Natural Health

For most of my life, I have lived a long way from town, so when health problems arise, running to the doctor isn’t always an option.  I’ve learned to take care of myself and my animals with what’s at hand, from birthing to cuts to runny noses.  I’ve also learned that supporting our natural healing abilities goes a long way towards keeping problems from happening in the first place.  If you have any questions about the information and testimonials below, please contact me.

• Dynamite Specialty Products
• Feeding Ponies:  The Four Basics
  • Roughage:  Hay/Pasture
  • Minerals
  • Vitamins
  • Digestible energy
• Testimonials
  • Supplement Simplicity
  • Dynamite Foals
  • HES:  When Hay Isn't Enough
  • Colic Relief
  • Minerals:  Loose and Free Choice
  • Foal Scours:   The Miracle of Clay
  • Prebiotics and Probiotics
  • Relief for what itches
  • Tea Tree Oil:  A Life-Saver, Literally
  • Emergency Wound Care
  • Pony Health:  The Topline and the Bottom Line
  • Probiotics for Dogs

Dynamite Specialty Products

Feeding Ponies:  The Four Basics

The Four Basics:  Roughage - Hay/Pasture

The Four Basics:  Minerals

A horse receiving an ample supply of minerals will require less feed and perform at a higher level than one that is not.

- Rex Ewing, Beyond the Hay Days

1. Natural Trace Mineral (NTM) Salt:  This unbleached, loose salt comes from ancient sea-bed deposits. My youngstock who have been on Dynamite since conception utilize this salt much more than the free choices below.
2. and 3: 1 to 1 and 2 to 1 Free Choice: These calcium:phosphorus balancers have clays and herbs to mimic nature as much as possible. My adult Fells utilize these products nearly to the exclusion of NTM salt. One pony developed a sharper attitude when access was denied for several weeks; he came around within hours of being given access to his minerals, which he consumed voraciously for several days. Use of these products increases with changes in season, transition from pasture to hay, and with extreme winter weather.
3. See #2.
4. Izmine™: This mineral food contains more than 60 naturally occurring minerals, enzymes, electrolytes, and bio-nutrients in a bio-available form. As a carbon-based product, it acts as a natural detoxifier. My first Fell mare was 13 when I bought her, and she went through over thirty pounds of Izmine™ in the first six months. This mare had previously been on daily wormers and was 200 pounds overweight.

The Four Basics:  Vitamins

The Four Basics:  Digestible Energy

Testimonials

Supplement Simplicity

I recently saw an advertisement for equine supplements. The manufacturer was touting four different supplements for four different types of equines. It made me realize that I appreciate Dynamite’s simpler approach: I don’t have to have a different formulation for each pony. First is the approach to minerals. Four formulations are available free choice: two different calcium/phosphorous blends, a natural trace mineral salt, and a trace mineral detoxifier. Each pony can take what they need when they need it and in the combinations they require at that time. All I have to do is keep the buckets full, letting the ponies do the rest. With my busy life, I appreciate this simple approach.

Regarding vitamins, each of my ponies certainly requires a customized ration, depending on their age, gender, health, and work level. However, I don’t have room to store a different supplement for each pony, especially as each one transitions from one age or work level to another. Dynamite’s program recognizes that at root every equine needs the same nutritional foundation. Then special requirements can be addressed by adding to that foundation. Every pony gets the basic vitamin pellets in quantities appropriate to their situation. I can then add breeding vitamins for the mares, energy supplements for working ponies and youngsters, and immune system boosters when a pony is facing a health challenge. Having a common base with special additives seems to be the most economical approach for me. Plus it’s simple to remember and doesn’t take much room to store. After seeing the advertisement for the other manufacturer recently, I realized again how much I appreciate Dynamite’s supplement simplicity.

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Dynamite Foals

Dynamite Specialty Products puts out a monthly newsletter, and numerous testimonials are usually included. In addition, a friend with 40 years of experience breeding quarter horses and over a decade using Dynamite puts out a newsletter. The consensus of equine breeders in these newsletters seems to be that the full benefit of using Dynamite products is seen after three generations.

