nature has her way of doing things as well. So sometimes, you can't combat mother nature, the inevitable. So this is just really remarkable, this story. On our website @teamequinety.com, I'll have this podcast transcribed and then, I'm going to post the before and after pictures. What was the timeframe in the before and after picture? Was it 30 days, 60 days? What was that timeframe?
Steve Jones:
Boy, it would've been a little more than 30 days but-
John Dowdy:
Roughly. Probably, between-
Steve Jones:
It's probably 30 to 60 days.
John Dowdy:
Okay.
Steve Jones:
Somewhere in that frame.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. It's still quite [crosstalk 00:18:42] remarkable. Yeah. That before and after, it really doesn't even look like the same horse.
Steve Jones:
By now even, she is stunning.
John Dowdy:
Well-
Steve Jones:
You look at her and she's back to her most beautiful coat. Just a beautiful horse again. You'd have never, never dream that she was in that condition.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Well, what I'll have you do is send us an updated picture and then we can do, from starting the Equinety to 30 to 60 day mark. And then now, that's kicking up around, close to 120 days. Maybe, to approximately a hundred days. Somewhere there.
Steve Jones:
Yes. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
John Dowdy:
So looking at the horse now, how's the overall demeanor and everything.
Steve Jones:
Well, she loves to eat and-
John Dowdy:
Don't we all? Don't we all?
Steve Jones:
Out of that 500 pounds, she's probably gained back two to 250 of that, which is just about where I want her to be. You can still see the ribs just a little bit, depending on what angle you're looking at. So she's back, actually, at a really good healthy weight. She's strong. Her top line is filled in. Emotionally, she's so much better but obviously, with the foundering, you're regrowing a hoof. That takes time.
John Dowdy:
Yes.
Steve Jones:
She does have attached hoof growth. Probably, a third to half way down, which is really encouraging. So this past week, I was doing a little trimming and large chunk of sole come off and it really startled me and caused me to sink. My heart just sank.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah.
Steve Jones:
And I thought, Oh, no. This is not what I need but I packed it anyway, with some packing that I have. And looked at it and within a couple days, I took some of that packing out and that was all new sole under that. So she's just shedding big chunk [crosstalk 00:21:27]
John Dowdy:
Yes.
Steve Jones:
... of the old sole now. And she's got sole underneath there that's actually attached to the hoof wall.
John Dowdy:
Wow.
Steve Jones:
That was a huge relief.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. No doubt.
Steve Jones:
But she'll walk around in boots. She can't go barefoot yet because she's still not able to get that P3 bone parallel to the ground yet. But she's in boots and she'll walk around and since then... There was one day I was walking her and we were coming back up the road and she decided to pick up into a truck. I said-
John Dowdy:
Oh, my gosh.
Steve Jones:
I'm not used to seeing this. So the whole attitude is there. She's not depressed anymore at all.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. So it sounds like she's feeling really good. Now, I tell you, if you've got a horse that is a little tender footed, we've just heard this over and over and over, using the Equinety Horse XL, it really helps build that sole depth and then, the overall strength and health of the hoof, which gives the farrier more to work with in a shorter amount of time. And the secondary product that we have is the Ultimate OEC, which Dr. Zach Brogan out of Arkansas came to us and thought it would be a great combination. So we've been on the market with that a little, well, about a year, I guess. Going on a year. It's a flaxseed based Omega 3. It's got a thousand IUs of natural cold press vitamin E and Colloidal Silver. All in one.
John Dowdy:
And the reason why we brought this out was to work in combination with the amino acids. The amino acids are giving the body what it needs to help repair at the cellular level and the Ultimate OEC, gives those repaired cells nutrition. And it also helps and serves as a really powerful antioxidant, which helps reduce inflammation. What's really neat about your story, Steve, is you've only been using the Equinety Horse XL and you've seen these massive changes just since 1st of September, which at the time of this recording, we're in December, that's not very long to see those changes just using the one product. So-
Steve Jones:
Right.
John Dowdy:
I'd love to maybe do a recap sometime next year because I know you're going to be adding the Ultimate OEC, with that. So we'd love to hear what the combination of those would be.
Steve Jones:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
But awesome. Well, Steve Jones out of Missouri, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story here on the Team Equinety Podcast.
Steve Jones:
And thank you again. I honestly have to tell you, it really did save my horse's life. That is the truth.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That is incredible.
Steve Jones:
So thank you for allowing me to tell that story because it's amazing.
John Dowdy:
Absolutely. Well [crosstalk 00:24:33] Yep. It's amazing. Of course, you know that first hand.
Steve Jones:
Yep. Yep.
John Dowdy:
Awesome. All right. Steve, well, thank you so much. We sure do appreciate it.
Steve Jones:
Yes. Thank you very much.
John Dowdy:
All right. Thanks. Bye-bye.
Steve Jones:
Bye.
|
Before Equinety |
While Using Equinety |
 |
 |
