LegUpforTalent SponsorMeDirect Programme

LegUpforTalent 
The LegUpforTalent SponsorMeDirect Programme represents a completely new approach for talented young riders to secure grassroots sponsorship.

Traditionally, sponsorship is available only to a limited few professionals at the top of our sport, who are able to provide sufficient media exposure to satisfy sponsorship investment. 

Even at this level, due to the restrictive coverage of the mainstream media, sponsorship has never been in line with the phenomenal achievements of our top riders. At grassroots level, sponsorship is even more difficult to secure, being mainly based on the generosity and good will of companies or passionate individuals. Yet, it is particularly at this level that funding is essential if the early interest of young talent is to be embraced and ability nurtured; so that with continued commitment, passion and ambition they can one day represent their country.

The LegUpforTalent SponsorMeDirect Programme introduces a unique and dynamic partnership between selected LegUpforTalent Stars and their Sponsors in which, through consistent and monitored social media activities, an extremely high return on sponsorship investment can be obtained to the mutual benefit of both parties.

​LegUpForTalent Star Turning dreams into reality: 

I am an amateur rider from Oxfordshire, excited to be part of the leguptalent team. 

45 yrs young and work office admin full time. I gave up working with horses in my 20’s so I could have a bit more money and time to spend on my own. 

Horses are a family affair in the Clancy/East household. Dad comes to every outing he can and gives me constant 24 hr support at home with the horses’ day to day care.We have always owned at least one RC/all-rounder in the family and I owe my experience and confidence to these boys and girl. I have always been a competitive rider thriving on the jump / xc thrill but now I have dressage as my first passion all thanks to Alfie my ex racer. 

In his first year of dressage training/competing we qualified for Trailblazers Prelim and RoR Prelim. He coped with the finals pressure very well and got himself some good placings over the Trailblazer weekend in the showing and dsg classes. 

2014 we had the pleasure of taking part in the TSR HOYS Showing Pathway scheme and gained lots of knowledge and experience at the TSR July show with the other shortlisted riders.

June 2015 we started competing Novice Dressage and will aim at some BD Novice classes at the end of the year and hopefully some music classes.

2015 aims are to do as well if not better at the RoR finals and make our debut at the Prelim Summer Regionals: Sometimes the atmosphere gets both Alfie and I a bit worked up but it’s all improving day by day. 2014 Alfie won loads of lovely in kind prizes Dsg and Showing and I have to kick myself from time to time and remind myself that 2015 is only our second season together. 

Alfie came to us as we thought my orange ninja (Coffee) would not come back into work due to multiple issues he had been suffering but following a period of time out in the field he seems to have grown into his own body and is proving willing to come back into work. 

So 2015/2016 looks likely to become a two horse competition family once more.

My inspiration has to be awarded to Alfie he is my rock and has given me so much confidence that I unfortunately lost when Coffee wasn’t doing very well. Let’s just say I spent more time with my bum on the floor than in the saddle…ouchy !!!

All our horses have a home for life with us where possible. Not so long ago the place was full of OAPs. We are now an equine family of three with our 21yr old loving retirement at a friend’s yard a few villages away. 

To be honest I don’t have much time for anything else, I do like to veg out in front of some good TV at the end of the long day with the computer on chatting about the day’s excitement and catching up with my online friends before bed. I look forward to sharing my equine journey with everyone​

If you would like to join me on my journey please come along and visit my blogs /sways /facebook /twitter pages. 

I would love to hear from companies who would like to be part of this dynamic initiative that provides an excellent opportunity for LegUpforTalent Stars to showcase products and services of their sponsors. 

