https://equipacs-631c3a55c63b6.subbly.me/blog <![CDATA[Blog]]> 2023-06-08T07:44:27+00:00 <![CDATA[Poonamis, Ponies and the Postpartum Balancing Act]]> https://equipacs-631c3a55c63b6.subbly.me/blog/poonamis-ponies-and-the-postpartum-balancing-act I leant back on the hospital bed, with the baby heartbeat monitor wrapped around my large bump, on FaceTime to my poor non-horsey parents who were attempting to muck out Ruby’s stable for me. It dawned on me then that life would absolutely not be the same again and that despite being used to being completely rushed off my feet every hour of the day, nothing was quite going to be like juggling a newborn with horsey life.

My waters had broken on Boxing Day, nearly a month earlier than my baby’s due date. I had absolutely nothing prepared and so my poor parents and best friend Beth immediately became in charge of Ruby. Already, I was having to learn to rely on and accept help from other people, something that I hadn’t been particularly good in the past, especially where Ruby was concerned.

Whenever you’re considering starting a family, or when you tell others that you’re expecting, it seems to be an unwritten law that people must offer you unsolicited advice such as the following:

‘You’ll have to sell the horse.’

‘You won’t ever have any time to ride.’

‘The baby will consume your whole life.’

Couple this with seeing adverts on Facebook for horses for sale or loan because the owner ‘doesn’t have enough time due to the arrival of their new baby’ and I was beginning to feel quite panicked.

I knew that I wanted to get back to the yard as soon as I possibly could. I wanted to get back into riding ASAP and I knew that I wanted to settle back into a routine with my new little team member in tow. But it certainly felt like an impossible task.

My son, Jago, was born 4 days later on the 30th December 2022. 3 weeks early, battered due to the traumatic delivery we had and very jaundiced whilst I had been cut open like an envelope downstairs after the Doctors realised that he was back-to-back, twisted and stuck. Cue a further 8 days in hospital to ensure that Jago was fit and well enough to come home for good.

Jago arrived home on the Friday, and by Sunday I had driven him (by myself, that feels like an achievement in itself!) to the yard to meet Ruby. Ruby ignored Jago, Jago slept through the whole thing and I don’t think my heart could have been fuller than in that moment.

For the following weeks, I began to get used to tackling all of my yard jobs with a tiny baby with me. As long as he was fed, changed and wrapped up super warm, he would snooze in the tack room whilst I rushed around making sure that Ruby was taken care of.

Beth and I worked it that one of us would turn out the horses in the morning and the other would bring in at night. However, as she works as a Nurse (hero), it made sense for me to turn out in the morning as often as I could.

At this point, Jago was solidly feeding every 3 hours without fail, so I could make this work in the morning that we’d leave after his 6/7/8 feed and be back home in time ready for his next one. However, as he’s gotten older and begins to sleep more at night, this becomes more challenging as his wake up time in the morning becomes more unpredictable! Cue further routine adjustments, bedtime adjustments and figuring out and I think we’re now just about getting there to ensure that we make it to the yard before 10am – with a pre-made bottle at the ready and a camping chair in the tack room specifically for feeding times.

As Jago becomes more awake and alert, the naps at the yard are becoming ever more elusive. This means finding more inventive ways to keep him happy whilst I bustle about making sure my stable is sorted for when Beth brings in of an evening. This can include listening to his favourite soundtrack of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ or doing the jobs with me in the sling (excellent weight training for me) and I know that I will need to come up with more and more ways as he gets older such as using an old highchair with toys attached or a travel cot in the tack room!

I also try to make sure that I’m extra prepared with hay nets and feeds, especially if I have an evening at the yard to myself where I can bulk-prepare everything for the week. This just saves extra time in the mornings if Jago really is finding the morning tough and I need to be extra speedy.

But with each new challenge, I feel so proud of being able to carry on in a similar way to before. To be able to keep Ruby, to ride and to look ahead to competing again all whilst spending every waking moment doting on and loving the socks off my new little boy. I certainly look forward to the day I can tell him about the time I had to change his poonami nappy on a bale of Jenkinson’s shavings in the tack room!

Having something to get up for in the morning, that I cannot make excuses for, has made the postpartum recovery far easier for me. I don’t do well at home by myself, I can very easily feel overwhelmed and down and so the yard and Ruby have become my sanctuary in that sense. It makes me get up in the morning, get both myself and Jago dressed and sorted and out of the house with a purpose.

