Tyler and Jessi Wade – Fewer injections – Muscle tone – Recovery – Fractured Coffin Bone – Gut Health – 4X NFR Qualifier Team Roper
John Dowdy:
Hello and welcome to this week's Equinety podcast. We are swinging down into the great state of Texas, and we've got Tyler and Jessi Wade on the call this week. Tyler and Jessi, welcome to the Equinety podcast.
Jessi Wade:
Thank you.
Tyler Wade:
Thanks for having us.
John Dowdy:
Well, I appreciate it like all the guests we have on. I know you guys are super busy and this is coming right down into the heat of end of season here and coming up on NFR and all that good stuff. So let's get into your guys' lifestyle. Tyler, you're out there roping all over the place. Jessi, you're a barrel horse trainer and futurity trainer. Let's go back to the beginning. How did you guys meet and how did that... Let's give the audience a view of how all that started.
Tyler Wade:
I'm going to let Jessi take this.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, that's a good one. Smart move.
Jessi Wade:
Well, December 2007, Tyler was... Were you 15? 15. I was 17. We'll start with that.
John Dowdy:
Oh boy.
Jessi Wade:
You're surprised that I was older than him.
John Dowdy:
Yes.
Jessi Wade:
High school rodeo-
Tyler Wade:
Honestly, at high school rodeo, when you're the freshman and your girlfriend's a senior, it's pretty cool.
John Dowdy:
Yes.
Tyler Wade:
And then you get to see-
Jessi Wade:
Let me start with he lied about how old he was.
Tyler Wade:
[crosstalk 00:01:20].
John Dowdy:
Hey, as a freshman looking at a senior, I would've lied myself. So that's all good. All right.
Jessi Wade:
He lied. But anyway, it all worked out I guess.
John Dowdy:
Yes. Well, if you add in all the leap years, I mean, technically he could be older.
Tyler Wade:
Exactly.
Jessi Wade:
He looks older, and that's all that matters.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, there you go. There you go.
Jessi Wade:
But no, I was really shy, but Tyler was not. He definitely brought me out of my shell. We probably would've never spoken. But we ended up going to IHOP on our first date.
John Dowdy:
Nice.
Jessi Wade:
First night. And we've pretty well been best friends since then, I would say. Since day one.
John Dowdy:
That's awesome.
Jessi Wade:
So it's been a blast since then. And it went by really fast.
John Dowdy:
Yes, I know. 14 years. It zooms right on by.
Jessi Wade:
14 years.
John Dowdy:
Yep. And how many kids you have?
Jessi Wade:
One. Weston. He's three.
John Dowdy:
Oh man. Running the show.
Jessi Wade:
He does run the show. He keeps us busy. Keeps us on our toes.
John Dowdy:
And how's he adapting to horse life? Like any kid, I would assume, being brought up around them.
Jessi Wade:
He just fits right in. He is a great traveler, but we took off with him when he was five weeks old. It was either we stay at home or we go with Tyler to the Northwest, so we went with him, naturally, to Washington and Oregon and all of those rodeos at the end of the year. So he doesn't know any different than load up and go.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
He likes to get in the truck and go.
John Dowdy:
Lucky you.
Jessi Wade:
I know. Thank goodness. But I just credit it to loading him up when he... I was scared to death to take him at that age, but I'm glad we did.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
We had a lot of fun.
John Dowdy:
Now, is he showing any favoritism towards a rope or a barrel horse at this point? Or he's just neutral.
Tyler Wade:
Mostly tractors.
John Dowdy:
Ah, yeah!
Tyler Wade:
He's a tractor man. He's the kid that's somewhat famous for falling asleep on his little John Deere tractor.
John Dowdy:
Oh man. That is so awesome.
Jessi Wade:
He had a video that went viral.
Tyler Wade:
It had a couple of million views, him falling asleep on he's tractor [crosstalk 00:03:36].
John Dowdy:
Holy cow.
Jessi Wade:
He's already cooler than us.
John Dowdy:
Oh, that is hilarious.
Jessi Wade:
He's a tractor and dirt man. Who knows if he'll ride or rope?
John Dowdy:
Oh man. Well, hey, you need somebody to make the arena look good.
Jessi Wade:
Exactly.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Yeah. Got all bases covered. Yeah.
Tyler Wade:
We put a rope in his one day and I took it out. I didn't want to ruin his life.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Good plan. Good plan. Yeah. Now speaking of ropes, you are now going to your fourth NFR this year, so congratulations on that.