While I don’t have three generations of Dynamite Fell Ponies on the ground yet, I do now have two. Willowtrail Columbine was my first second-generation Dynamite baby. Collie’s dam Turkey Trot Sand Lily has been on Dynamite since her own dam and sire were bred. I have definitely seen a difference between Collie and my other foals. She was the most energetic at birth, and was on her feet and moving longer and faster than my previous foals. She was also ready to be let out of the foaling stall a day earlier than I’m used to. The greatest challenge I faced with Collie was getting a decent picture of her standing still! 

While I’m seeing the benefits of Dynamite in my second generation foals, I’m also seeing it in the rest of my foal crop. The longer my mares and stallion are on Dynamite, the better each subsequent foal gets. While general health and vitality are great in these foals, the best of the Fell Pony characteristics seem to be emphasized as well: better conformation, movement, and temperament. The worst thing about using Dynamite is that it’s impossible to quit after bringing Dynamite foals into the world like this. I look forward to one day having a third-generation Dynamite foal and discovering what more is possible.

HES:  My Magic Bullet

Most of the year, my ponies do well with grass hay or pasture and their vitamins and free-choice minerals. Winter, though, can sometimes be a challenge, so I always watch for changes that indicate they need an extra boost. Until this year, it’s been my weanlings that have needed extra help here at 9,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies. This winter, though, has been cloudier, colder, and snowier than usual, and even my adult ponies have needed assistance.

How do I tell when they need help? Sometimes it’s because they don’t have as much energy. Sometimes they lack a characteristic sparkle in their eyes. This year they’ve dropped weight more quickly during cold weather than I’ve seen in the past and have taken longer to bounce back. Feeding grain to ponies in this situation makes me really uncomfortable because they are so susceptible to founder and other diseases.

According to equine nutritionist Amy Gill, PhD, of Kentucky, “…people have grossly overfed horses for a long time; now we have a number of metabolic syndromes, Cushings disease, insulin resistant horses, foals that are insulin resistant, animals that are prone to obesity and laminitis. The big push now is away from starchy grains and to use more soluble fibers and fats, but there is still a lot of education needed.”

I feel fortunate that I discovered a product that addresses my ponies’ needs during the winter without the drawbacks of grain. I consider Dynamite H.E.S. (high energy supplement) my magic bullet. It is a fiber and fat source without starches and sugars. Based on organically grown ingredients from well-mineralized soils, HES is also considered “topline in a bag” by showing enthusiasts because of its ability to build muscle. Just a few ounces can make a difference to a weanling, and a cup daily for my adults has really helped the sparkle come back into their eyes this winter. Another advantage of HES is that it doesn’t make the ponies “hot” since it isn’t based on grains. So when grass hay and vitamins and minerals aren’t quite enough, I know where to turn to find a magic bullet to help my ponies with this difficult climate where we live.

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Colic Relief

I live 45 minutes by horse trailer from the nearest vet, and 90 minutes from the nearest equine veterinarian. Often the vets will resist coming this far if the situation isn’t life-threatening. By necessity I have learned to be the primary care giver when my ponies need medical attention. That being the case, I also dedicate a lot of time and energy to preventive care, including keeping a watchful eye out for subtle changes: a less bright eye, change in stance or location or energy level, loss of interest in food, or loss of coat sheen. Recently this watchful eye paid huge dividends.

On the morning that I was due to leave town for three days, I went out to feed as usual, thinking about the long list of things needing to be done before the house/critter sitters arrived. My attention was immediately brought into the present when my most voraciously hungry pony showed no interest in the hay I put out for him. He ate his bucket of vitamins but then wandered off. I checked on him fifteen minutes later, and he was still uninterested. I also saw him kick at his side and swing his head around. When I checked on him again fifteen minutes later, he was lying down, definitely unusual behavior.