At 6 weeks postpartum, I had the most important appointment for myself so far: the one where I would find out if I was able to sit back on Ruby again for the first time in 6 months…

 

Follow Cerys' story more closely on her instagram page: @DiaryOfMyDragon

]]> 2023-06-08T07:44:27+00:00 <![CDATA[NewsFlash📣]]> https://equipacs-631c3a55c63b6.subbly.me/blog/newsflash-4 EquiPacs were inspired by the belief that inside every horse is the making of a champion. We ensure your horse is treated like one every day, by providing supplement Pacs that bring out the best in your equine partner.

We have this statement front and centre on our home page of the EquiPacs website and feel that it is our duty to continue to provide your horses with the best options possible. This is exactly why EquiPacs has grown a very exciting branch on our tree and extended our family in the best way we know how. EquiPacs is incredibly excited to announce our collaboration with Pure Paddock! Pure Paddock is EquiPacs "sister from another mister" in so many ways. They share both our sustainability values as well as a commitment to providing quality, filler free products for your horse.
The Pure Paddock Essential Mix was created with one aim in mind – creating diversity within the horse’s diet to promote diversity within the hindgut microbial population. It represents an innovative feed that fully recognises just how important the hindgut microbiome is to equine health and well-being and seeks to promote microbial health and diversity by providing a diverse range of potentially beneficial herbs. The product is human grade, natural ingredients with fully compostable eco-friendly packaging – not just benefitting hind gut, but also the immune system, joints, coat, skin and hooves.
The Pure Paddock Essential Mix now features as an option when building our CustomPacs so you can quite simply have it all! Existing Pure Paddock customers can enjoy the benefits and convenience of feeding with the EquiPacs feeding system and our own customers can now enjoy a new product in their horses Pacs. The multitude of positive reviews Pure Paddock receives has us excited for another secret weapon when it comes to tempting fussy feeders. From the day the Pure Paddock stock arrived, our warehouse has been smelling like the Italian herbs in the bolognese mama used to make!

We caught up with the team at Pure Paddock to get their view on our new partnership:

I started following Equipacs on Instagram a month or so ago and I couldn’t believe that nobody had thought about combining supplements into one easy pack before! I am forever working away or leaving my horses in the capable hands of our yard; however it is so easy not to give the horses the right amount of supplement – and as my horses are of the ‘older generation’ I feel its important they get everything they need! When I virtually met with Hannah, her thoughts on sustainability and ensuring that horses get the best out of their supplements exactly matched ours and it was a match made in heaven! We are excited to work with Equipacs and continue to grow both our ‘smaller’ businesses.

The team here at EquiPacs put a lot of thought into this next step of reaching out to what some might call a "competitor" but that’s not how we see it at all. We want to provide the best for your horses that we can offer and we see the strength in what other companies can bring to the table. This is an exciting first step in a new direction for EquiPacs and definitely calls for a watch this space!

Be sure to check out the new Pure Paddock product on our Supplements page or head over to www.purepaddock.co.uk to learn more.

]]> 2023-05-23T10:28:12+00:00 <![CDATA[A Tale of Two Horses ]]> https://equipacs-631c3a55c63b6.subbly.me/blog/rhiannons-blog-2 I've known for years that our interests don't always align. That I want more, and she wants less, or at the very least, different.
I kept trying. I made sure there were other horses at each arena or XC hire. I held her hand through our first SJ comp as her little mind was blown.
In my heart of hearts, and sometimes right out in front of me, I know she's happiest when the pressure is off.
The pressure I put on her, because I didn't get the chance to compete as a kid and it’s been my secret dream ever since.

Galesa likes long rides with her friends, she likes polework and feeling fancy - but not too often - she loves fun rides and jumping -but not travelling or being alone. She especially loves clicker training, learning tricks, being smart and getting
rewards. Our slow time together grooming and scratching and sharing our heartbeats over a pile of hay.

I love all those things too, I just want to do them way more than she does. I don't want to go into the stable with her bridle and watch her turn away. We had one winter off work due to human injury, and all we did was chill and clicker train and be together. She came to me in the field each day, eager to play. Lined up at the mounting block by herself. Thrust her head into the bridle when it was time to start again. But when we did start in earnest, that all slipped away, and I ignored it.

But when a change of scenery and work and hock injections didn't dramatically change her interest, I could ignore it no longer. That’s not how I want to live my life, pushing her to do things she doesn’t enjoy, turning my head from her lessening joy. So, when the financial stars aligned, I opened my heart (and internet browser) to look for our Third.

