HORSE OF THE WEEK

STORM


"Indian Warrior (aka Storm) is my heart horse. He's a 17yr old, 15HH2 Appaloosa gelding who's blind in one eye.


I've been lucky enough to have owned him for the last 11 years and our journey has been full of ups and downs. He'd became a real problem for his previous owner who had bought him as a foal from the breeder in Mid-Wales. Storm clearly did not want to be a ridden horse. When I took him on, he had no trust in humans. It took me months to get close to him. Working with him daily for many hours in all weather has brought us very close.


He's very highly strung, often living life on his nerves. He's always suffered with gas colic and has been a constant cause of worry and stress every year from March until November (the grass growing months). He's been hospitalised once with it and I have frequent vet call-outs to administer pain relief as he regularly suffered with these bouts of gas colic.


As he is getting older, these episodes of colic seemed to be becoming more frequent. After doing lots of research I have become convinced (along with my vets) that he has hind-gut issues.

For many years I've tried adding many supplements to his feed to try and reduce his gas build-up. He's had: brewers yeast, fennel seeds, activated charcoal, pro and prebiotics. None of these have had any significant impact and so he has continued to suffer regular discomfort. He often looks like a pregnant mare, with his distended gut more pronounced on his left side than right. Before looking into this clinically, I decided to try two last supplements. My vet has recommended EquiShure in case he has hind-gut ulcers. So I started him on this mid-May. I saw a slight improvement, but Storm would still bloat up, just not to the same degree as before. I then discovered EquiNectar on Facebook. After speaking to them directly and receiving lots of guidance, I received my first 5L container in June. At this time there was no grass. My field, like so many others was burnt dry, yellow and dusty. The first day I added EquiNectar to his feed it was an immediate success. He loved it and spent ages licking his empty bowl clean. He is having 120ml twice a day, morning and evening. After 2 weeks of no rain and no grass, it finally rained and green shoots sprung up overnight. I was on red-alert, keeping everything crossed that the EquiNectar would keep him from bloating. I understood that EquiNectar could help balance his gut microbiome and this would, hopefully, help with proper digestion of grass.


In the last week, the frequent rain has turned the land green once again, yet Storm remains comfortable and looking slim. EquiNectar is helping to stop his hindgut becoming overloaded with grass sugars. He is comfortable and I'm less stressed about him each day. We are now 4 weeks into using EquiNectar and this is the most stable period Storm has has in the last 5 summers. I hope in finding this product both myself and Storm can be more relaxed going forward.."

Karen, Storm's owner