Is your horse at risk of sand colic?

This is Kinnagoe Bay, known to his friends as Pete.  He is an exceedingly charismatic, 16.2hh, bay Thoroughbred gelding by Centro (NZ) out of No Less (NZ).  This 21-year-old, veteran 4* eventer was acquired by Dr. Harley Kemp just over five months ago. Harley explains a little about Pete’s history: “Pete has evented his whole life, to the highest levels.  He has been there, done it, and got the sweat rug!  He has competed at the 4* at Burghley and at Badminton; and has also travelled to Strzegom; Fontainebleau; Le Lion D’angers; and Boekelo to name just a few. The list is literally too long to mention all events!  For the first three seasons of Pete’s career he was ridden by THE Andrew Nicholson.  He then moved to compete with Julian Trevor Roper and other locally well-known eventers, before being sold on.  Competing at CCI/CIC 4* level, he is a horse with an impressive career.” This is how Pete looked when he arrived home with Harley.[/caption] “When I arrived to view Pete, I expected to see a semi-retired eventer in good condition, however I did not expect to find him in the extremely poor state that he was.  I was quite shocked and knew instantly that I had to buy him and take him home.  He was rather skeletal and wobbly, but still such a kind and friendly horse.  I suspected he may have some form of dietary issue, I didn’t know whether he would come back to full form or if it was too late to repair the damage.  However, once I got him home I set about gradually introducing good quality fibres and superior quality supplements to support his recovery.  He had lost a great deal of muscle as well as fat, his coat was dull, his skin dry and flaky, and his eyes were runny. He was also quite irritable when grooming around his girth area.  Along with beet and chaff I decided to introduce Feedmark Gastric Comfort and Replenish.   The result has been nothing short of remarkable!  He has eaten everything put in front of him and seems a much happier horse.  I am totally convinced that without such good nutritional support, he would not have turned around.  I will not stop feeding these supplements to Pete and I have also introduced my other horses to the products as I feel the Gastric Comfort has protective qualities for horses that are in training.  Twelve weeks on and I have a horse that looks every part the athletic eventer that he is!” “I am now training Pete for pure dressage and hope to qualify him for the BD Veteran Horse Championship this year, at Vale View.  He is really enjoying turning his hooves to some pure dressage, and because of his eventing background finds the more advanced dressage movements all too easy!  He especially loves checking himself out in the arena mirrors when training - but who can blame him, he is rather gorgeous!  The whole family adores Pete because of his fantastic nature, even my six month old daughter Amelia is totally smitten with him. Thank you for producing such a super, quality product that has helped Pete thrive once again!” “I aim to keep Pete happy with hacking, competing in affiliated dressage, the occasional jumping class and whatever else he fancies doing!  Although he has retired from eventing as such, I would never rule out competing in an unaffiliated ODE with him.  He is as fit as a fiddle and does love his cross country.  Hopefully he will also teach Amelia to ride, as she already enjoys sitting on him!  Pete really is a one in a million.” A FREE 2kg tub of Gastric Comfort is on its way to Pete for being our Horse Of The Week! Each week, the Feedmark team select a horse of the week from reviews, letters and emails sent to them.  If you would like your horse to feature, then please send your horse’s details in to [email protected] or go online and write a review.