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Helping your
horse drink it all in
Sunday, January 28, 2007
By Nancy Jaffer
That well-known saying "You can lead a horse to water, but you
can't make him drink" has been rewritten by a group of
women who have found a way to contradict the proverb.
"You lead 'em to water, we'll make 'em
drink" is the mantra of Nancy Issenman of Franklin
Township (Hunterdon County), Anne Kusmich of Hampton and
Leslie Reiss of New Hope, Pa., who are helping others
solve that age-old problem. |
Issenman, the retired Union Township (Union County)
municipal clerk and administrator, and her husband,
Superior Court Judge David Issenman, who sits in
Elizabeth, were trail riding with Kusmich a few years
ago when they stopped for lunch. Nancy Issenman
mentioned that her mount would never drink when she was
on a trail ride. That's not a good thing, because a
dehydrated horse can have all kinds of problems,
including colic.
"I'll bet he'll drink this," said Kusmich, who threw what she used
to call "a horsey cocktail" into a bucket and filled it
with water. Issenman's horse chugged the whole thing.
"What is that stuff?" asked the impressed Issenman, and Kusmich
explained it was a mixture she devised to tempt a
pregnant mare who had an aversion to water.
"I'm Italian. We're always trying to get our horses to
eat and drink," chuckled Kusmich.
During lunch, the trio
realized there probably was a market among other horse
owners for Kusmich's product. Over burgers that
afternoon, Horse Quencher was born. It has its own Web
site (www.horsequencher.com) as part of the women's
Equatic Solutions company.
A formula for the substance, which looks like granola
but contains molasses, beet pulp, and a host of other
ingredients, was developed with nutritionist John Fidler
at Pennfield Feeds, which manufactures it. The granola
floats on top of the water, tempting the horses to sip.
During a demonstration, the Issenmans' Kentucky mountain
saddle horses, Boots and Tucker, dived right in when the
substance was added to a bucket of water.
The judge isn't part of the company, but he offers
plenty of unpaid advice, such as suggesting that the
entrepreneurs offer a root beer flavor as well as apple,
peppermint and citrus, after he discovered one of his
horses enjoyed root beer barrel candies.
As an avid trail rider and driver, who keeps a surrey
with the fringe on top in his garage, the judge
understands the importance of encouraging horses to
knock back a bucket of liquid.
"Sometimes they're not smart enough to drink when
they're thirsty or when we know they need to drink. They
need encouragement if the water smells funny to them,"
he said.
"You know how it is if you turn on the tap in a hotel
room and you don't like the taste. Horses are even more
sensitive."
The product has gone over big with endurance and
competitive trail riders such as Sandy Terp of West
Portal in Hunterdon County.
"I travel from Maine to Florida, so it's important to
keep the horses hydrated while you're traveling. For
endurance, you need to start with a totally hydrated
horse," she said.
"You're asking them to work for a fairly long period of
time at a good speed. If they don't have the fluid in
their system and they become dehydrated, a lot of times
by the time their blood gets thick enough to trigger
them to drink, they're fairly dehydrated and you still
have miles to go. We know to drink ahead of time so we
don't get dehydrated. A horse who is going to have to be
out there for six more hours in the heat doesn't think
like that," added Terp, noting that can wreak havoc with
"their metabolic balance." |