These symptoms all suggested the possibility of colic, so I put aside my to-do list and began treating. First he got 10ccs of Dynamite’s prebiotic DynaPro in a little feed. Then we walked for twenty minutes, down the driveway to the cattleguard and back to the house. His energy was low, and he lacked interest in his surroundings. At the house I offered hay, and he still wasn’t interested, so he got another 10ccs of DynaPro, squirted into his mouth directly this time, and we headed down the drive again. After two or three more circuits, including additional doses of DynaPro, he played with the hay a little, which I counted as positive progress. He also raised his head to listen to the whinnies of the other ponies when we passed them, another good sign. Another dose of DynaPro, and we headed down the driveway again. Over the course of the next two hours of this routine, he gradually showed more interest in the hay. I lengthened the time between circuits and started watching for an interest in water and for urination and bowel movement. After two more hours, he was eating with close-to-usual gusto but I still hadn’t seen him pass manure. I began to consider canceling my trip.

Since all other signs seemed to be normal, I pondered why he hadn’t passed manure. The critter sitters had arrived by this time, and they walked the driveway with us. It occurred to me that this particular pony can be uptight about urinating or passing manure when in-hand. As a test, I put him back in his paddock with his two pals, and sure enough he immediately drank water and created a pile. Within a few minutes he also moved off to urinate. Relief flooded me.

I did go on my trip that evening, leaving about two hours later than planned since my to-do list had been delayed. To prevent a repeat performance on the pony’s part, I had the critter sitters give him two 10cc doses a day of DynaPro. I also realized that he hadn’t had access to his minerals for awhile and made sure that they were in place before I left.

In a Dynamite newsletter I read once that another distributor felt uncomfortable unless she had a full spare DynaPro in her cupboard. Now I understand why, and I’m fully stocked! Since that fateful day in January I’ve also run across notes I took from a speech by Jim Zamzow, founder of Dynamite Specialty Products. He prescribed a single 50cc dose of DynaPro as colic relief. My pony probably got more than he needed, but he recovered, and that’s what I really care about!

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Minerals:  Loose and Free Choice

Doc Hammill is a veterinarian, teacher, and teamster living in Montana. He is also an associate editor of Small Farmer’s Journal. In the Fall 2007 issue, his regular column “Ask a Teamster” was about “Salt and Minerals for Horses.” He opened his article with “In my opinion, salt and minerals are one of the most misunderstood and mismanaged aspects of equine nutrition.” (1)

Doc Hammill then goes on to discuss the following about salt and minerals:

• Salt should contain trace minerals.
• Salt should be fed loose, not in blocks.
• Mineral mixes (especially the calcium/phosphorus ratio ) should be based on what type of hay or pasture the horses have access to.
• Salt and mineral mixes should be provided free choice at all times

I was thrilled to read these recommendations because they exactly mimic the Dynamite free choice program. Dynamite’s salt contains trace minerals and is only available in loose form. Two mineral mixes (2:1 and 1:1 Free Choice) are offered so equines can balance their systems based on the forage they are eating. And the salt and minerals are designed to be offered free choice at all times.

Doc Hammill concludes by saying, “With few exceptions, equines of all breeds and uses can be maintained in excellent health and condition on good quality forage (pasture and/or hay); simple, appropriate grains (such as whole oats); the salt/mineral mixture recommended here; and a good, clean source of water.” (2)   I have certainly found that the Dynamite salt-and-mineral program is a terrific foundation for health. And it’s always gratifying to hear a corroborating opinion from a vet and fellow teamster.

(1) Hammill, Doug, DVM. “Ask a Teamster,” Small Farmer’s Journal, Fall, Vol. 31, No. 4, page 22.
(2) Hammill, p. 22.

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The Miracle of Clay

This past month, a case of foal heat scours really challenged me. Normally a few doses of probiotics and a little time is all it takes for the scours to disappear. This case, however, continued despite heavy dosing of probiotics to balance the intestinal flora. Rowan Emrys's HorseSense suggested using Dynamite Miracle Clay internally, and I quickly learned why ‘miracle’ is part of this product’s name. Miracle Clay is sold as a powder, but the suggested use is to mix a gel the consistency of mustard. I keep the gel on hand for myself for external use, as it relieves the pain and itching associated with insect bites, which are a constant part of summer here in the mountains.

Using the gel internally is a tonic for the digestive tract, as I soon learned. I syringed 8-12cc’s of clay gel into the foal’s mouth one to four times a day (more at the outset; less as the situation improved). I also continued the probiotics. The scours diminished almost immediately upon application of the clay, but it took a couple of weeks before they were gone for good.