Tyler Wade:
Thank you.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Leading up to your first time going to the NFR, what was that like, when you first found out and you're like, "Oh my gosh, my first time at the big show"? How was that for you?
Jessi Wade:
Honestly, it just kind of fell into my lap. It was one of those deals where we won a bunch of money at Cheyenne and a couple of other places and boosted us up in standings more than we anticipated. I want to think that I was ready. I think I made the first time in 2016. 2012 I was the rookie of the year. Finished 17th in the world and we almost the finals. I guess looking back, I can't believe I got that close as bad as I roped. I think that you get better with age and experience. Like I said, it kind of looped me in right off the bat when we almost made it the first year. I've had a couple tough years where I finished 17th like three times before I finally made it. I don't know, it just kind of came together.
Jessi Wade:
I don't even like to watch the first time I made the NFR on video, because I roped so much worse than I think I do now. I think that just goes to show that even if you make the NFR, there's so much more to learn every year.
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Jessi Wade:
Honestly, from everything. From roping, to life, to horses and horse care and how you go about everything. Experience beats all.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Yeah, absolutely it does. Yeah. Now you're coming into your fourth year. How's your attitude different? How do you prep for something like this?
Jessi Wade:
I've asked all the more experienced guys what they did to practice for NFR. One guy told me he ran like 80 steers a day, so I'm like, "All right. Well, I'm going to run 100." And then they give me all these rituals that they do, so I tried to do more. That was the first year I made it and I almost did too much. I practiced too much and everything like that, and I was wore out by the time I got there. I think now, making sure that your self feels good and you're ready to go out there and not sleep as much and be ready every night, and just quality more than anything. I try to run like 15 or 20 good steers a day. I might ride some colts like normal and run 30 on young horses and that sort of thing, but I try to get 10 to 20 steers for me every day that's good quality steers and quality practice. Just make sure I'm ready, but not overdo it.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. Now I know there's a lot of people that tune into this and we've done a lot of podcasts everywhere from rescue horses, to English disciplines over into the Western disciplines. When it comes to ropers specifically, and I'm sure it's in other disciplines as well, you're flying around the country and some of the questions that come up, I'm sure you've gotten this a lot, are you roping on your same horse all the time? Are you partnering up with different people? Are you going after points? How does all that work?
Jessi Wade:
Over the years, experience, we kind of got buddies all over the country now. People who'll let us stay places. You know what to expect each place. Like Coleman Proctor. He's let me ride his horse quite a few times. I had to fly to Arcadia, Florida this year and I entered the same time as Coleman because I knew his good bay horse would be there and he me on him. I knew what to expect with that horse, so it made it a lot easier than just to hop on.
Jessi Wade:
When I roped with [Trey 00:08:14] this year, his dad, JD, has got a ton of good horses. So we always had something to ride here and there, flying around. They had a driver that helped us a bunch. So you just make plans and find a route that works for you, you know what I mean?
John Dowdy:
Sure.
Jessi Wade:
But a lot of [inaudible 00:08:34] just goes around what you can ride and what the stuff is. What number you're going to be and that sort of thing. That way you know if you get a second run on the same steer or that sort of thing.
John Dowdy:
It sounds a lot more complicated than just, "Hey, I think I'm going to go rope at this event this week."
Jessi Wade:
Yeah. You definitely don't just show up and hope for the best. You're going to get your butt kicked if you do that.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. No. So you're strategic and obviously you're trying to accumulate points. Is it based on point system or money won? How's that work?
Jessi Wade:
It's on money won, but sometimes you got to call it points. We try to rope for a living, but if a rodeo pays 6,000 but it costs you two to three to get there, sometimes you kind of have to go. This year you could only go to 65 rodeos, so you had to go to the best 65. Like I said, sometimes you're going to spend more than you want or could possibly almost make just to get enough money earned in the standings to be where you want to be. So, like I said, there's a lot of strategy that comes into play that makes a big difference.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Now, do you figure all this stuff out on your own, or do you have somebody that helps you do that? Is that where Jesse comes in, possibly?
Jessi Wade:
Oh no.
Tyler Wade:
I'm the numbers guy around here. She does the horses and I do the numbers. No, I think you just got to go with what makes sense. Like I've said, this is my ninth year rodeoing now and we know where to go and when to go and what the best run's going to be and what steers they're going to rope and what horse we're going to ride and how we're going to get there and all that. So strategizing on the best plan for you is important too. For you and your horse and your partner and what makes sense. You don't want to be at the best rodeo riding your worst horse because your best one's somewhere else.