You can find me at https://www.facebook.com/Orchardholding or https://www.facebook.com/gaelann

Feed Routine for Imperial Coffee: Aiming for a heathier happier tummy

Feed Routine for Imperial Coffee

2014 - 2015: So many routines and feeds changed and tired though the last year: Making a change and think your doing the best but a slight improvement soon turns sour again and behavioural issues continued. Clean slate starting from scratch plus the Sea Salt update to follow ​

August 2015: So we are onto the next feed trial with Red Rufus /Agrobs Pre Alpin horse feeds/UK

Facebook Feed review We have moved over to Pre Alpin Wiesencobs (Meadow Cobs), Pre Alpin Aspero and Alpengrun Musli (Alpine Forage Muesli)... We have sampled these feeds and the horses loved all the samples posted out to us, thanks to the generosity of Red Rufus.

Pre Alpin Wiesencobs Hay cube blend of more than 60 meadow grasses and herbs from the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. 100% natural high fibre cube - no additives, preservatives, binders or fillers! Perfect basic feed for all horses - the careful production method preserves the integrity of the grasses and herbs thus retaining 86% of the nutrient value and therefore providing your horse with a totally naturual product that is highly nutritious and low in sugar and starch

Protein 9.9% Oil 2.4% Fibre 27% Digestible Energy 7.87mj/kg Sugar 7.2% Starch 1%. 

Pre Alpin Aspero A heavenly blend of 60 grasses and herbs from the foothills of the Bavarian Alps lightly sprayed with cold pressed linseed (2% added) a free flow chop/chaff.  100% pure and natural - Agrobs never use preservatives, additives , binders or fillers in their feed

Protein 8.3% Oil 3% Digestible energy 8.38 mj/kg Sugar 6.3% Starch <0.01%

Alpengrun Musli Highly nutritious - packed with vitamins. minerals and anti-oxidants for your horses health and vitality. The base is Agrobs 60 grasses and herbs from the foothills of the Bavarian Alps with the addition of the following ingredients: Parsnip, carrot and beetroot which deliver highly digestible fibre, organically bonded minerals and vitamins as well as secondary plant nutrients. Sunflower seeds, linseed and black cumin pellets aid digestion and provides essential fatty acids. Vitamin rich apple pulp with its pectin content supports your horses intestinal flora. Marigold and cornflower blossoms, rose hips, raspberry and blackberry leaves for added vitamins and nutrients. All these 100% pure and natural ingredients make up a very unique and complete feed!

Protein 9.78% Oil 5.9% Digestible Energy 9.8mj/kg Sugar 7.9% Starch 1.8%

Our standard round scoop weighs 520gms​

July 2015 

We moved on to Emerald Green Feeds Grass Pellets a natural high value feed.  By cutting the grass during its optimum stage of growth & flash drying at a high temperature we are able to lock in all the vitamins & minerals essential to your horses health & well being

Protein % 16 Fibre % 25 Oil % 4 Digestible Energy mj/kg 11 Sugar % 10.4 

All seemed to be going well but still very very itchy so the Chaff was taken out of the routine and the lesser protein combination seems to have resulted in a less itchy behaviour by the end of July​

June / July 2015 

We tried Thunderbrook Equestrian Base Mix and Healthy Herb Chaff 

Whilst continuing to supplement with Equine Science Stomach Function and Calmer Supplement 

Adding A Desert Spoon of Sea Salt Am and Pm

The Healthy Herby Chaff is a very palatable late cut meadow grass, dried and chopped, with added herbs and a light coating of quality linseed oil. Naturally high fibre and low sugar, yet still smells and tastes great No molasses! No preservatives No Soya No chemical processing with caustic soda to soften the chaff. No added waste byproduct fibre. Dehydrated grass, linseed oil, chamomile flowers and leaves dried, lemon balm dried, mint leaves dried.