I’ve also used the gel internally as an ulcer preventive. One of my ponies was on pain medication, and ulcers were a possible side effect. The pony never developed symptoms associated with ulcers, so I was pleased that the clay was effective. Now I’ll keep the gel on hand for both external and internal use.

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Prebiotics and Probiotics

I recently brought a new pony into my herd. As I didn’t know much about her care before she came to me, I took every opportunity to learn from her about her health and well-being. Consequently, one of the things I paid attention to was her manure. In my experience, a healthy pony has well-formed “apples” with a pleasant aroma. This pony had manure on the edge of runny but its aroma wasn’t acrid. These characteristics indicated to me that she was stressed from her change in environment but she hadn’t been fed a steady diet of grain or concentrated feed. I immediately began giving her probiotics to help balance her intestinal flora.

The Mar/Apr 2006 issue of the newsletter of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy contained an article entitled, “A Primer on Probiotics.” The article states: “The concept of maintaining or restoring the balance of bowel bacteria by introducing live organisms into the gut was first introduced in 1905 by Élie Metchnikoff. The bacteria favorably alter the balance of intestinal microflora, inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria, promoting good digestion, boosting immune function, and increasing resistance to infection. Animals, including humans, with healthy populations of beneficial intestinal bacteria compete more successfully with disease-causing bacteria (sic). Probiotics promote a balance of intestinal flora that produce such organic compounds as lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and acetic acid. These increase the acidity of the intestine, which inhibits the reproduction of many harmful bacteria. Probiotic bacteria also produce bacteriocins, natural antibiotics that kill undesirable microorganisms.”

The article defines probiotics as the introduction of live bacteria. I have been told that the introduction of live bacteria is of limited effectiveness, which the article addresses: “Strong acidity in the stomach and high bile concentrations in the small intestine can injure and kill many probiotics.” The article also defines pre-biotics and synbiotics. “Prebiotics are dietary carbohydrates that escape digestion in the upper gastrointestinal tract and thus form the predominant substrates for bacterial growth in the colon. Synbiotics is a combination of pro- and prebiotics. (sic)” The article concludes with “All livestock producers should consider using probiotics preventatively, since this represents organic agriculture’s tenet of sustainability.”

Dyna-Pro, made by Dynamite Specialty Products, is essentially a prebiotic which avoids the problem with live organisms. “Dyna-Pro uses a proprietary ferment extract, including Lactobacillus Acidophilus, which nourishes the natural bacteria and encourages them to multiply.” Dyna-Pro also contains vitamins and chelated minerals. After four days using Dyna-Pro, my new pony’s manure had the look and smell that I have come to associate with health. She now gets Dyna-Pro regularly along with the rest of my pony herd.

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Relief for what itches

This winter one of my ponies began scratching herself. She was so intense about it that she rubbed herself raw in places, which is not good in winter when a thick fur coat is essential here. As a child I had terrible eczema, often scratching myself raw, so I felt great concern and empathy toward Mya. I had to do something to help her.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t clear what was causing the problem so that I could eliminate it. I had a terrible time with hay this winter, and Mya is bred to a different stallion than in past years, so I considered that as a possibility as well. Neither of these possibilities, however, could be firmly diagnosed, so I had to treat the symptoms.

Since the scratching and rubbing were happening in the dead of winter, I knew it wasn’t a problem with insects. Instead it seemed likely that Mya had developed a toxic reaction to something, and she needed help detoxifying. I turned to Dynamite’s Izmine, a black powder with over 60 minerals, enzymes, electrolytes, and bio-nutrients in a bio-available form. My equine veterinarian recommends Izmine to all his clients who feed alfalfa to their horses, as well as for horses with sunburns. My first Fell mare consumed over 50 pounds of Izmine when she initally arrived at my farm as she detoxed her previous life that included daily wormers and other unnatural substances.

Mya wasn’t interested in Izmine when offered free choice, and being a pony, she doesn’t get grain, so I mixed 1.5 ounces of Izmine with grated carrots twice a day. Within a few days there were no new open wounds, and within a week she was allowing hair to grow back. I kept her on Izmine for a month, dropping her dosage to once a day after the first week, and there has been no recurrence. What a blessing Izmine was for relieving what made Mya itch.

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Tea Tree Oil:  A Life Saver, Literally

In March 2006, Newfarm Valencia sustained a puncture wound in her buttock. The wound was 8” deep, parallel to the rectum.  We were fortunate to be in close proximity to the best veterinary hospital in the state. Val was 8 months pregnant, and I was concerned both about Val’s health and the health of the foal. Val was put on antibiotics immediately, and for the first three weeks of hospitalization, she held her own. I made sure she had her basic Dynamite supplements, plus a number of immune system boosters and supplements to treat the side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs.

The veterinarians flushed the wound regularly with a dilute betadyne solution, and they ultrasounded the area every few days to assess the progress of healing. As I was nearly four hours away, I got daily phone updates regarding Val’s vital signs, and visited once to twice a week. The vets found Val to be an ideal patient, cooperative and definitely appreciative of all the attention. They found the ultrasound regime particularly amusing, as they were probing rectally to the lip of the pelvis, and Val’s foal would push their hand out of the pelvic canal, as if to say, “there isn’t room in here for both of us!” I found these stories good news, of course, as it told me the foal was not only alive but energetic.

At three weeks, Val took a sudden and noticeable turn for the worse. She went septic and began to founder. Her temperature rose, and she was visibly a very sick pony. She was put back on intravenous antibiotics, and the veterinarian’s suggested the wound be cultured to make sure the treatment was appropriate to the infection. I heartily agreed, and after the veterinarians delayed a few days, I finally got them to culture the wound. The results came back a few days later still, showing that the infection was antibiotic resistant. Her prognosis was a 50% chance of survival.

After consulting with Rowan Emrys, author of HorseSense, a handbook on Dynamite healing protocols, I took a step that is very unusual for me. I demanded that the veterinarians stop what they were doing and implement a Dynamite protocol for puncture wound treatment. I was extremely uncomfortable interfering with the veterinarians, but they appeared to be stymied, and Val’s life and that of her foal were on the line. With the help of regular pep talks from Rowan, I pushed for what I wanted.

Betadyne is an iodine-based antiseptic, and iodine is irritating to cells. Even in a dilute solution, some irritation is inevitable, and irritation of cells creates an environment conducive to infection. I had to sign a release before the Dynamite protocol was started. The Dynamite protocol called for Tea Tree Oil to be used in place of betadyne for flushing the wound daily. Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca alternifolia) is a natural antiseptic and anti-fungal oil. Dynamite’s Tea Tree Oil (TTO) is extracted from grafted trees that ensure a consistent and pure product. I can smell the difference between Dynamite’s TTO and other brands that I have purchased.

Within three days of the first flush using TTO, Val’s vital signs indicated improvement. When I next saw her, I could tell she was back on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, the veterinarian in charge of her case decided that the protocol should be stopped since Val was showing signs of recovery. I was completely flabbergasted that the vet would quit a protocol that was working. After three tense days between the vet and me, I checked Val out of the hospital against the vet’s advice, another difficult step for me. I began the flushing protocol at home.

To keep the rest of this story short, I’ll summarize: I kept up the daily flushes until Val told me to quit. She gave birth to a healthy foal in June. Six months after she was wounded, a different vet examined her. The wound has healed completely, and the lameness that I had noticed in one hind leg has resolved. I consider Dynamite’s Tea Tree Oil to have saved Val’s life and that of her foal and enabled a full recovery. For all of that, I am truly thankful.

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Emergency Wound Treatment

I recently had occasion to be very thankful for Dynamite’s wound care products, including the new first aid kit.  One of my yearlings presented himself one morning with two gaping flesh wounds on one side and an 18” long scrape (sorry about the rain on the lens!). All the wounds appeared fresh, less than an hour old.  I was pretty sure he’d had a bad encounter with a fence, but it wasn’t until the next day when three youngsters were on the highway adjacent to the pasture that I figured out one of my mares had decided to claim the pasture as her own and was running the other ponies into and over fences.

