We have been working with Stephanie Carter NTP for over a year to get an individual look at their nutritional deficits, heavy metal loads, and ways to support the horses for better health and performance.
Supporting Khaleesi on the cellular level has been key for us getting through our first 100 mile event. I had for years been on a forage based diet with supplements for micronutrients and had gone through the forage testing and analysis to help manage my dietary decisions. However when a quite sick horse in the herd needed a deeper look, I decided to do the same with Khaleesi and the small but vital things I found made a real difference when I stayed with it for the year.
In Khaleesi’s case we found adrenal imbalance and a zinc deficiency along with troubling nutrient absorption pointing to less than ideal microbiome. She was getting plenty of zinc in… but it wasn’t being absorbed.
First Stephanie helped me get a better balance in her nutrient intake, and we waited months to allow that process to give us its best shot. Then we did another hair analysis which showed better balance but still levels indicating poor gut health.
It so happened while looking for other potential issues in the well water I found significant chlorine and chlorine dioxide toxicity which would account for poor gut health (chlorine kills off the good gut bacteria we were trying to support). In changing the water source over a few months and adding the Organic Gut Solution to help encourage the toxins to move through without taxing her body- I saw significant increase in her ability to recover and thrive with more energy.
Stephanie was able to see that Khaleesi would specifically benefit from additional phosphorus – and that really helped her take a step up. It was the Biltmore ride where we began adding phosphorus and she came in 7th for that ride and finished strong and recovered better than I’ve seen.
We also got an inside look at her bloodwork before and after an event (thanks to the Gut Permeability Study at Biltmore) which showed us that we were on track now and she was fully supported going in- and coming out!
If it weren’t for Hope (the horse needing healing from some serious health complications) I might not have bothered digging deeper as I didn’t see Khaleesi as being deficient, and as far as I knew I was supporting her nutritionally as far as most experts suggest. I’m really grateful we dig deeper because it has shown me where I can help her and without question, she feels better than she did!
Stephanie agreed to have a conversation with us about some basic nutrition ideas including inflammation, adrenal fatigue, and gut health and how to get started looking at the cellular level.
We hope to get a follow up conversation sometime to go deeper into some of these topics! Submit your questions in the comments and we will try to get to as many as possible!
green to 100 