Jesmond Renard (Foxy) arrived with us in October 2023, having had a short break at the end of the event season, ready for us to get to know him over the winter months.
We were warned that he suffers with difficulties with his skin, with it often being very sensitive, flaky and scabby, and that he always needed to wear a heavy duty fly rug in the summer otherwise he would rub his mane and tail out. He had recently been clipped when he arrived, and his skin was quite flaky and everything seemed to rub him. He wasn’t fan of being groomed, and would tense up and move away from you if he thought he was going to be brushed, and the same when you tacked up.
We managed all these little things carefully, and kept on top of saddle fitting, physio, chiropractor etc, but as training increased and competitions started he seemed to get more and more tense, particularly in the dressage phase, and he often had runny poo at even the sound of the lorry being started up, going to any training, being plaited the night before an event, or any changes in his routine. He was also becoming less interested in food, which was worrying given that he was always a really good eater and not at all fussy, and we were worried he was dropping condition. He seemed quite unsettled in the stable and did a lot of pacing around and digging up the bed. However, as always, he tried his hardest and never complained, but we still felt things were just not quite right. The main indications we had when he was ridden was that he swished his tail quite all the time, he seemed to get quite tense and upset easily when schooling and in the dressage arena, and he was jumping a bit hollow in the showjumping, but he still approached everything he did with such enthusiasm and tried so hard, it was difficult to decide where the problem lay.
The runny poo started to get worse until it was like that all the time, and we were really struggling to get food down him, I would stand for hours hand feeding him bit by bit, but he really wasn’t that interested. We tried various options of feed, gut balancers and supplements, but nothing seemed to make any difference.
In June 2024, Emma from SUCCEED® approached us at Nunney Horse Trials where she was talking to people about SUCCEED® Digestive Conditioning Program™. Having discussed Foxy with her, she offered us a 3-month trial on SUCCEED. We gave him 2 weeks on a loading dose of 2 syringes a day and then dropped it to maintenance of 1 a day, putting it back up to 2 at times of stress. It took probably 3-4 weeks before we saw a difference, but when we did it was amazing. The tail swishing had stopped, the stress reaction diarrhoea was improving, and he was becoming more tolerant of being touched and groomed. Emma supported us throughout and I was able to ask her at any time for advice.
In the sixth week of being on the trial, Foxy was due to compete at Bishop Burton in the J2*L. Emma advised us to put him on 2 syringes a day just before and during the event and topped us up with syringes to make sure we had enough to cover the extra needed.
The journey to Bishop Burton was 7-8 hours with a stop in a strange place in the middle, and he was to spend the whole week stabled when he is used to 24/7 turnout, not to mention then usual stress and excitement associated with an event. We were very worried beforehand how this would affect him, and were frantically thinking of all the ways we could make it as least stressful as possible, as in the past the combination of things would have triggered quite a big stress reaction. But we needn’t have worried. He was totally calm and relaxed all the time and just took it in his stride. He never had any runny poo, he ate brilliantly and he seemed totally comfortable and at ease from start to finish.
Performance wise, he was the most rideable he has ever been in a competition which reflected in his mark putting him in the top 10 after dressage. He stormed around the cross country and recovered very quickly despite the course being long and hilly. Show jumping has always been his weakest link but he came out on the final day jumping better than ever, and jumped his first clear round SJ with us, and he was really able to use himself, making a much better shape over the fences than he has been able to before.
Having been so sure we had covered all bases with regular chiropractor, physio, saddle fitting, gut balancers, specialist feeds, etc etc, but still feeling in the pit of our stomachs that something was not quite right, the relief we feel now he is on SUCCEED is incredible, and he is really able to give his very best – which he does always want to do.
In addition, Foxy is not itching at all, his skin and coat are amazing, and he hasn’t had to wear a fly rug which has been great in the recent hot weather. He is much less sensitive to the touch and happier being groomed.
Thank you Emma for finding us at Nunney and supporting us through to where we are now – it is still relatively early days on SUCCEED, and I am sure there is more improvement to come, but we are so grateful that we were given the opportunity to try SUCCEED. Feed supplements and digestive treatment are so expensive, and then to find you have spent a small fortune on a product the horse either doesn’t eat or it has no effect, really puts you off trying things. Emma told us that the reason SUCCEED sometimes offers a product trial is because they really believe in the product and what it can do. We can wholeheartedly second that.
Gut health in horses is so important, more important than we really realise, and as you can’t see what’s going on in the gut from day to day, to have the safety net of SUCCEED is wonderful, you just know that it is quietly doing its job and you don’t need to worry.
