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Comet's Story

9th May 2012

Comet is 20yr old, Welsh x Arab 13.2 hh Palomino gelding. He sadly came into Helen White’s care in a very sorry state at the beginning of March 2012. “Looking at the pictures you can tell how poor Comet was when he arrived” Helen said. “He was literally crawling with lice and had sore, bald patches on his legs and back where his hair had fallen out.” Helen quickly treated the lice and clipped the remainder of his coat, completing his makeover with a visit from the equine dentist, a worming programme and arranging for the farrier to take off his shoes and trim his hooves.

Helen came to the decision to try Comet on a Dengie diet from the experience she had gathered from helping out in a friend’s tack shop, The Horse Boutique, a few years back. “From listening to customer feedback and handling the wide range of horse feed brands I previously decided to try my mare on Dengie. It just seemed to suit her and she always looks fab, so that’s why I chose Dengie for Comet” said Helen.

Helen started Comet on a diet of Alfa-A Oil, Alfa-Beet and Alfa-A Balancer, 3 feeds per day plus he was in a grass paddock through the day and stabled with ad lib hay at night.

One day after approx 4 weeks Helen noticed Comet seemed a little stiff and his hooves were warm, “I was worried about laminitis, I’ve never actually seen laminitis and wasn’t sure if this pony was prone to it” comments Helen. “My farrier assured me that Comet definitely didn’t have laminitis but perhaps he thought he was maybe a little stiff from being rode the day before.”

“When I next went to buy feed from my local stockist, I discussed the possibility of laminitis with them and they suggested trying Dengie Healthy Hooves, which I did. Comet is now on 2 feeds per day of Healthy Hooves & Alfa-Beet and is turned out in the grass paddock unless the weather is particularly horrendous in which case he's stabled with ad lib hay.”

Helen has also been bringing Comet back into work slowly as the poor little mite understandably didn’t have a lot of energy. “He now hacks out once or twice a week and has been doing some jumping. In the picture below he's jumping 85 cm with my daughter Emily, which is the highest she has achieved which is fantastic!” said Helen “He's really given her a lot of confidence and brought her on. This summer Emily and Comet are joining The Pony Club and looking forward to attending their local shows and weather permitting are hoping to get a few trips to the beach!!”

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