Teri Clements – PA – 23 yr old mare - Arthritis – Bone Spurs in Coffin Joints – Soft Hooves

John Dowdy:

Hello and welcome to this week’s Equinety podcast. We are swinging up into Pennsylvania. We've got Teri Clements on the call this week. Teri, welcome to the Equinety podcast.

Teri Clements:

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

John Dowdy:

Well, it's always a pleasure having guests on the podcast here. This week we're going to be talking about a 23-year-old mare that has had a lifelong or lifelong issues with arthritis, bone spurs in the coffin, soft hooves. Take us back. How long have you had this horse?

Teri Clements:

Since she was six, so going on 17 years.

John Dowdy:

17 years. So when you had reached out to us you had obviously purchased the Equinety Horse XL product. And how long have you been on the product at this point?

Teri Clements:

I want to say about two months. Just a little over two months.

John Dowdy:

Two months, yeah. Well, what was fascinating to me and this happens all the time, but you had basically given us a little bit of background and the things that you had seen just in the short amount of time. And so that's why I asked you on the podcast because I thought it would be helpful even for the people that are just finding out about this product, looking into it. And in just this short amount of time right at two months when we've got a mare that's had arthritic issues for the whole time you've had her basically.

                So let's go back to the beginning when she was seven years old and just tell us about her at that point. Her demeanor and things that you were noticing then and what the issues, the known issues were and kind of what the treatment, long-term treatment was going to be.

Teri Clements:

Well, I've had her on supplements since I've had her just because he always seemed like I had the vet look at her and I had a trainer work with her for 30 days, but she always seemed like she was had hock problems. There was stiffness so we were always trying to make her more comfortable and try and work through things. I've always had her on joint supplements. She was stiff in her hocks. She just seemed uncomfortable. She's always been a good horse and always willing and trying.

John Dowdy:

Sure. And so this was kind of a long-term thing that you were just going to have to deal with.

Teri Clements:

Right. I'm one of those people an animal is with me for their life so I've tried throughout the years. Oh my god, I have tried so many things, so many joint supplements. I do a lot of massage. I stretch her before I ride. Everyone laughs because I take her to a mounting block and she lifts up her feet for me to stretch her. And if she wants me to stretch her more she's like nope, I'm not done. She paws the ground, like do this leg again. She knows the routine and people laugh and I'm like, I know her, she knows me. I know what she needs. She'll point out things that she wants done, you know?

John Dowdy:

Wow. Now what is her, are you mainly just using her for trail riding or what was her job?

Teri Clements:

Yeah, pretty much. I mean my daughter used to ride her and early on she used to jump and just do some local shows and stuff like that. But now my daughter's grown up and moved on. And so now she's pretty much mine and I mostly trail ride her and just ride around the ring or that kind of stuff. Walk, trot kind of stuff.

John Dowdy:

Right.

Teri Clements:

But for a long time I could not trot her. Just walking. I would do whatever I could, but I keep her moving.

John Dowdy:

Yeah. So you couldn't trot her because of the pain level?

Teri Clements:

Yeah. Like she just seemed off. She was always off I her fronts, just not moving her shoulders out, all that kind of stuff. Just stiff. And it's just not where I always had to have a vet out, but some days I could trot her, some days I couldn't.

John Dowdy:

Sure. Now how far along was she when you realized there were bone spurs in the coffin joints?

Teri Clements:

Probably around 20ish. No, maybe she was 18. So we did the Iwrap and CRP and that really helped. I've done that twice because you have to maintain it, but I haven't done it in like three years.

John Dowdy:

Oh, that's good.

Teri Clements:

Yeah, so hopefully, I mean, it's not a neat process to do and I'm hoping I don't have to do it again.

John Dowdy:

Right. Now one of the other things that you had mentioned and just coming with ages is the hooves seem to be softening. Tell us about that.

Teri Clements:

Yeah. So with her and I never had hoof issues. She's always had a good, strong seat. My farrier always said, "Oh, her feet are great." And then just within the last year he was saying, "You need to get her on a supplement." She started to have a few abscesses and bruising and her hooves started getting softer. So he suggested a hoof supplement which worked, but he is also the one who I've seen ads for Equinety and he is the one that recommended it. He said, "You said try this because it will help with everything." He said, "I have a couple of barns that all the horses are on it and they all look amazing and they're all doing great." And they have a lot of older horses and he said, "There's a big difference in them." So I said, "Okay."

John Dowdy:

So here you are. Now one of the other things too, this mare had also fallen and broken a leg.

