Sue's LOVES the COMBO!
We are now part of the Combo journey! We recommend Hack Up all the time as we have seen first hand the remarkable changes in our horses.
About 6 years ago we moved to a new livery yard (very new as we were Sarah’s first liveries) and we have been very happy there ever since.
Sadly, just before we moved we discovered that our youngster, that we had bred ourselves, had been badly treated and abused, in his stable for months by the stable manager, who had taken a dislike to him. This left him with fear aggression when he was in his stable.
When we moved, our trainer, Maddi Burchell, who was helping us to school and back “The Colour of Magic”, (known as Magic, Mag, the big unit and Bonklonkas) continued to work with us. One day she recommended that Karen try Hack Up for Magic. Karen contacted Alex. Following a discussion with Alex and a review of his behaviour, Alex felt that he had a very sensitive stomach amongst other things. A bespoke recipe was prepared and despatched. We witnessed first hand a change in him after only 24 hours. He still of course has fear aggression in his stable, although he is more tolerant. However, he is much calmer and less agitated, which we put down to having a more settled stomach and generally felt more comfortable in his whole body. Believe it or not, he is still growing after 11 years, as can be verified by our vet!!
Karen then had the opportunity to visit Hack Up with Maddi and a few other guests on an open day. Karen had thought she couldn’t afford to put Malibu, mother of Magic, on Hack Up. However, during the visit Karen added up all the various supplements she was buying for Malibu and realised it was cheaper to just put her on a bespoke formula from Hack Up. Malibu is in her very late 20s. She had a severe attack of laminitis soon after having Magic. With the help of our vet, and our amazing farrier, Nathan Brazier, she nursed Malibu through it and has carefully managed her as a laminitic horse ever since. She was mortified to discover that the joint supplements she had been giving Malibu (also known as Princess and Princess Boobies) were not suitable for horses prone to laminitis as the glucosamine turns to sugar in the body. Karen switched from many pots of different supplements to Hack Up. No one ever believes Malibu’s age, not even the vets who recently came to do some X-rays on her hooves as our farrier needed to know what changes had occurred. They could not spot the horse that is nearly 30 in the barn. She prances around like a two year old.
About 4 years ago one of our other horses Kym, who had been diagnosed with asthma/COPD and EMS had another massive asthma attack and we had to call out the emergency vet. Kym was already on Dilaterol and Ventapulmin (costing a lot of money each month). The emergency vet basically told me I needed to make a decision (in other words have her put down), she was not even 20 years old. I turned to Alex and the team. I have two bespoke formulas for Kym. One for her EMS and the other is a respiratory formula. We also use the liquid AIR. We did not tell our vet for a year. Then when he came out for the annual jabs and teeth he remarked how well she looked. She no longer looked like a horse about to have twins (one of the symptoms of EMS is the bloating). People often said she was fat, but she wasn’t. You can see her ribs. It was bloating. The support from the natural herbs was having an effect. We do have to manage her COPD/Asthma with an outside stable, suitable bedding, soaked hay and during very hot days we hose her down, sometimes 3 times a day, especially around the gutteral pouch, as we have noted that getting very hot can cause her breathing to deteriorate. Pollen is one of her triggers too. We do have a supply of steroid tablets in case of an attack, which we use only about 3-4 times a year (we have to be careful as steroids can trigger laminitis and EMS makes them prone, although Kym has never had a laminitis attack). We have never had to call out the vet as an emergency for her asthma since putting her onto Hack Up.
At the same time as I put Kym onto Hack Up, I decided to also place Lomé also onto Hack Up. I had a long talk with Alex. Lomé is a timid but very genuine horse. If spooked/scared, he turns into a whirling dervish and becomes oblivious to anyone trying to handle him, which can make it very dangerous for the person. He also has degenerative joint disease predominantly in his front legs, although it is also present in the back ones. The calming supplement I was using may have helped a bit, but insufficiently. We noticed an immediate improvement in Lomé when we started giving him the Hack Up formulas (one for predominantly for calming and the other a joint supplement). After talking to Alex again the calming supplement dose was increased. Wow, what a difference! No one can believe what he used to be like. Then about 2 years ago when the vet came to do their annual checks, jabs and teeth, he was concerned with Lomé as he appears to have slight asthma. Once again I was on the phone to Alex. Karen and I had not picked up any respiratory issues. We do give him a small syringe of liquid AIR. Last year Lomé developed the thickest winter coat I’ve ever seen. We had him tested for Cushings. He appears to be on the cusp. I spoke to Alex again. He has changed his joint formula, taken out glucosamine as horses with Cushings can be prone to laminitis, and added other herbs to support.
We have also put Lomé and Kym on EquiGuard feel (the Muesli and Classic Pellets) which is suitable to horses with metabolic conditions such as laminitis, EMS, Cushings and tying up and this is now part of our feeding regime for all 4 horses.
They all look good.
We recommend Hack Up all the time as we have seen first hand the remarkable changes in our horses. I wished we had known about Hack Up earlier.
