Equine Challenge Supplements

January 26, 2008: Just started our third 12 lb bag a week a ago. I can really tell a difference in the mules coats. Their fur is very soft and lofty and shiney. It's a pleasure to stroke their coat. Hooves are doing nicely. Nice growth, but not too much. It is winter after all. It's snowing again today. Way better than the below freezing temps we've been having. Looking forward to Spring.

December 13, 2007: We are on our second 12# bag of Equine Challenge-Grass. While it's much harder to see physical changes in our animals going into winter, we must rely on our hands to tell me what's going on with our animals bodies. Any equine bodywork type folks out there, please contact me.

Rusty, a mule with a very thick crested neck: His neck thickness has decreased significantly. There are no more ripples in the skin due to the fat buildup, and his neck is nearing normal. This supplement does seem to provide the building blocks needed to allow the animals body to manufacture needed nutrients to stay in balance. I've also seen a decreased in the fat pockets on this mule.

Buckshot, classic mule with pot belly: Buckshot has always had a pot belly that reminded me of that old Taco Bell commercial where the horse drinks to much water and as he's being lead off by the cowboy, the belly just bounces along like a water balloon :>) Anyway, I have seen a reduction in his belly. I believe that he'll always have a bit of a belly due to the fact that he exhibits more donkey traits, but it's nice to see it not quite as large.

I'm anxious to see how they do on the supplement transitioning from winter to spring to summer. Our mules have always been very slow to shed the last of their winter coat around their mid sections. Buckshot has chronic dry skin in the spring/summer months.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to use this product.

November 1, 2007 - started our mules on Equine Challenge-Grass.

Dr. Mackie K. Hartwig, D.C., C.V.C.P., Equine Challenge™, President, C.E.O. has provided me this additional information based upon my inquiries to him. I wanted to share it with you.

"Others in your area 'Pacific Northwest' are concerned about L-Lysine......that is also in Equine Challenge. Lysine is the amino acid which is the catalyst for all other amino acid metabolism, therefore we put a plenty of L-Lysine in the Challenge."

"EC-Grass and EC-Alfalfa both have selenium in them. We use a form of selenium which has been ingested by yeast(who in turn convert the selenium into a more organic form) then we feed this yeast to your horse making the selenium much more bioavailable to your horse."

"You will be very pleased with Equine Challenge..."It can't not work".....is not a slogan....it is a fact."

"Equine Challenge-Grass is built for grass hay....if there is enough of a Vitamin or mineral in your specific Timothy hay.....your animals will eliminate the excess. If there is insufficient amounts of a Vitamin or Minerals in your hay...Challenge will provide the building blocks needed."

"The Grass or Hay belly ...... represents a large amount of undigested matter in the mule's cecum. This generally happens when their is insufficient bacteria in the diet. Equine Challenge contains a 7 strain package of probiotic bacteria for your animals digestive support. We use a lot of the bacillus bacteria which when activated in the cecum will produce a great deal of digestive enzymes. That hay or grass belly should disappear in 2-3 weeks on Challenge."

"Equine Challenge is endorsed by the Oregon School of Natural Hoof Care."

'Buy a 12 pound bag of Equine Challenge and do a 3 week loading dose of 4 oz/day ( 2 oz in the morning and 2 oz in the evening) then finish out the bag at 1 oz in the morning and 1 oz in the evening....this 12# bag will last 69 days."

From the Equine Challenge™ Supplements website:

Equine Challenge™  is a Flax-seed based forage specific, highly bio-available daily vitamin, mineral, trace element and digestive probiotic supplement.  Equine Challenge Supplements™ are synergistically proportioned to provide the nutritional building blocks and maintain the metabolic balance of your horse, regardless of whether you feed alfalfa, grass or oat hay.

Equine Challenge™ also provides joint specific support products which allows for greater  flexibility, so that  owners and trainers can regulate and control the amounts of nutraceuticals to be fed based on age, health, performance or metabolic stress of the individual horse.  Nutraceuticals, such as Glucosamine sulfate, Chondroitin sulfate, MSM, Yucca and Creatine, which support joint maintenance, are separated from the Equine Challenge™  Vitamin-Mineral Forage product, which is consistent with the guideline set forth by the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC).