(bowing towards Boston)
Yes, I’m still sick.
However, I was upright long enough today to venture down to my neighborhood Tractor Supply to use my Standlee Gift Certificate!
(The company contacted me and offered a month’s supply of Standlee feed for one of my horses in exchange for a review on HORSE AND MAN.)
I had to use the gift certificates before they expired.
My very generous Standlee Gift Certificate!
WHAT TO GET??
I arrived at the store, Kleenex in pocket, to decide upon the feed I wanted for Rojo.
I have decided to feed the products to Rojo – my Mustang and the horse I will concentrate upon this Summer.
Rojo will be separated into his own pasture so I can watch how and what he eats. Separating him also makes it easier to concentrate training with him. (Finally, I will resume the Red Horse Diaries…)
That is my plan…
So, what to get for Rojo?
I adopted Rojo from the BLM Prisoner Trained Mustang Adoption program in Carson City, Nevada. This was his photo in the Auction brochure.
THE STANDLEE ROW
I knew where they kept the Standlee products so I ventured over there, coughing a bit.
Oy, an entire row. My dull brain was spinning.
Time to get some help.
I trudged over to the two workers in red vests.
Me: I need to buy Standlee products…
Girl Employee: OMG! I LOVE STANDLEE PRODUCTS, YOU LUCKYYYY PERSON! OMG! I’LL BRING YOU OVER THERE.. (she continues to talk over her shoulder- very excitedly…) OMG MY HORSES LOVE THE HORSE TREATS AND I FEED THE ALFALFA PELLETS EXCLUSIVELY – WELL NOT EXCLUSIVELY BECAUSE I SOMETIME FEED THE CUBES, TOO – BECAUSE I HAVE WORKING COW HORSES AND THAT ALFALFA IS THE HIGHEST QUALITY WITH NO WASTE – NO WASTE!!
(She was practically salivating.)
Me: I cannot feed alfalfa to my horses… I live in G-R-A-S-S Valley – we have too much rich, green grass… If I feed alfalfa, they will all founder.
Her: THE BEST ALFALFA!…
I followed her with anticipation.
Me: Do you have any grass hay bales?
Her: No, only straw or grass/alfalfa. BUT OMG THIS IS THE BEST STUFF YOU WILL EVER SEE IN GRASS – THEY GROW THE BEST PRODUCT FROM THE BEST SEEDS AND THEY CUT IT AT EXACTLY THE RIGHT TIME AND PROCESS IT AT THE RIGHT TIME AND IT JUST GOES ‘POOF’ (gesturing widely) WHEN YOU CUT THE TIES AND IT IS SO (huge breath, finally) GREAT THIS PRODUCT, YOU FEED LESS AND IT WILL LAST FOREVER AND YOUR HORSES WILL CLEAN IT UP AND…
(For a moment, I thought I heard angels singing in the Standlee row…)
Me: Does the hay seem drier than normal? It seems expensive for a half of a bale… What effect does the compression have on the hay?
Her: OMG! IT IS SUCH GREAT QUALITY – JUST WAIT AND SEE WHEN YOU POOF IT OPEN! YOU DON’T HAVE TO FEED AS MUCH AND IT SMELLS SOOOO GOOD. JUST WAIT, JUST WAIT…
Me: What about the stuff in the bags? Are these the pellets and cubes?
Her: OMG THE PELLETS ARE SO GREAT – AND THEY ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN ANY OTHER PELLET. YOU WILL SEE WHEN YOU OPEN THE BAGS AND… OMG, THE QUALITY IS AMAZING. YOU WILL SEE AS SOON AS YOU SEE, TOUCH AND SMELL THESE PELLETS, OMG!
(She was starting to repeat herself and I was beginning to wonder if I should get her a glass of water to rehydrate after her hugely energetic display…)
Me: But, I think the horses miss hay, you know… They eat pellets so fast. I’ve never fed just pellets… won’t they eat my trees and fences -or whatever – if they don’t have hay to keep them busy?
Her: Are they on pasture?
Me: Yes.
Her (wide eyed and getting excited again) : OK OMG THIS IS PERFECT!! JUST FEED THE PELLETS AND THE HAY AND IT WILL BE PERFECT!
Me: Do you have grass pellets?
Her: Yes! Over here… see, the picture tells you what the bag looks like so you can easily choose which type of pellet you want!! It is so easy!
(She was so sweet that I wanted to buy the product just to show her how her enthusiasm effected me…!)
Me: OK. I’ll get two compressed bales of timothy grass/alfalfa, 5 bags of orchard grass pellets and a bag of compressed straw. I’ll use the straw in a stall or my trailer.
Her: Yayyyyyyy! Oh you will love these products! That’s why we have a whole row totally devoted to just Standlee products!
Me (smiling): Do you have anyone who can help me get these bricks of hay into my car?
Her: SURE!!
And with that, I slid the credit card gift card through the reader and pushed out with my haul, a bit rummy from the excitement on my flu brain.
But, I was smiling and feeling grateful. I have never, ever received credit for a product. I felt like a lottery winner or something!
And, I’m almost as excited to try the Standlee products as she was to tell me about them… I’m going to have to call her Manager and tell him that she is a jewel.
–You will hear how it goes when I start feeding it to Rojo on Monday.
My haul… look at the horses peering at me through the car windshield – they can smell horse food, I swear! These are the compressed bales. I think they weighed about 65lbs. HEAVY. I got alfalfa/timothy and one straw.
These are the bags of orchard grass pellets. I have yet to open them and see the awesome quality…. but I will on Monday! Rojo is the lucky horse to be treated to a month of Standlee. We’ll see what the young Mustang thinks!
MY TICK SPRAY AND SUMMER ITCH CONCENTRATE ARRIVED ALREADY!
Boy oh boy, EQUINE MEDICAL AND SURGICAL ASSOCIATES are quick!
The RK Tick Spray arrived along with the Summer Itch/Eczema Oral concentrate already!
I could smell the tick spray through the box – you know that smell?…
When I opened the box, I was impressed with the no-frills packaging.
Inside were the products, the brochures and exact instructions on how to mix the concentrates and also on how to store the products.
Typical Doctor to market kind of stuff.
I loved that. I felt as if I could picture the Vets in charge of this business deciding how to package the products.
Drs: Yes, that looks fine…
Marketing Manager: But how about a contrasting color or maybe a photo or drawing on the label?
Drs: Huh? What for?
Marketing Manager: Well… for appeal to the buyer…?
Drs: Appeal? The products work better than any other product and they have scientific data to support the work. What more appeal is there than that??!!
Marketing Manager: ok.
–I will let you know what I think of these products as soon as I get them ready and apply them. I don’t know how long it takes for the Eczema oral product to get into the horse’s system and be effective…
No frills, just the product, Ma’am. The RK Tick Spray and the Eczema Oral Supplement from Equine Medical and Surgical Associates arrived FAST!
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
Yes, always soak pellets!
Did she suggest you soak the grass pellets before feeding? Just curious.
Dawn – I will be interested on hearing how the tick spray works. Do you have that many ticks out there? My horses live in “tick heaven” so it will be interesting to read how it works. I also referred a friend to your Heiro post…it’s perked her interest.
Looking forward to your review of the grass pellets and the timothy/alfalfa bale. My girls are on dirt and have free choice grass hay. What a bonus to get an enthusiastic employee !