Protein 13%

The Base Mix is a concentrated balanced base feed. Ideal for all horses of all disciplines. Contains the essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, nucleic acids, natural vitamins, minerals, over 100 anti-oxidants, metabolic cofactors and other micro-nutrients in a form both bioavailable and clean. Contains no wheat, wheatfeed, oatfeed, soya, legumes, sugar beet, molasses, alfalfa, soya oil, corn oil, mixed vegetable oil or waste by-products from human oat or wheat food milling and production. Superior Ratio of beneficial omega-3 polyunsaturates Added prebiotics, probiotics, fruits, herbs and botanicals

Oil (24%), Protein (22%), Starch (10%), Sugar (2.8%), Fibre (5.75%), DE=15.5MJ/kg

We struggled with feeding the Base Mix. Its great you only need to feed a small amount. It is fully packed with lots of goodness and nothing else is needed but it's a very fine powder like feed so if dry one snorting breath and the feed is lost on the floor. Too much water and the textures is like old dough and not very appealing. It was difficult to feed supplements as there was so little to mix with. Unfortunately I saw a weight gain not a weight loss on the lower limit of 250g fed. There was improvement with footiness and it seemed to be helping with the tummy issues.

So we had to go back onto a small amount of Fast Fibre to allow the supplements to mix

The Herby Chaff was a big hit but if It was too wet mixed with the Base Mix Imperial Coffee left some of his dinner. With the supplements mixed into such a small feed I couldn't afford for any to be left

RenaSan Review

http://www.renasan.co.uk

The world leaders in hypochlorous technology with the RenaSan range of antiseptic sprays.

Hypochlorous is produced naturally in human and animal immune systems. It is the substance that the cells in our bodies use to fight infections and kill invading pathogens. Hypochlorous is not only one of the most effective known biocides capable of killing 99.9999% of all pathogens, it is also the safest and poses no risk to animals or humans. It is also readily biodegradable and completely environmentally friendly. It is non-toxic, pH balanced to horses skin, non-sting and contains no steroids, alcohol or preservatives.

As a Legupfortalent Star kindly supported by RenaSan I was introduced to the Equine Antiseptic Spray as I had a sunburnt pink nosed horse a few months ago. Since then I havent looked back and seem to have needed the spray for a multitude of issues.

My Orange Ninja is well known for getting himself into trouble and this year he just couldnt contain all his itches. He found everything and anything he could to scratch on. He found an open top door he could scratch against which was a little old and worse for wear. The door didnt survive the scratch and unfortunately a small wood shard ended up in his neck. The other side of his neck was also gashed from scratching on an apple tree.

With an immune system not 100% at the moment recovery is often slow for cuts and scratches but using the spray kept the areas clean and aided mend time. The gash was clearing up in no time but we had a small amount of debris still left in the other cut. After hot clothing with warm salt water for a few nights we finally had a pus explosion and the debris pushed itself out of the small hard lump on his neck. we immediately got the spray working to aid recovery and fight off any infection




Generally when I see him itch the spray comes out immediately to try and neutralize all the itchy bits. This way we have less need to itch and coat looking a lot less like the patch work of scabs we had previously.

We are also using the spray on his Sarcoids. This is a work in progress as we do need to rebuild his immune system but we have seen some changes to the sarcoids already and I can have peace of mind I am blasting all the yukkiness that comes with the flies landing and feeding on them.

The Wound Angel bottle is a permanent fixture of our trailer/show medical kit

The Equine Antiseptic Spray bottle is a permanent fixture of the tack room 

Not just for the horses. I am also now a human converted. I have never had great skin and I have bad habits when it comes to itchy and picking spots. Now I just spray myself in the mornings after the horses have had their turn. Spots dry up, scab over and peel away quicker and there is less itching so I am not so drawn to scratching the areas. 

Bites: Whilst at a show the other weekend both myself and my horse were bitten by a mossi I even saw the horrid thing in action as it landed on my horse. My poor horse immediately swelled up and become very uncomfortable. At this point I didn't have the spray as part of the first aid kit so I smothered the area with some antihistamine cream until we got home. The swelling started to move down my horses shoulder getting larger and larger. At home I sprayed all the swollen area with the Equine Antiseptic Spray and prayed I could get the saddle back on soon. We only needed a few days rest, the swelling went down, the heat reduced and I found a really small bite area that had scabbed over just by his wither. It wasn't long before the scabby area was all clean and dry again.