John Dowdy:
Right.
Tyler Wade:
And vice versa. And you don't want to go at the front of a rodeo that nobody ever wins at the front of. That sort of thing. You got to strategize around all that.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Tyler Wade:
It's a lot more complicated than you'd think.
John Dowdy:
Like a big chess game, it sounds like.
Tyler Wade:
Yes, sir.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Wow. Now, Jesse, with your background in training horses and futurity horses, are you currently going to the same rodeos? So you're riding barrels and Tyler's roping? Or where are you at with your career?
Jessi Wade:
This summer I just stayed home because I have a lot of colts in training, which is a process, as most people know. We have them two to three years before we ever run them or compete on them. But no, I stayed home and just rode colts. Most of mine are actually eligible to run next year at the futurity. But I did just get a horse back in training that is old enough to compete and go to the rodeos. So I did enter a couple of these smaller Texas rodeos coming up this month with Tyler. That'll be fun. I haven't done that in a while.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Got to be there to keep him in line.
Jessi Wade:
Yeah.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
He needs me. Mostly just there to drive.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Now with your training on the horses and things, are you selling horses as well, or are you just...
Jessi Wade:
I sell a couple here and there. I used to more. I've gotten away from that a little bit. I prefer to train. I would say that's what I enjoy the most, is starting horses and training. But I will sell one here and there. If I have a good quality horse [inaudible 00:12:22] we sell them.
John Dowdy:
Sure. Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
Jack of all trades.
John Dowdy:
Absolutely. You got to keep it rolling.
Jessi Wade:
Yep.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
Exactly.
John Dowdy:
Well, I think this is a good segue, because obviously you're on the Team Equinety podcast. And so, we're going to be talking about the Equinety products. Equinety Horse XL, also known as the powder, and the Equinety Ultimate OEC known as the oil. Keep it simple right there.
Jessi Wade:
The powder and the oil.
John Dowdy:
Yes. So obviously... Well, it'd be obvious to the three of us, because we know. But everybody else tuning in, you haven't been using this product your entire career. I mean, you've been using it, what, now a year, year and a half maybe, or two years? I don't know.
Jessi Wade:
Maybe a little more. Maybe a little more now, because that was [crosstalk 00:13:09].
Tyler Wade:
No. We-
Jessi Wade:
... was our first horse.
Tyler Wade:
We got with Equinety because we had an issue with one of our horses and that was our go-to to start out. That's when we started believing in the product.
Jessi Wade:
We were definitely customers before... That's something I like to tell people. We gladly were getting online we were ordering this product way before we met you.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. So prior to even knowing about the product, was there any specific challenges that you guys were going through in the different disciplines with your horses that seemed to be a common thing, or just things that would pop up? Obviously pre Equinety products, was there something specific that you were dealing with on a regular basis, or things pop-
Tyler Wade:
I don't know where to start exactly, but I would say one thing that I noticed roping all the time is it felt like after a while we were injecting our horses every three or four months because we used them so much. And after using Equinety for this long now it seems like... It was monthly vet trips getting one injected, a tox injected, first one thing and then another. And after using it long enough it seems like I almost forget that we might need to inject them once this year. It's reduced that so much for us, as well as looking for a supplement that can help improve their muscle tone and their coat and that sort of thing. You know what I mean?
John Dowdy:
Yes.
Tyler Wade:
And being from Texas, it's hard to find alfalfa. So we feed a lot of grass hay and they don't really stay as slick and shiny, and their muscle tone's not quite as good with it either.
Jessi Wade:
When they're not on alfalfa.
Tyler Wade:
Yeah. When they're not on alfalfa, when they're on grass hay.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. Well I know it's about a year ago or a year and a half whenever we first started chatting, because your main horse, I believe, was in rehab due to some bone fractures. Was that-
Jessi Wade:
Yes. He had a fractured coffin bone, and that's what sold us. He had a fractured coffin bone. A good friend of ours, Anita, she would help rehab our horses, and she's the one that told us to put him on Equinety. And I'm like, "Sure, it's worth a try." And when we took him back for his recheck, for his x-rays, even the vet was blown away with the change he made when on the product. Because he wasn't healing. That coffin bone wasn't healing very quickly. We were really worried about it. And that was Tyler's good horse. That was the horse he rode at the NFR the first two trips. When we took him back, he was just like, "Wow." And that's what sold us. And then we've had a couple different instances now, horses that got injured and had actual bone injuries, and to see how quickly they've regenerated and gotten healed up, it's crazy. Crazy. Even the vets look at it and they're just like, "Wow." Like, "What did you do?"