I'm a fast mover, so within a fortnight I’d found Beanie.

I thought the hard part was over, but dear reader, sing it with me... 'it’s only just begun...'

I cried into her mane the day Beans passed her vetting. My relief and excitement at having found her evaporated and the reality hit.

The guilt hit. The worry that she would Know. The fear that I was betraying her, that somehow the love I would feel for Beanie would lessen the bond I had created over the years with Galesa. Beans is here for a good time, that's her job with me. To get me out experiencing all the excitement I've dreamt of since I was a little 7 year old in my first pair of jodhpurs. But what if all that excitement left my quieter life with Galesa feeling a little flat? She always knows everything I'm feeling (lets' face it, everyone does 'cos my face is an emotion display screen and my unwitting motto is 'feel a feeling say a feeling').

What had I done?!

 

Follow Rhiannon, Galesa and Beanie's story more closely on their instagram page: @ride_a_roo

]]> 2023-04-26T08:52:44+00:00 <![CDATA[Why I Forage for My Pony]]> https://equipacs-631c3a55c63b6.subbly.me/blog/why-i-forage-for-my-pony-12  

My foraging activities began with stinging nettles of all things! When my daughters little welshie got caught with a mild bout of laminitis thanks to the spring grass despite strict management I felt so bad that during this period she was on none or next to no turn out at all. I wanted to do all I could to speed up her recovery so that we could get her back to enjoying herself.

Luckily for us the yard manager who began running our yard at the beginning of her recovery had a keen interesting in natural remedies. She suggested we try offering her dried nettles as they are known to contain many useful components that have anti inflammatory properties as well as absorbing free radicals damage caused by stress. So armed with marigolds, a bucket, and long armed sheers I began trimming down stingers all around our yard.

Turns out the pony loved them, so much in fact she didn’t even need them dried. I think fresh and tingly is like sherbert to her. Despite getting stung on a regular basis I carried on hunting out patches of nettles. I had to start searching further a field to satisfy her tastes too, turns out they don’t regrow as quickly as I expected.

They may not be mans best friend but some ponies just can’t get enough of them.

As well as knowing they were helping her aliment it was also nice to know I could give her some fresh greens to keep her diet varied when her grazing was very bare.

She loved the sight of her bowl coming with her afternoon snack. I think it became good enrichment breaking up her stable time.

I decided to enrich her snacks still further by adding in other plants. Obviously, I had to do my research and be careful to identify the correct plants to make sure I only fed her horse safe goodies. Over the course of the summer, we built her quite a salad including cleaver, dandelion, cow parsley, willowherb and plantin leaves to name just a few things that were all growing naturally around our locality.

I’m sure others forage all year round, but I found it harder to do as winter set in and although we were able to give pony more turn out I still wanted to support her nutrition. This is when I discovered Equipacs via a friend on the yard. The reason I love them is because Hannah selects natural ingredients which I believe is important to make it easier for the horses to absorb them. Even better is that when spring comes again I can resume foraging alongside her Equipac as they will work safely together. So our lucky pony gets the best support we can give her as naturally as possible and that is why despite foraging being time consuming I choose to do it for my pony because its rewarding, free and a skill that’s worth keeping alive so that its not lost!

If you want to give it a go my advice is do your research before hand and if you have someone in your world who already has experience soak up their real-life experience. There is also a great facebook group called Equibiome.

 

A guest blog written for Equipacs by grateful customer Hazel Weyman based on her experiences with her pony Willow.

 

Be sure to stop and explore Hazel's own business, Busy Keys! www.busykeys.co.uk

]]> 2023-04-12T13:30:20+00:00 <![CDATA[NewsFlash📣]]> https://equipacs-631c3a55c63b6.subbly.me/blog/newsflash Here at EquiPacs we are kicking off 2023 with a bang! Our Pacs have been popular with equestrians across the world and we have finally taken the first steps to becoming a global reaching company. Our first two years we spent getting to grips with the process needed to run and expand our business in our own backyard. EquiPacs has been hugely popular within the UK market and we have had to painfully turn down enquiries from around the world as we just did not have the capacity, facilities, processes or man power to fulfil these orders to our highest of standards.

 

After months of development we are excited to launch our new website designed by Cyphas Solutions. This has been an absolute labour of love and we have held it close to our chest until we new it was perfect! Our new website offers customers an ease of use design where they can completely build their own unique Pac. Creating and managing your horses EquiPac has never been this seamless.