Teri Clements:

Yep, so about seven years ago. Yeah.

John Dowdy:

Wow. So tell us about that.

Teri Clements:

Well, the place that I had her at in Pennsylvania is very hilly and they were out and she slipped on ice and of course I was out of the country.

John Dowdy:

Oh, right.

Teri Clements:

So she had some really severe injuries. Her legs got set up. They were actually pulling bone chips out of holes in her legs. It was awful. She was on stall rest pretty much the whole winter and brought her back hand walking and all that kind of stuff. So I'm just thankful that I'm able to ride her because I thought it might be her end.

John Dowdy:

Yeah, no doubt making it through all that. So that brings us up to when your farrier had recommended using the Equinety product which was about two months ago. How quickly did you begin seeing changes in your horse?

Teri Clements:

I would say within a week. Again, there were times that I could trot her. There were times that couldn't. And I noticed that I was riding more. With COVID a lot of people find that they have more time to ride. I have been doing a lot to strengthen her, backing her up, taking her over ground poles and stuff like that. But within a week I thought she's just good every day lately. Is it a combination. I said, "Really, the only thing that I've changed is that Equinety. Again, I I was working on strengthening her, but there are times that I could do that. I could try riding her every day that I want because she seemed like she would get sore if I rode her too much.

John Dowdy:

Right.

Teri Clements:

I mean it was within a week.

John Dowdy:

So you were noticing her recovery, her stamina and just moving better all around, huh?

Teri Clements:

Moving better. Yeah, just moving better, yeah.

John Dowdy:

That's incredible. Now what have you noticed? So now you're in two months. Have you noticed anything with the hooves?

Teri Clements:

Yeah, my farrier said the feet look really good.

John Dowdy:

Plain and simple.

Teri Clements:

Yep. He said her feet look good. It's not a worry anymore whatever you're doing. I said, "Well I started her on the Equinety that you recommended." He said, "Oh, awesome."

John Dowdy:

Wow. I tell you for those of you who are tuning in for the first time and maybe you're looking for anything to try to help your horse, the Equinety Horse XL, we brought that to market in 2014. It's 100% pure amino acids. There's no fillers, no sugars, no starches. And there's no loading dose so that one large canister will last one horse a hundred days so it comes out to a dollar a day which is quite reasonable I would think.

                The reason why it helps in so many ways and what's really interesting is it doesn't fit into a specific category as a hoof supplement, a joint supplement, a calmer or recovery or muscle builder or shiny coat. What this product is doing is it gives the body what it needs to release the repairing hormones from the pituitary gland.

                And then the body sends its own hormones to the problem areas. So you could have 50 horses with 50 different issues going on. And in short it's going to customize to each horse while at the same time there will be commonalities. Softer shinier coat, they're filling out. They just all look really good and healthy. And it's quite remarkable with this particular horse that when you're dealing with a lifelong issue with arthritis and then being able to see changes in as little as a week is pretty amazing. Especially when you've tried a lot of other things out there and trying to give the, your horse the best that you can give.

Teri Clements:

I have to add too that I didn't even even mention this. I ha I have a good friend who we used to ride together all the time. And she was like, "Oh my gosh, what have you done? What are you doing different? Her coat looks amazing." And she's always had a shiny coat. She has a nice long mane. She's like, "She's so shiny." I said, "Well, I have her on Equinety. I put her on that." I'm like, "You know, it's the winter coat." She goes, "Even with a winter coat with all that hair, she's still looks shiny." She goes, "And her butt muscles are looking better too." I'm like, "Well, I'm working on stuff." She was like again, "What do you have on that she is so shiny?" You see your horse everyday you don't necessarily see although I'm concentrating on how well she's moving.

John Dowdy:

Right.

Teri Clements:

And honestly, this is the best that she has moved in years, like years. I can't even tell you. There's always been an issue and she's just moving fluidly. And I don't normally reach out to companies and say, "Oh, I've just love your product." But I'm overwhelmed with it.

John Dowdy:

Well, and we appreciate it and I know there'll be a lot of people listening in that will find benefit in that. Now, when we were talking earlier I know that with some of the different supplements that you're giving specifically with the joint supplements, you have not discontinued those. You've just added the Equinety and you're just keeping everything the same. And what's working is don't change anything. That's kind of your philosophy?

