Peek in Our Paks: Kit F. & Truffles
Ever wish you could take a sneak peek inside our horses’ SmartPaks? Now you can! Check out the supplements we love, for the horses we adore.
Get to Know Truffles
- SmartPaker: Kit F.
- Department: SmartBarns
- Horse: Truffles (ITS MY PARTY), 4yo Quarter Horse
- Discipline: Ranch
Truffles came into my life the way that every equestrian dreams of. She was a Christmas gift from my wife! At a little under 10 months old she made the trek from Iowa to Massachusetts and has been with us ever since. As of writing this, Truffles is 4 years old and living her best life being absolutely spoiled by me. Luckily, she earns every single Pizza Party Equi Treat she gets!
Truffles has been trained entirely by my wife and I, who have years of experience between us with young horses and training. Originally, we planned to show Truffles as a reiner. Turns out, she has all the maneuvers, but none of the motivation. She’s a laid-back girl! When we realized that she wasn’t interested in going fast, we decided to work on the rapidly expanding Ranch discipline, which is conveniently the same discipline our mustang mare, Winona, thrives in!
Since then, Truffles has really grown up and succeeds in her job. She’s done the lightest of showing (three walk/trot weekend shows in the Ranch division at our regional association) where she’s already won her first buckle by claiming Year End Reserve Champion for her efforts! To keep Truffles supported and ready for wherever her future takes her, I have a variety of supplements in her SmartPak.
Get to Know Truffles' Supplements
SmartDigest Ultra
First, and foremost, Truffles receives SmartDigest Ultra Pellets. I absolutely love this formula and I love that feeding it in SmartPaks makes her eligible for ColiCare. I’ve used it for all of my horses before Truffles even before I started working at SmartPak! It has an amazing profile of ingredients for hindgut support that promotes healthy digestive function and assists the bacteria that already live inside of the hindgut. Since Truffles is a growing girl and experiencing things like showing for the first time, hindgut support is a major priority for me. There’s some fantastic research behind the ingredients in this supplement as well which is one of my favorite things about it! For Truffles, I prefer to feed the pelleted version. She can be a little picky with powders, but pellets are an easy addition to her grain meals that ensure she’s actually eating her supplement.
SmartOsteo
The next supplement is also one that I am extremely passionate about, especially for young horses like Truffles. It’s SmartOsteo! Anyone at SmartPak can tell you I am absolutely obsessed with this supplement. It’s a lesser-known product that we offer, but it has some great ingredients and technology behind it. SmartOsteo is a bone supplement that includes a variety of ingredients targeted to support bone health and healing. For a growing horse, that’s a great inclusion to make! Additionally, this supplement contains boron, which I love becuase boron works alongside the vitamins and minerals included in the supplement to complement how they work within the horse, thereby making them more supportive overall. Also, this supplement has collagen, which is crucial for bone structure but also helps with tendons and ligaments. SmartOsteo is an amazing option for a growing horse like Truffles to make sure she has the best building blocks available for her to use!
Bye Bye Fly
Finally, in the summer I like to add Bye Bye Fly to Truffles’ SmartPak. Truffles, my little princess, is extremely sensitive to flies. She also hates wearing fly sheets. A buggy horse who hates wearing a fly sheet is a horrible combination, but if that is Truffles' one problem, I’m ok with managing it! In order to support her through the fly season, I include Bye Bye Fly in her SmartPak. It’s cost effective, tasty, and works great for our needs. Truffles is boarded at a facility with many other horses, some of which are or aren’t on fly control supplements. Since not every horse is on a fly control supplement, if I were to give her a feed through fly control supplement that worked in the manure it would be extremely ineffective in keeping the bugs down. Instead, using Bye Bye Fly is the best solution for her as it specifically makes her less attractive to the flies. Now, there are of course some of these flies that seem to think garlic is still tasty, but I always notice a difference in Truffles on this supplement versus a Truffles off of this supplement in fly season. It’s just not fun for either of us to have a very buggy horse!
Omneity
There is one other supplement that I’ve really grown to love that we carry and I feed to Truffles, although it is not currently offered in the SmartPak. That is Mad Barn’s Omneity. Truffles is your typical chunky quarter horse, so she doesn’t receive a full ration of her grain. In order to combat that, I give her Omenity. I love that this supplement offers more than the usual panel of vitamins and minerals you find in this category of supplement. Two of my favorite inclusions are the 980 IU of Vitamin E and 20mg of Biotin. A lot of other supplements would need that included separately, but Omenity has it added alongside everything else you need! Adding this to what Truffles receives in her SmartPak has really rounded out her nutrition profile.
With all these supplements included alongside her grain and hay, I feel secure knowing that Truffles receives everything she needs to be the perfect horse that she is!
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