At The Cheshire Horse, we pride ourselves on hand-selecting products from trusted manufacturers that were developed with the health and wellness of the horse in mind. One such product is the StableFeed Prickly Pear Chia Glucose Support supplement. Our customer, Elizabeth Killian, recently tried feeding her 23-year-old horse, Espiritu, this supplement, and after a few months, she came back to us with her honest feedback.
StableFeed Prickly Pear Chia Glucose Support is a natural chia-based supplement that helps to regulate a horse’s sugar levels and LDL cholesterol while promoting healthy digestion. The therapeutic benefits of prickly pear also include a decrease in inflammation and lowering blood sugar. In fact, prickly pear is often recommended as a part of diabetes management in humans!
Espiritu was the first born on Elizabeth’s ranch and has been her perfect companion and fantastic partner in everything that she has ever asked of him… including galloping through cross-country courses. Since he was five years old, Elizabeth has been helping to manage Espirtu’s insulin resistance, including keeping him on a dry lot and feeding him only steamed and/or soaked Teff Grass, a low non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) supplement, and a magnesium supplement. Espiritu only eats low-NSC horse cookies when he does get them, and he hasn’t had a carrot or apple in nearly two decades.
Despite these extensive management practices, Espiritu has suffered from two bouts of laminitis, with Elizabeth spending thousands of dollars and a full year bringing him back to being sound after his second rotation… yet his blood sugar levels continued to rise, bringing him into dangerous territory. Elizabeth told us, “I was quite anxious to see if the combination of Chia Seed and Prickly Pear can back him off the laminitis cliff.”
After a few months, Elizabeth got back to us with the results of the efficacy of the StableFeed Chia Prickly Pear supplement. In short, it appeared to work very well. “Espiritu’s non-fasting insulin levels dropped 10 points, from 75uIu/ml to 65 uIu/ml in two months,” she said. “As you can probably assume, from the still very high level, he is extremely insulin resistant. So, it’s huge for him to drop 10 points in two months!” This gave Elizabeth hope that the supplement would be an integral piece of Espirtu’s nutritional management.
The hope was somewhat short-lived. “Unfortunately he developed an allergy to one of the two ingredients and broke out in hives all over his body,” Elizabeth lamented. “ I still think it is a fantastic product, and would highly recommend it. Sadly, it is just not the right fit for my hypersensitive boy.”
A testament to her support of the StableFeed line of products, Elizabeth also has Espirtu’s full brother on the StableFeed Papaya Chia Gastric Support as a treatment for his chronic diarrhea. “I have tried many well-known and recommended products,” she explains. “The StableFeed Papaya Chia Gastric Support has worked the best for him.
“All in all, I would highly recommend the StableFeed Chia products to all my horse friends.”
Elizabeth concluded, “I will reiterate that it’s amazing how well the Chia and Prickly Pear from StableFeed worked. We have been fighting his high insulin levels since he was five, and he has been on many veterinarian-recommended products. We’ve had some other supplements; however, we couldn’t get his fasting blood sugar levels below 75 until I tried the StableFeed Prickly Pear Chia Glucose Support. I truly believe it’s a great product.”
If your horse struggles with high insulin levels or glucose intolerance, we encourage you to see how StableFeed Prickly Pear Chia Glucose Support could benefit your horse!
At The Cheshire Horse, we carry an extensive selection of grain, ration balancers, and supplements to help your horse thrive. Consider scheduling an appointment for a complementary equine nutritional consultation with our expert staff to ensure that your horse is receiving a well-balanced diet that meets their individual needs.