I grabbed one of Dynamite’s first aid kits out of my truck and opened it for the first time, immediately reaching for Wound Wash. The wounds were clean and I wanted to make sure that the exposed flesh got early support for healing. My summer pasture is four miles from home, so I then drove home and returned within a half hour with my full vet box and horse trailer. At first I expected to have to transport Jonty to a vet, and of course our closest one was out of town, so it meant a two hour trip one way. My husband, who has been an emergency medical technician for over a decade, looked at the wounds and expressed confidence in my ability to handle the situation. Since the wounds were just skin deep, with no muscle or connective tissue involvement, I was willing to take on the challenge, especially since I’d successfully dealt with similar though smaller wounds in the past. After haltering Jonty and tying him to a fence, I set to work one wound at a time. I first washed with diluted Dynamite Shampoo then rinsed with diluted Dynamite Trace Minerals Concentrate then rinsed again with diluted Dynamite Tea Tree Oil. I then packed each wound with Dynamite Wound Salve.

Jonty was a terrific patient and willingly loaded into the trailer to go home. At home I started him on a two-a-day regimen of immune system boosters: HES top-dressed with Dyna Pro, Trace Minerals Concentrate, a teaspoon of Super Stress, a tablespoon of SOD, and an extra ounce of Plus.

I checked the wounds at the end of the day, and they seemed to have normal pus, so I left them alone. In addition, Jonty seemed alert and had a healthy appetite, so I didn’t worry and went to bed. The next morning, though, there was swelling below one of the wounds, indicating the start of infection. The two open wounds were 2.5” across along the lower rib cage behind the front leg. The edges of the wounds were loose, and I suspected that pus had drained down into the pocket of skin creating a great environment for infection. Using diluted shampoo, I cleaned away the Wound Salve and pus. I then got a curved-tip syringe out of my vet box, a tool I have found invaluable for treating flesh wounds. I filled it first with diluted Tea Tree Oil and slid the tip under the flap of skin above the swelling then rinsing under every other flap of skin that the tip would easily go under. I then followed with dilute TMC. When I was finished flushing the wounds, I again packed them with Wound Salve. Jonty endured two-a-day treatments for two days before making it clear he’d had enough. Fortunately, the swelling subsided within 8 hours and was gone by the next day. I was amazed how much the edges of the wounds had already begun to fill in in just that short period of time.

It’s now been ten weeks since the day of Jonty’s injuries. My biggest concern was how his hair would come back in and what color it would be. I’m pleased there’s no indication of white hairs at all. And at this point the scabs of the bigger wounds are less than the size of a dime; I can’t find any evidence of the long scrape. Jonty’s winter coat has come in, so it will probably be spring before I can fully assess his healing. And the true test will be introducing him to a cinch. I am confident, though, based on the speed and health of his healing, that there will be no complications down the road.

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The Topline and the Bottom Line

For me, when it comes to feeding my ponies, the bottom line is hay, specifically grass hay. Pasture is, of course, terrific if it’s available; hay is still key for my herd, though, as my easy keepers have to be managed carefully on green grass. I experience a lot of angst late each summer when I bring in the season’s hay, wondering if it will be good enough to provide my friends their primary sustenance during our hard winters.

I’m reminded of the first time I ever took a pony to a show; I was placed second to last. I wasn’t really surprised since I was showing a Fell Pony in an open class against Quarter Horses. After the show, I asked the judge for some feedback, and one of the things she told me was that my pony had a hay belly. It was the first time I’d heard that term, and I found it odd to criticize this fundamental food for my ponies. Since then I’ve realized the wisdom in the term, as indeed, hay does influence the bottom line, the belly line, of a pony.

On the other hand, I cannot deny the appeal of a fit pony with a sleek outline and strong musculature. I can achieve that look with just hay for my easiest keepers when they’re in regular work, but otherwise, just hay isn’t enough, especially for a nice topline. I’ve come to believe that lack of a good topline is an opportunity for improvement in health.

My first inclination if one of my ponies is losing condition is to feed more hay. I then start treading the fine line between a hay belly (the bottom line) and addressing weakness in the topline through the use of concentrated feed. I consider weakness in the topline to be a backbone that is visible above the surrounding musculature (I know some Fell mares at the height of summer grazing who will have a valley running down their backbone, as the surrounding flesh is so built-up!) or hollowness directly behind the withers.