Jessi Wade:
So that's what me immediately. Because when you look at x-rays, x-rays don't lie. You know, sitting there looking at the pictures.
John Dowdy:
That's right. Yeah. I tell you, we are definitely blessed, how well this product works. I'll take just a minute here, for those that are tuning in. Maybe this is the first time you've heard about the Equinety product, and specifically right now we're talking about the Equinety Horse XL. It's 100% pure amino acids. There's no fillers, no sugars, no starches, and there's no loading dose. Serving size is 5.2 grams, which is about like a teaspoon, regardless of the size of the horse. And what makes this product very unique is it doesn't fit into a specific supplement category. In other words, it's not a, quote, "hoof supplement" or "joint supplement" or "muscle building" or a "coat shine" or "recovery". What it's specifically designed to do is give the body what it needs to release its own hormones. And then, when that happens, which by the way happens very quickly, within hours, then the body can send its own hormones to its own problem areas. That's why it helps in so many ways and actually works at the cellular level.
John Dowdy:
So you could have 50 different horses with 50 different issues and it's going to customize to what that horse needs. Although there will be commonalities with all of them; softer, shinier coat, filling out, more muscle tone, stronger, healthier, faster growing hooves, which gives the farrier more to work with. And been on the market now for going on eight years, in every single scenario that we've ever heard of where you're talking about an injured horse and the vet says, "Oh, it's going to be X amount of time before you can bring this horse back," we've always found that by using the product, they're always ready to go ahead of schedule. Is that what you guys have found as well?
Jessi Wade:
Yes. 100%.
John Dowdy:
Yeah?
Jessi Wade:
That's what's exciting. When something does happen now, we go to feeding it and it's interesting to see what it does.
John Dowdy:
Yeah, it's very, very quick. And I would say the vast majority of people notice changes in 30 days or less.
Jessi Wade:
Yes.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
Yes.
John Dowdy:
And what'd you find with... being a high performance horse, did you notice things specific with recovery or stamina or focus or hauling better? Anything along those lines?
Jessi Wade:
You know what I was thinking yesterday actually was we haven't been having to do... I feel like there was a point in time where everything was on ulcer medicine. We were just feeding it like candy. And I don't feel we're really having to do that anymore, which is exciting.
John Dowdy:
That's interesting. Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
I feel like everything's gut has stayed good. The gut health even. Everything looks really good. Which I know people say, "Oh, the horse looks good," but we have a lot of colts here too, young to old, and everything looks good. Their coat looks good. We haven't had any feet issues. We don't have anything crazy going on with the farrier. I feel like if you have 20 horses, you usually have something like that. And we don't. And knock on wood, maybe we're just really blessed. But we don't have any of that now. And I feel like for a couple of years there it was like none stop with the... Like Tyler said, I felt like we were constantly going to the vet and constantly dealing with issues.
Jessi Wade:
And so, that's the fun part we've seen, is I feel like there's been less and less of that. And it has to be that. That's the only thing we changed.
John Dowdy:
Right.
Tyler Wade:
And honestly, everything is so precise now and they're breeding horses for a certain event and that sort of thing. So now heading even, you almost have to have a race horse to compete with those guys. They're going to be a little bit hotter and a little more on the muscle and that sort of thing. But like you said, horses that are hot and on the muscle and usually can really run, they're ulcers and stressed and everything like that's a big deal. And we've eliminated a lot of that with Equinety.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That's something we hear a lot now. I know when we first started talking, your main horse there with the fractures and the coffin bone and everything, if I remember correctly, the horse was better than ever. You told me that he just feels great. But there was still something going on, he still had this little cough going on.
Jessi Wade:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
John Dowdy:
And so, what we did is we added the Equinety Ultimate OEC, a.k.a. oil.
Jessi Wade:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
John Dowdy:
Now what that is, it's a flax seed based omega 3 oil. It's got 1,000 IUs of natural cold pressed vitamin E, and it's got colloidal silver all in one. And there's nothing about these ingredients that are unique. I mean, you can find stuff on the market that have one or two of them. But what we did is we put them all together just in a very high quality ingredient. Just premium top shelf stuff. And so, what did you find when you added the Ultimate OEC along with the amino acids?
Jessi Wade:
There was a point where we were keeping him on allergy medicine and even trying to do the shot. Did we try Depo shots? And nothing worked. But the oil... he doesn't cough anymore, does he at all?
