I call Rose-Hip Vital my "anti vet bill in a bucket" or jar, as the case may be. I have a 34 year old mare (Cosi) on special retirement agistment. I absolutely HATE not having her with me any more, but she is relaxing in the company of like minded girls, spoilt rotten where she is, especially with her double doses of RHV each and every day. She is doing very well, considering that she recently lost my 34 year old OTTB, Maestro, during the horrific start to the heat waves in the beginning of the year. Ever heard of a 34 year old ex galloper? Not many of them around! The reason for his longevity was constant harassment of my stock feeders for what else I could feed him (he had no teeth), more love than he had ever known in his life, and RHV.
Maestro was my 34 year old off the track thoroughbred. Of any horse to have aches and pains, he would have been the one, thanks to the first 11 years of his life in the racing industry. He suffered through very cold winters when we lived in Kalgoorlie. Rugging him left his legs out, of course. The last few years however he was out in the paddock keeping up with the younger ones. Like Cosi, he was on a double dose of RHV. I lost him only a short time ago thanks to the continued heat waves we had in WA. He became terribly dehydrated, and colicked. I had to do what I had to do, and smashed my heart to pieces in the process. We had been together for 23 years.... That's a happy, shiny 34 year old horse. Bless his heart.... In that huge tub of shandy chaff (pictured below) and soaked hygain truecare is lots of RHV. Maestro had no teeth, so this kept him fat and happy.
So now the tradition continues with "The Fat Boys", 2 quarterhorses, father and son who were not gelded until very late in the day so they could fully develop. Because of my own physical illness, they don't really do much... although this will soon change. I feed RHV in small amounts twice a day as a preventive measure, especially coming into winter. They run amok as they should, but my investment in their health NOW means less of a chance of things going wrong in the future.
For my boy, Yogi, a noodleheaded German Shepherd, he gets a small preventative dose... and I knock myself out on capsules. After a massive heart attack a few years ago, living with type 1 diabetes, and dealing with Polymyalgia Rheumatica, anti inflammatory assistance is very, very high on my list.