When I bought my first pony, I did so on the coaching of a lifelong pony lover who educated me fiercely about feeding concentrated feeds to ponies, including alfalfa and grain. She showed me a foundered mustang that was clearly in pain on her feet even after her diet had been controlled. It was a stern lesson about a place I never want to go.

Fortunately for me, my first few ponies were easy keepers, and then when I got my next few ponies my hay was such good quality that I didn’t face topline issues. A few years ago, though, with youngstock, aged ponies, tough winters, and hay that wasn’t topnotch, I found it necessary to turn to a concentrated feed to address topline issues that were emerging. Dynamite provides a Pelleted Grain Ration (PGR), but I just couldn’t use it on my ponies. The lectures from my pony-loving friend continued to echo in my brain.

I consulted my ever-helpful friend and up-line Rowan Emrys at the time, and she recommended that I try Dynamite’s High Energy Supplement, or H.E.S. H.E.S. is a low NSC-value feed that Dynamite uses to add healthy carbohydrates to PGR and to dilute the vitamins and minerals in Dynamite to create Dynamite Plus (there are other differences between Dynamite and Dynamite Plus, too.) As I understand it, Dynamite created PGR only because their horse-owning distributors demanded a Dynamite grain product; the company founders believe that grass/grass hay and H.E.S. are sufficient for most equines.

Like many things with Dynamite, once I went down this road, I couldn’t turn back. The improvement in my toplines is noticeable, and H.E.S. puts an addictive sheen in my ponies’ coats that I miss when I don’t feed it. I also appreciate the fact that it’s made with organic ingredients. While a 50# bag of H.E.S. costs a pretty penny, it only takes a few ounces daily to achieve these results. And shipments of H.E.S. haven’t been restricted as have shipments of PGR. It’s a concentrated feed so I consider it more economical than similar products from other companies, too. The one challenge I find with H.E.S. is that it is best split into two feedings a day, a practice I reserve for my broodmares and other ponies that need more than five ounces a day. I have also noticed that my easiest keeping pony, my Norwegian Fjord Horse gelding Torrin, develops lots of smegma when I feed him H.E.S. so he no longer gets any. Fortunately, my hay is better this year, and he doesn’t need it.

With my ponies, I am constantly seeking balance between their toplines and their bottom lines as my hay, our weather, their age and their work vary. I have come to think of hay and pasture as protecting their bottom lines (and mine), and I protect their toplines with the concentrated H.E.S.

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Dyna-Pro for Dogs

Hunting season is mostly over here. We live on the border of both the Routt National Forest and the Colorado State Forest, so hunting traffic, gun shots, and being stopped for advice for the best hunting spots is part of life this time of year. And there is another side effect of hunting that I’ve been especially aware of this year.

Normally my dog is at my side all day long. However, about six weeks ago during moose season, she suddenly disappeared for an hour. She has an acute sense of smell, and when she returned, I discovered I also had a good sense of smell because it was clear she’d been in a hunter’s offal pile somewhere in the forest. All evening she was unusually uncomfortable, panting wherever she laid down. After we went outside for the last time, she took her customary place next to my bed, but she was still panting. During the night, she roused me, which she rarely does, and before long she’d created her own pile of offal. The next day she was still visibly uncomfortable. I dosed her with Dyna-Pro as well as keeping her in my sights all day long, and that night she was fine.

Two days ago we were gone all day. When we returned, Sadie was here as usual, but that night she was panting and uncomfortable again. This time I realized what she had been up to, so I gave her a dose of Dyna-Pro as a preventive. I was exhausted that night, and I was pleased that Sadie slept through the night without rousing me.

I heard a report on the radio the other day about some research on gut flora. The research concluded that gut flora vary depending on diet. Just because you might change your diet to a healthier one, you may not receive the full benefits unless your gut flora change, too. Sadie’s abrupt change in diet to hunter’s offal probably upset her gut flora. Dosing her with Dyna-Pro brought her gut flora back into balance, restoring her overall health. I’m thankful for Dyna-Pro once again.

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