Welcome to the regular newsletter from The Veteran Horse Company!
It has been a very busy few weeks for us here at the VHC office! With open evenings, Summer Championship Shows and all your stories and emails, we've certainly been kept occupied. Not that we are complaining, of course, it has been great to get out and about and meet many veteran owners up and down the country and also to hear all your stories and experiences of your older horses and ponies. We have also found our first Veteran of the Month, who will be featured later in the newsletter.
Early in July we were invited to the Surrey Equestrian open evening, in Hersham, Surrey. This bustling event allowed us to meet veteran owners throughout the southeast and discuss their various nutritional needs. We also held a prize draw and our lucky winner was Jane Curtis and her beautiful coloured mare, Unchained Melody. Jane rescued Melody from the side of the road where she'd been kept on a 4 foot link chain in 1992. Now 16 years on Melody is 20 and working seven days a week and far from retiring. Congratulations to you both and we wish you well for the future. Surrey Equestrian are also having a Clearance weekend on 6th and 7th September and an Open Evening on Wednesday 26th November, so make sure that you keep those dates in your diary free if you are in the area.
Those who read our last newsletter will remember the story of Elmer Bandit, the half Arab gelding who was born in 1971 and is from Independence, Montana, America, competes in trail rides and last year reached a massive 20,240 competitive miles and was chasing the American national record of 20,710 miles. We have a quick update that Elmer and his Rider Mary Anna Wood finished second in their division of the Spotted Rump Ride Competitive Trail Event in St Louis and has boosted his lifetime mileage to 20,420. The amazing pair are due to compete again next weekend and we wish them the best of luck!
In the last couple of weeks there has been some very exciting research published relating to feeding Profeed, the advanced prebiotic, that is an essential ingredient in both VHF Wellbeing and VHF Well Balanced. Results have shown that long term feeding Profeed can reduce the occurrence of digestive upsets and proves effective in reducing disruptions to the good bacterial population in the hindgut under stressful situations - which is good news for veteran horse owners that find it difficult to maintain their horse's weight. The findings have also proved that Profeed has positive effects on the microflora on the stomach as well as the hindgut and has proved beneficial in preventing the digestive troubles associated with the management of competition horses, which applies to more and more veteran nowadays. For more information or copies of the research please email rkeeble@veteranhorse.com.
This month we have also been to the Veteran Horse Society Summer Championship Show at Arena UK, in Grantham. Although the weather and high fuel prices have been against competitors this year, there was a good turnout, with some classes having up to 60 entries! It was great to meet you all and amazing to see so many fit, healthy and happy veteran horses and ponies. We again had a prize draw and thank you all again for your support and entries. The winner was drawn at random and the prize went to Alison Yates and her beautiful liver chestnut cob, Highlander or Sam to his friends. Sam is a lightweight show cob who is 17 years old and has been with Alison for a year now since his previous owner moved abroad to live. Sam has competed and won at most county shows around the country and absolutely thrives on his showing career! Alison says he has the most fantastic temperment and is a pleasure to do anything with. Well done to you both on winning and we wish you many more years of rosettes together!
In this issue we are lucky enough to feature our first Veteran of the Month! Nimbus's story was sent in by Taddy and is the lucky winner of one month's supply of VHF Respirator! STILL GOING STRONG AT 30! To read Nimbus's story logon to the Competition pages of www.veteranhorse.com.
At the Veteran Horse Company we would love to hear your experience of veteran horses, whether you own one, ride one, look after one or just want one. One story each month will feature in our newsletter in the new Veteran of the Month section and will receive a free month's supply of VHF Respirator, to soothe, repair and support your veteran's respiratory system. Please email all stories to rkeeble@veteranhorse.com and mark veteran of the month.
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Best Wishes
Rachel Keeble - The Veteran Horse Company