Tyler Wade:
Well, with the oil, it increases the immune function in the body too. Like you said, you're going around all these places and you're around all these different horses and you don't know what any [inaudible 00:21:52] or anything like that. I think, that being said, just something that they can have as a-
Jessi Wade:
That's true, yeah.
Tyler Wade:
... to boost their immune system, going around all these places. Out west it seemed like it was smokey a lot of times. The fires from California or Canada would blow in a lot of smoke from Washington and those places when we would stay there. And it always seems like when I got out there and the weather changed a little bit, that their coat wasn't as slick and shiny, and it seemed to help with that too.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. It's really interesting, the combination. We were on the market for about six, six and a half years with just the horse XL, the amino acids. And then we came out, with the help of Dr. Zach Bruggen out of Arkansas... He approached us and put this on our table and thought that it would just be a really great product in and of itself, but it also works in combination with the amino acids. And it does this in two ways. One, the amino acids are giving the body what it needs to repair at the cellular level. So the Ultimate OEC is helping to give those repaired cells the nutrition, which is important, but also it's serving as a really powerful antioxidant, which helps reduce inflammation. And the combination of these two products, it's simple, streamlined, and just like you were saying, Tyler, it really helps boost the immune system.
John Dowdy:
Overall, what we found through the years is a lot of times people just don't need to use a lot other things. We're not one to say, "Oh, use our products and you don't have to use this, this, this, and this." We always tell people, "If you want to try just the horse XL, for example, don't change anything you're doing, just add this to it and then over the next couple of weeks to 30 days you should be able to see a significant enough difference with that one change to then determine whether you want to reduce or stop using other things." That's worked very well for us. And the great thing is there's not any negative side effects. I mean, they're amino acids.
Tyler Wade:
Another plus is we always have around 20 horses here and we give grain in the morning and grain at night, and we've never had an issue with them finishing their grain with the Equinety in it.
Jessi Wade:
Because it's so... Yeah. That is a great thing.
Tyler Wade:
Which is always a huge plus.
Jessi Wade:
Yeah. You know how it is. A lot of times they won't eat.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
You put something new in their feed and they're like... But like you said, how big is the scoop?
John Dowdy:
Yeah, it's like a teaspoon.
Jessi Wade:
Teaspoon? Yeah.
John Dowdy:
Yeah.
Jessi Wade:
You need to [inaudible 00:24:39] crazy.
Tyler Wade:
So there's no waste.
Jessi Wade:
Yeah. They don't waste it.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. And even with the Ultimate OEC, the oil, it's a quarter measuring cup. 60 milliliters. Two ounces.
Tyler Wade:
Two squirts.
John Dowdy:
There you go. There you go. Yeah. There you go.
Jessi Wade:
Here we are. Yeah. Right, so it's the powder and the oil.
Tyler Wade:
Two squirts of the oil, one cup of the powder.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. See, he's the numbers guy.
Tyler Wade:
He's the numbers guy.
John Dowdy:
That is awesome. Well, I tell you what, I really appreciate you guys taking the time. I know you are super busy. For those that are tuning in, and maybe they've just learned about the product and they might be on the fence a little bit as, "Oh, this sounds too good to be true," or, "You're just promoting it because you're part of the Team Equinety," what would you have to say to those folks just to get them off the fence, maybe, if they're sitting there?
Jessi Wade:
We were buying it before we ever even met you. We were gladly-
Tyler Wade:
Before [crosstalk 00:25:41], we were purchasing it.
Jessi Wade:
Yes. [crosstalk 00:25:47] anything.
Tyler Wade:
I think that anything you can do to improve your horse, I mean, it's one of the key factors to winning now. Any little thing you can do to get to the next level and the edge on the competition, I think you should do. In and out of the arena. With yourself, with the way you practice, the way you eat, the way you perform. Same as your horses. That made us believers.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. That is awesome. As long as none of your competitors are listening to this, we'll be fine.
Jessi Wade:
Yeah.
Tyler Wade:
I always just do more than everybody else.
John Dowdy:
Yeah. There you go. Oh yeah, I only rope two to prepare. That's it.
Jessi Wade:
Yeah.
Tyler Wade:
Yeah. Yeah. Wait, you guys are practicing?
John Dowdy:
You're wasting your time doing that? Come on. Awesome. Well, T Wade and Jessi Wade out of Texas. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to share your stories and experiences here on the Team Equinety podcast.
Jessi Wade:
Thank you.
Tyler Wade:
Yeah, thanks for having us.
John Dowdy:
All right. You bet. Thank you. Bye-bye.