Teri Clements:

Yeah. I was like, "Oh, maybe I should tray taking off." I'm like, "Nope. Why shake something up?" This seems to be the formula. And again, I had tried, oh my God, I can't even tell you all the different joint supplements. And I don't just do it like one month. I would stick with something for a year or more and be like is it going to work, is it not. Am I seeing a difference? I don't know. I don't really see anything, but this was the only thing I have ever tried that this has got to be it. This has got to be why she's moving so much better.

John Dowdy:

Right.

Teri Clements:

Again, I'm riding more. I'm doing things to try and strengthen her. I do a lot of, everyone is like, "I want to be your horse" because I massage her. I stretch her before I ride. I stretch her after I ride. And I massage her and do all kinds of stuff because I want her comfortable.

John Dowdy:

I tell you too, for those tuning in this is one of the more common questions that we receive is when you start feeding Equinety do you stop using other things? Now, what we always recommend is do not change anything you're doing and just add this to it. That way you know it's the only element that you've changed. And the great thing about the Equinety Horse XL is it starts working in 24 hours. And a lot of people, especially in the working performance horse world, see less stress, less anxiety and better focus within a couple of days, two to three days. We've seen it that much of a change.

                And then going into the week to two weeks, the fast recovery, more stamina, and the focus you get into the 30 day mark, softer shinier coat, more muscle and filling out. But you know, the great thing too about this product is there's not any negative side effects to adding it to any other medications or supplements or anything like that. And if you're tuning in and you're thinking well, I'm using some things and I'm not sure if they're working or not. Again, just add this to your daily feeding program and then over the next couple of weeks or 30 days you should be able to see enough of a change where you can then decide whether to reduce or stop using other things. And that's where we get a lot of feedback with people that are typically saving 20% to 40% in just medical bills and other supplements just by adding this one product alone.

                But we leave that completely up to the horse owner because you obviously know your horse better than I do. So let me ask you this. What was your initial thought when you opened that canister and you saw that little tiny scoop?

Teri Clements:

I didn't really think too much about it because I understood amino acids and I'm like, "Okay, so there's stuff she doesn't need that."

John Dowdy:

Right.

Teri Clements:

It's a powder and I don't know if there's a flavor to it, but she eats it all.

John Dowdy:

Yeah. The serving size is 5.2 grams which is based on the size of the pituitary gland, not on the size of the animal. So a tiny mini gets the same as a draft horse. And amino acids are kind of salty by nature so even the picky horses tend to lick it right up. Well, that's awesome. Well Teri, is there anything else you'd like to add or maybe there's somebody that's listening in and they're sitting on the fence and they're thinking well, this sounds a little too good to be true or anything you would have to say to them to maybe just get them to try the produce?

Teri Clements:

I would say honestly, if you've been doing everything you can, even if you haven't been, but you're like, will this work on my horse. Really, the price is great. It's not like you're spending $70, $80 a month on a supplement that you don't know how's it going to work? I've actually told people, I've told a lot of people about it. They're like, "Oh my god, Cass is looking great" Or, "She's moving great. Have you changed anything. I tell them and I've even had people go "Look, does this work for people? I need this." And I'm like, "Well, they do have amino acids." Obviously amino acids are nothing new.

John Dowdy:

Right.

Teri Clements:

It's like can I use this on my dog or that kind of thing because it's just, I just tell them, "I have no other explanation other than this is what I have changed." Again, I've done things with her where riding her one day and then the next day nope, not so good. Now it's like every day she's moving good.

John Dowdy:

That's great.

Teri Clements:

I've done stuff where I'm like no, I can't ride her. I can't ride her too many days in a row. So she'll go off. You know I have to be so careful and trot her around a little bit, but now it's like nope, I can trot it. I can go take her on a nice long trail ride.

John Dowdy:

Wow. So every day she's just feeling great since you started her on the Equinety.

Teri Clements:

Yeah. I mean, it's funny too, because I never really used to lunge her. The only time honestly, that I would lunge her would be for the vet to see where she was hurting or where she was off. And now I lunge her and she's trotting and she's tracking up and I never would canter her. I wouldn't even think about it and now I canter her after lunging her and people are like, "I've never seen her canter." She's had issues.

John Dowdy:

Wow. Well, that is absolutely fantastic. Well, Teri Clements out of Pennsylvania, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story here on the Equinety podcast.

Teri Clements:

Oh, it's my pleasure. I hope it helps someone.

John Dowdy:

Absolutely. I know it will. So thanks a bunch.

Teri Clements:

All right. Thank you.

John Dowdy:

You bet. Bye-bye.

Teri Clements:

Bye.