Phoenix Company

“Cooler Energy” refers to the calm reserves of useful stamina that can result from replacing high starch grain based feed with lower starch components that provide concentrated useable energy. By limiting grain ingredients in the ration your horses digestive system can function in a more natural way. Horses are grazing animals that evolved to consume high fiber, low starch, roughage as their primary source of nutrition. Many natural plant food sources also provide a significant amount of naturally occurring vegetable fat that the horses system readily identifies and utilizes for energy. What a horse did not naturally eat, was a large amount of mature grain. We humans decided that was a good idea, not the horse.

High levels of grain in a feeding program alter the effectiveness of the digestive system with little benefit in return. Supplementing with high starch feeds can elevate blood glucose levels resulting in what we commonly recognize as “grain high” or nervous excitability. This type of “hot energy” is rarely beneficial to the horse or the rider. Additionally, grain based rations, when fed in significant amounts, may pass through the upper part of the digestive system undigested to ferment in the hind gut.  The result is a new set of problems. Fermenting high starch grains can alter the environment that sustains a healthy population of beneficial bacteria. These beneficial bacteria are necessary in the hind gut, and assist in breaking down the roughage that a horse has eaten for efficient digestion. Proper digestion of roughage is the most natural utilization of available nutrition.

So, what do you do to provide additional useful energy when more is needed than that provided by the hay?  The best answer is to provide an energy dense source of “Cooler Energy” with as little disruption to the natural function of the digestive system as possible. The Answer is Renew Gold™.

If you have questions contact us today.

We are commonly asked if Renew Gold is a feed or a supplement. Interesting question, so let’s look at what the difference is when talking about equine nutrition.

What’s a feed?

An equine feed is most often sold in large bags with recommended feeding rates of five pounds per day or more, sometimes much more. The most common source of energy in feeds is a blend of grain and grain by products. The protein source in most feeds is also usually grain based, but, in low quality feeds may be from other sources.

Many feeds are formulated to meet their printed label guarantees at the lowest cost by reformulating every week with different components. This is called “least cost formulating”. While the protein, fat and fiber levels may be the same from bag to bag, the actual product inside may not be. In general, the easiest way to spot a “least cost formulated” feed is to look for a tag on the bag that lists the nutritional information rather than having that information printed directly on the bag. If the manufacturer is constantly changing the formulation as ingredient pricing varies, it is easier to change the ingredient list on a tag than on a pre-printed bag.

When a feed product is made to the same formulation every time, no matter how the ingredient costs vary, it is called “Fixed Formulating”. Usually, a fixed formulated product will have the ingredients printed directly on the bag. The exception to this might be bulk packaging for large users, but in general, fully printed retail store packaging means “Fixed Formulation” and the consistency that goes with getting exactly the same product every time you buy.

What’s a supplement?

When we think about supplements for horses, we usually imagine a small bucket with a little scoop inside. The recommendations for use commonly tell us to feed one or two of these little scoops per day. The goal here is to supplement deficient, or totally missing, pieces of the nutrition puzzle. This can be of value in some situations, but many supplements are not what they seem

As a person who has formulated many equine supplements over the last twenty years, I can speak with some authority on the subject. Not all equine supplements are created equal. The equine supplement market is a very competitive place, and quite price sensitive. There are a number of different ways to compete in this market. Let’s take a look at some of those ways.

The first is to use low quality components and provide an inexpensive product. For the horse owner, this is usually money wasted, no matter how inexpensive the product may seem. If the ingredient quality is low, it is seldom utilized by the horse in the manner promised on the label.

The second is to lie about what you put in the product. This is more common than you might think, and very hard for the consumer to detect, other than lack of result from the product. With the financial problems we have in most states, product testing by state regulatory agencies is not as common as it used to be. Many low quality manufactures know this and take advantage of the situation by making products that simply do not contain what the label states.

The third is to use high quality ingredients and charge more for the finished product. If the product is well formulated, and the feeding rate is proper, the results can justify the added expense in some cases.  The best equine supplements follow this course, and, while usually expensive, can work for the horse and its owner unless you fall into the next scenario listed below.

The fourth might be the most confusing. That is to use quality ingredients and have accurate ingredient guarantees, but lower the recommended feed rate to hit a lower price per day. I see this often with higher priced supplements. They may work well if you use a higher feed rate, but the maker is afraid that you will not buy the product if you really knew how much you needed to feed, and how much that would cost, for your horse to get the response from the product that the maker promises.

This is where Renew Gold is different.

Renew Gold creates its own category between feeds and  supplements. It could best be called a bio-supplement. While we commonly refer to the value of Renew Gold in replacing high starch grain based feeds in the ration, we also see significant benefits in its ability to reduce or eliminate the need for many supplements in the ration. Unless there are specific underlying health problems in a horse there should be little need for added supplementation in a proper diet being digested by a healthy and efficient digestive system.  If you are adding a digestive aid, hoof conditioner, coat conditioning product, or vitamin supplement, Renew Gold, with its ability to maximize digestive efficiency can greatly simplify your program.

While we see benefits from Renew Gold with very small inclusions in the diet, this product is feed at significantly higher feed rates than commonly used in “equine supplements”. The result of this is that you actually feed enough to make the desired changes that you seek, while commonly lowering total daily costs.

It is interesting that, as a group, horse owners who use large amounts of grain based feed also use large amounts of supplements to try to address the problems generated by those large feed inclusions. Renew Gold is a better answer. Removing the high starch, grain based roadblocks and maximizing digestive efficiency in your horse can provide much of the health support that you try to address with a long, expensive list of additives. In addition, simplifying your feeding program saves money, and makes consistent day to day nutrition more assured. Something we all can enjoy.

If you have questions contact us today.

It is truly amazing how the diagnoses and treatment of equine maladies has changed in recent years. Those of us who have been around longer than a horses full life span remember a time before the common horse owner used terms like PSSM, IR, EPM, and Cushing’s when describing their horses health. These conditions were certainly present, but usually classified under broader generic terms, and only really understood by their vet. To yesterday’s horse owner either the horse thrived and was healthy or it was a “hard keeper”.

How times change. Access to extensive research information, both in print and on the internet, has elevated the understanding of underlying health challenges to a new level by the average horse owner. Today, we seldom hear the term “hard keeper” while working with our customers.  Instead, many informed customers ask how to best feed their horses while taking specific health conditions into consideration. While some equine health issues can be genetic, many are related to the horse’s environment. Activity levels, exercise regimen, available turn-out time in an open area, stall size, interaction with other horses and nutrition all influence a horse’s health. Taking all of these factors into consideration can help minimize the effect of otherwise debilitating conditions.

Looking at feeding programs for horses with Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (PSSM), one form of tying–up in horses, versus a feeding program for something basically unrelated like Insulin Resistance, we see clear similarities between the two. In both cases the horse can benefit from a normalized digestive system that avoids high starch level concentrates. Better utilization of the roughage (hay) in the diet by improving hind gut efficiency results in consistent utilization of available nutrition and pays large dividends for these horses.

If you expand your attention to many of the other chronic health issues that affect today's domesticated horse, you see that most current research will lead you to the same basic conclusion. Speaking broadly, feeding a horse in a way that better utilizes its roughage as the primary energy source, while providing any needed additional energy with the smallest footprint in the digestive system, will usually result in a horse that is more likely to be and stay healthy.

This is the goal of our feeding philosophy. First, feed the best hay that you can buy. Second, avoid overpowering the upper GI tract with more starch than it can handle. Third, normalize the PH in the hind gut so that the digestion of the roughage source is as efficient as possible. The result will be what we are all looking for, a horse that thrives.

I once heard the story about a person who, trying to make a point about avoiding confusion, said “Simplify, Simplify, Simplify”. Upon hearing this, his mentor said, “I think one Simplify would have sufficed”.

If you have questions contact us today.

We are commonly asked if Renew Gold is a feed or a supplement. Interesting question, so let’s look at what the difference is when talking about equine nutrition.

What’s a feed?

An equine feed is most often sold in large bags with recommended feeding rates of five pounds per day or more, sometimes much more. The most common source of energy in feeds is a blend of grain and grain by products. The protein source in most feeds is also usually grain based, but, in low quality feeds may be from other sources.

Many feeds are formulated to meet their printed label guarantees at the lowest cost by reformulating every week with different components. This is called “least cost formulating”. While the protein, fat and fiber levels may be the same from bag to bag, the actual product inside may not be. In general, the easiest way to spot a “least cost formulated” feed is to look for a tag on the bag that lists the nutritional information rather than having that information printed directly on the bag. If the manufacturer is constantly changing the formulation as ingredient pricing varies, it is easier to change the ingredient list on a tag than on a pre-printed bag.

When a feed product is made to the same formulation every time, no matter how the ingredient costs vary, it is called “Fixed Formulating”. Usually, a fixed formulated product will have the ingredients printed directly on the bag. The exception to this might be bulk packaging for large users, but in general, fully printed retail store packaging means “Fixed Formulation” and the consistency that goes with getting exactly the same product every time you buy.

What’s a supplement?

When we think about supplements for horses, we usually imagine a small bucket with a little scoop inside. The recommendations for use commonly tell us to feed one or two of these little scoops per day. The goal here is to supplement deficient, or totally missing, pieces of the nutrition puzzle. This can be of value in some situations, but many supplements are not what they seem

As a person who has formulated many equine supplements over the last twenty years, I can speak with some authority on the subject. Not all equine supplements are created equal. The equine supplement market is a very competitive place, and quite price sensitive. There are a number of different ways to compete in this market. Let’s take a look at some of those ways.

The first is to use low quality components and provide an inexpensive product. For the horse owner, this is usually money wasted, no matter how inexpensive the product may seem. If the ingredient quality is low, it is seldom utilized by the horse in the manner promised on the label.

The second is to lie about what you put in the product. This is more common than you might think, and very hard for the consumer to detect, other than lack of result from the product. With the financial problems we have in most states, product testing by state regulatory agencies is not as common as it used to be. Many low quality manufactures know this and take advantage of the situation by making products that simply do not contain what the label states.

The third is to use high quality ingredients and charge more for the finished product. If the product is well formulated, and the feeding rate is proper, the results can justify the added expense in some cases.  The best equine supplements follow this course, and, while usually expensive, can work for the horse and its owner unless you fall into the next scenario listed below.

The fourth might be the most confusing. That is to use quality ingredients and have accurate ingredient guarantees, but lower the recommended feed rate to hit a lower price per day. I see this often with higher priced supplements. They may work well if you use a higher feed rate, but the maker is afraid that you will not buy the product if you really knew how much you needed to feed, and how much that would cost, for your horse to get the response from the product that the maker promises.

This is where Renew Gold is different.

Renew Gold creates its own category between feeds and  supplements. It could best be called a bio-supplement. While we commonly refer to the value of Renew Gold in replacing high starch grain based feeds in the ration, we also see significant benefits in its ability to reduce or eliminate the need for many supplements in the ration. Unless there are specific underlying health problems in a horse there should be little need for added supplementation in a proper diet being digested by a healthy and efficient digestive system.  If you are adding a digestive aid, hoof conditioner, coat conditioning product, or vitamin supplement, Renew Gold, with its ability to maximize digestive efficiency can greatly simplify your program.

While we see benefits from Renew Gold with very small inclusions in the diet, this product is feed at significantly higher feed rates than commonly used in “equine supplements”. The result of this is that you actually feed enough to make the desired changes that you seek, while commonly lowering total daily costs.

It is interesting that, as a group, horse owners who use large amounts of grain based feed also use large amounts of supplements to try to address the problems generated by those large feed inclusions. Renew Gold is a better answer. Removing the high starch, grain based roadblocks and maximizing digestive efficiency in your horse can provide much of the health support that you try to address with a long, expensive list of additives. In addition, simplifying your feeding program saves money, and makes consistent day to day nutrition more assured. Something we all can enjoy.

If you have questions contact us today.

Supplementing your horses feeding program can be confusing at best, and downright intimidating at worst. What, other than hay, does my horse need? How much is too much? How much is not enough? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could provide an efficient, healthy program, and do so without wasting money and time? Perhaps you can.

Let’s look at just what a horse is designed to use as nutrition, and what fits into the digestive system. First off, a horse is a grazing animal. As they evolved they found the nutrition that they needed by eating what surrounded them in their environment in a fairly constant feeding process. Energy requirements beyond what is needed just to maintain body function was limited to the flight requirements that put them a safe distance from predators and to provide energy to raise their young. If a geographic area contained readily available food sources that met basic energy requirements, vitamin and mineral needs, and an abundant water supply the equine population flourished. Typically, feeding performance horses today has very little in common with that scenario, and for some very good reasons.

Horses in training for performance or being fitted for the show ring have additional energy requirements that need to be met on a daily basis. As a base energy source most of us use a roughage source like baled hay, or some variation thereof, to provide the bulk of our horses energy requirements. The challenge is what to use when more energy is required than can be met with just hay.

This is where concentrates come into the picture. Traditionally this means grain based feeds, and often lots of it. The challenge with this “traditional” feed support is that there is just not a place in the digestive system for more than a few pounds of high starch feed to be effectively utilized without causing a disruption of the whole system. Most feed companies are also brokers of grain to other markets, and putting a high amount of high starch grain into your horse gives them another place to sell the commodities that they own.  This makes up most of the product lines that you see in your feed store today. While many “newer” products from the major manufactures tout that they are now providing a lower starch level, they still recommend that you feed between four and ten pounds of those products per day. If you feed once or twice per day, you are still overloading the system with a higher total starch load than we believe it is equipped to handle.

We have proven that raising natural vegetable fat levels and lowering the total starch load in the ration with our formulations allows us to provide your horse with the needed additional energy without confusing the digestive system. Natural function is the best function. Meeting supplemental energy needs with a one pound inclusion of Renew Gold, instead of five pounds of grain based feed clearly allows for a more natural function and a more effective result.

Renewing your horses feeding program by removing significant amounts of concentrate allows every element of the digestive system to function much nearer to its optimum level, and do more with less. This means less health risk, less vet bills and less spent at the end of the month for feed that contributes little or no support to the nutritional needs of your horse.

If you have questions contact us today.

“Cooler Energy” refers to the calm reserves of useful stamina that can result from replacing high starch grain based feed with lower starch components that provide concentrated useable energy. By limiting grain ingredients in the ration your horses digestive system can function in a more natural way. Horses are grazing animals that evolved to consume high fiber, low starch, roughage as their primary source of nutrition. Many natural plant food sources also provide a significant amount of naturally occurring vegetable fat that the horses system readily identifies and utilizes for energy. What a horse did not naturally eat, was a large amount of mature grain. We humans decided that was a good idea, not the horse.

High levels of grain in a feeding program alter the effectiveness of the digestive system with little benefit in return. Supplementing with high starch feeds can elevate blood glucose levels resulting in what we commonly recognize as “grain high” or nervous excitability. This type of “hot energy” is rarely beneficial to the horse or the rider. Additionally, grain based rations, when fed in significant amounts, may pass through the upper part of the digestive system undigested to ferment in the hind gut.  The result is a new set of problems. Fermenting high starch grains can alter the environment that sustains a healthy population of beneficial bacteria. These beneficial bacteria are necessary in the hind gut, and assist in breaking down the roughage that a horse has eaten for efficient digestion. Proper digestion of roughage is the most natural utilization of available nutrition.

So, what do you do to provide additional useful energy when more is needed than that provided by the hay?  The best answer is to provide an energy dense source of “Cooler Energy” with as little disruption to the natural function of the digestive system as possible. The Answer is Renew Gold™.

If you have questions contact us today.

By combining three different natural vegetable fat sources, along with an expanded amino acid profile, Renew Gold can improve the efficiency of your entire feeding program, while providing usable “Cooler Energy”. Renew Gold is also calcium / phosphorus balanced so that it can be fed with any type of hay.

Renew Gold™ is a unique formulation of energy dense, low starch, premium quality ingredients designed to be fed at a rate of 1/2 pound to 1 1/2 pounds daily. Our goal is to limit or eliminate the use of high starch based ingredients in the overall feeding program. This can help to bring the entire digestive system into proper balance. Using a base of food grade Stabilized Rice Bran we fortify Renew Gold with CoolStance coconut meal and Flax. Digestive efficiency is then enhanced with the addition of Fermented Yeast Culture. This offers horse owners the opportunity to utilize the well proven nutritional advantages of Stabilized Rice Bran in an even more effective, advanced formulation.

What is Renew Gold™?
Renew Gold is a unique formulation of energy dense, low starch, premium quality ingredients designed to be fed at a rate of 1/2 pound to 1 1/2 pounds daily. Our goal is to limit or eliminate the use of high starch based ingredients in the overall feeding program. This can help to bring the entire digestive system into proper balance. Using a base of food grade Stabilized Rice Bran we fortify Renew Gold with CoolStance® coconut meal and Flax. Digestive efficiency is then enhanced with the addition of Fermented Yeast Culture. This offers horse owners the opportunity to utilize the well proven nutritional advantages of Stabilized Rice Bran in an even more effective, advanced formulation.

So why does Renew Gold work?
Renew Gold truly is sound science that helps build sound horses. The unique combination of three protein and fat sources and other premium quality  ingredients allows Renew Gold to provide concentrated nutritional support for horses of all types and uses. Renew Gold can improve the efficiency of your entire feeding program, while providing usable “Cooler Energy”. Renew Gold is also calcium / phosphorus balanced so that it can be fed with any type of hay.

Renew Gold™ is Calcium/Phosphorus balanced and may be used with both grass and alfalfa hay. Feed only as directed. Not intended for use in animals other than horses.

As with any change to your horses feeding program, introduce Renew Gold™ gradually. Beginning with a 1/3 daily rate, increase to the full desired rate over a seven day period. Always provide your horse with a plentiful source of clean water. Check out Renew Gold Resources for additional information.

OUR GUARANTEE
Feed Renew Gold™ for six weeks. If you are not satisfied with the product, mail the bar code off the bag and proof of purchase to, The Phoenix Company LLC, P.O. Box 12, Willows CA 95988, for a refund of the purchase price. One bag refund per family.

Contact us today with nutrition questions or to find the dealer nearest you.