HORSE QUENCHER GOES
TO THE OLYMPICS

"All I can say is WOW! The little "horsey cocktail" that started out in the feed room of a small barn in New Jersey has proven itself to be of Olympic caliber!" Read on to hear what the Olympic eventers have to say about Horse Quencher...

The one thing I've always liked about eventers is they're an adventurous group, and not afraid to try anything at least once! So, that wonderful trait combined with all the pre-Games press about the heat concerns in Beijing and Hong Kong, led to the brainstorm I and my cohort Holly came up with several months ago (in case you're wondering, Holly and I are the marketing gals behind Horse Quencher). We'd been hearing for months from riders who've tried Horse Quencher (fondly referred to as HQ by those of us on the inside) with fabulous results. One grand prix dressage rider from upstate New York tried HQ last fall when her mare colicked at the championships in N.J. The mare is a fussy drinker to begin with, and with the colic she wasn't taking in any fluids. Never hearing of HQ before, there were sample packets in the competitor's bags. She whipped one out, added it to her mare's water, and was amazed to watch the mare down the entire bucket and lick the bottom. She promptly gathered up all the samples she could cajole from the other competitors, and then emailed us raving about the product. She's kept HQ on hand ever since.

So, that got us thinking. With the massive heat and hydration concerns the Olympic teams were facing at this year's Games, we felt that every horse who's hooves hit the ground in Hong Kong should have HQ in their tack trunks, right? Seemed like a no-brainer to us, so I grabbed my phone and started ringing up every rider on the U.S. and Canadian event teams that I could track down. Thanks to my buddy Jan at USEA for your help making these connections, and to Emily Daily for giving us some awesome pictures to use! You know, back to eventers being adventurous, I was amazed at how receptive every last one of them was to giving this little product a try. So I packed up boxes of sample packets and shipped them out one after the other (and got to know the folks at my local post office quite well in the process). We even shipped some out to Germany via USPS for the U.S. dressage riders (yes, they snuck out of the country early on me...okay, I was just too busy calling eventers and somehow completely missed the fact that the dressage team was heading out to Germany before the eventers left - oops). Alas, I don't know if the dressage team used the product, or for that fact if it even made it through customs! I'll keep you posted on that after they return, but in the meantime I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Okay, back to the eventers. Lo and behold, not long after my shipping mania, the phone started ringing. Gina Miles called to say how pleasantly shocked she was when McKinlaigh did exactly what I described above - sucked down his bucket of water and licked the bottom. So I promptly shipped off enough in his favorite flavors, apple and butterscotch, to keep him in HQ up to and through the Games. She touched base with me again after arriving in England for the Mandatory outing to say that McKinlaigh "is drinking a lot...he definitely is taking in more water overall than he normally would." Btw, Gina ROCKED at the Games, taking home the individual silver medal! Max Corcoran, who grooms for the O'Connors, called just before shipping off to the U.K. wanting to know if I could get them a quick shipment of peppermint for their horses and Amy Tryon's horses. They were concerned about keeping the horses hydrated for the long, stressful flight overseas, and although I had shipped them a huge supply, I'd not sent any peppermint, which apparently was their favorite. So, not wanting to disappoint Maniba and Poggio, back to the post office I raced with my last minute supply of peppermint HQ. Good news, it made it in time for the flight, and last I heard they were happily sucking down their buckets of water.

Jennifer Wooten and Bonnie Mosser had similar experiences to Gina. Jennifer was even going to blog for HQ if she made the final team for the Games this year (sadly she didn't). I'm sure it would have been a much more exciting blog than this one! But I digress again. This "suck the bucket down and lick it clean" response is what we're hearing from most of the riders whose horses have tried the product. They're really flipping over it. Bonnie tested it at home by adding it to a large water tub while one of her young horses was turned out. This horse is a fussy drinker by nature, so she figured he'd be a good tester. She later was on a ride in the same field, went past the water tub and noticed the entire thing was empty. "I couldn't believe my eyes," laughed Bonnie. "I was hopeful he'd drink more than usual. Never did I expect him to drink it ALL! I guess maybe that's the last time I should add it to such a LARGE amount of water for one horse." Yeah, I think whoever mucks your stalls would probably agree!

Stephen Bradley's groom, Carol Anne Parker, was one of our first testers and insisted I call every one of the grooms with instructions to "tell them Carol-Anne says this stuff is amazing! You really CAN make a horse drink!" And Hawley Bennett, seeing the benefit of having HQ on hand for the long hauls eventers seem to take quite in stride, requested a last minute shipment prior to her horse's long ride out to Rebecca Farm in Montana for the World Cup qualifier (sadly she didn't make the final cut for the Canadian team, so she was off to Rebecca instead). I think she was nervous I'd say no since she didn't make the team. But how could I turn her down? So off I raced to my new friends at the local post office with literally two minutes to spare before they locked the doors on me (I sometimes wonder how much entertainment I provided them during those many weeks, always racing in under the 5:00 wire, stressed to the nines, balancing boxes of product and juggling kids)! But the HQ made it, and it was off to Montana with Hawley. I could go on and on, but I'm thinking that you're getting the picture by now. Our little hydration product was a big hit!

Fast forward to the beginning of August. Now that everyone was in Hong Kong, my frantic shipments of product had been wrapped up (I wonder if they miss me up at the post office?) and I expected things to be quiet until after the Games, when I'd start to call everyone again to see how HQ worked for them. Imagine my surprise when I started getting text messages from the riders in Hong Kong. Okay, I'll admit, this is one of the more fun aspects of my job! Samantha Taylor, who rides for Canada, texted me that Livewire was happily consuming his HQ every day. Then a text hit my inbox from Kelly Cazier, who grooms for Mike Winter. "King Pin has drank the best of any horse (on the Canadian Team) that traveled using Horse Quencher. We love it! We used it on the plane and also every day here. His hydration test is routinely the best on team too. So glad we have it and can't wait to keep using it at home. Have recommended to other team members for drinking problems. Thanks so much!"

All I can say is WOW! The little "horsey cocktail" that started out in the feed room of a small barn in New Jersey has proven itself to be of Olympic caliber! So that's my story of how Horse Quencher got to go to the Olympics this year. It was a blast working with all of the riders, those who made the final teams and those who didn't. And the crew at HQ is really proud to be able to help support our North American horses at such a prestigious event. In honor of these amazing horses and their riders, they're offering you a chance to try HQ and see for yourself how such a small product can have such a huge impact when it comes to keeping your horse hydrated. Just click on the "Free Sample" link on this page and the folks at HQ will fire off a sample bucket for you to try. That's it! It's easy, and takes about two seconds. And as always, we'd love to hear your feedback once your horse has given it a go. Plus I'll need more to blog about after the Olympics! Enjoy!

Cheers!
Susan