 

For our EU customers this is where things get exciting – as our website will now accept orders in Euro for all EU member countries. This is the beginning of an exciting journey for the EquiPacs team and only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to expanding and developing our company. The EU is home to over 7 million working horses and we believe that there could be a Pac for all of them. We plan to begin exploring and working with local suppliers to create products and meet the demands of the customers local to these areas and continue using ingredients they already know, trust and love. There are even discussions of an EquiPacs EU HQ on the table so we can better manufacture, distribute and provide our 5* customers service locally.

 

As always thank you for being a part of this crazy journey and making all of this possible. We are excited for the year ahead and this next step in our EquiPacs story!

]]> 2023-03-24T09:47:47+00:00 <![CDATA[Humble Beginings]]> https://equipacs-631c3a55c63b6.subbly.me/blog/our-history-1/humble-beginings The first EquiPacs spark was quite literally thrown up in conversation on the couch in the living room one morning. My mum had always complained about how complicated making the horse's feeds was and how confusing the feed chart was. To my horror, she admitted that they just didn’t get their supplements whenever I was away! I casually mentioned premaking the supplements in little bags and it was a silent eureka moment around the room as we all realised that actually, something like that would be a really good idea! I spent the rest of that day brainstorming what this magic company would be and at the end of it we pretty much had the name EquiPacs and that was it.

 

Now, this was 2016, and "EquiPacs" bounced around our family for a while. Everyone told me it was a good idea, but no one really knew how or where to start. We eventually pulled ourselves together enough to "launch" with a very homemade logo and Square Space website with our 3 PrePacs. The Everyday, Veteran and Competition Pac. It’s safe to say I didn't sell one and after a year or so things fizzled out and we took the website down. 

 

EquiPacs was like an itch I couldn’t scratch. It was always there, in the back of my head. I had tried (albeit half-hearted) and it failed miserably so what was the point in trying again? But I constantly wondered what if..

What if it worked?

What if I hadn’t given up?

What if it took off?

 

So I started working on it again. I made a fancy new logo - the famous gold and navy horses you may all recognise today. I set up Facebook and Instagram as social media was taking off "in those days". We got fancy packaging and made improvements to the website and once again we "launched" EquiPacs.

 

I didn't sell any.

 

I remember my family really giving me an ultimatum in that I either had to try my heart out or lay it to rest and never think about it again. I decided the EquiPacs dream just wasn’t meant to be..

 

In 2019 after years of working directly in the Equine Industry, I finally gave up on that dream too. I got a 9-5 in an office and decided it was time I grow up on all fronts. Then in March 2020 those famous Covid bells started ringing and I found myself furloughed, at home and with absolutely nothing to do. EquiPacs crept back into my mind... 


I dug out the logo, fired up the website and got to work. I was older, and more passionate about things such as the environment and sustainability and began pouring everything into a business model. I found suppliers and began creating our own supplements, free from all the bulkers and fillers I was fed up of seeing in products when looking for my own horses. I found local suppliers for virtually everything and started investing in stock for our 3rd and final launch. It was absolutely terrifying but come January 4th 2021 EquiPacs well and truly LAUNCHED and I’ve never looked back since. 

 

Now, don’t get me wrong and don’t think this has been plain sailing ever since. In January 2021 we got our first official EquiPacs customer and she signed up on January 31st, just when I was losing all hope. Then on February 1 another person signed up. Then 2 in March and 5 in April and so on and so on. I experienced losing our first customer, through no fault of our own but because that’s life and inevitable in a subscription-based business. At first, I always took it so personally and I would focus on the one person who left rather than the 10 who signed up - it was all a learning curve. 

 

Our first year was a year full of firsts and full of learning. Our second year we mostly spent learning our to cope and fulfil orders. Now, in 2023 our third year we are all about solidifying EquiPacs and throwing our hearts and souls into her. We've moved into EquiPacs' first official home, we have big plans for expanding our reach and working with larger equestrian facilities. We are growing our team, planning shows and events and all of this while staying small, staying humble and staying true to what EquiPacs was started to be.

 

EquiPacs is for everyone. It's for the everyday owner and rider, it's a bit of luxury, its a bit of ease and its a bit of good for the planet. EquiPacs isn’t about 100K followers, big brand deals and global takeover. EquiPacs will always be that personal touch, genuine care, and small-town vibe because I will be here to be sure of it. I’m excited about where this journey is going and what I could be writing in a post similar to this in 3 years' time! But for now, I'm grateful for the journey so far and for 2023 to be our most exciting year yet!

 

\u2661Hannah

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