Win an Ariat Coastal Waterproof Jacket, worth £180 plus £50 of Dengie Feed Vouchers!

Water dares try to penetrate this waterproof jacket from Ariat. It’s expertly engineered with an earth-friendly waterproof finish plus sealed seams and zippers for the ultimate protection.

• AriatTEK® Cold Series technology keeps body core warm
• Breathable waterproof seam sealing and zipper construction
• EcoDry™ finish offers earth-friendly protection against the elements
• Bluesign® fabric meets strict environmental standards
• Removable hood
• Saddle vents
• Zippered hand and chest pockets
• Internal zip pocket
• Two-way zipper

How to Enter: Simply fill out the below form and answer the following question about Dengie Hi-Fi Molasses Free.

If you would like further information on any of the Dengie products or a personalised diet plan for your horse please call our feedline on 01621 841188 or click here to fill in our feed advice form.

Terms & Conditions: This competition will close at 11.59pm on 31st March 2023. One entry per person. One lucky winner will be selected from the correct entries and be notified via email within 7 days of the competition closing. Prize consists of an Ariat Coastal Waterproof Jacket in the colour Relic worth £180 plus £50 of Dengie Feed vouchers. No cash alternative available. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. Open to UK mainland residents only. Click here for full terms & conditions

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Let your horse relax with comforting heat and massage. With the choice of heat and two types of massage, the Equilibrium Massage Mitt Hotspot can be used in various ways:

• Use cyclical massage when you are holding the Hotspot still to target a specific area or trigger point
• Use continuous massage when moving the Hotspot in a sweeping action over larger areas, allowing it to deliver the same message to the muscles
• Use heat to help increase circulation. Normally used for sensitive horses or muscles prior to stretching
• Use both heat and massage together for the ultimate combination. This is best used in one area or over a small area

All horses and ponies could certainly benefit from the Massage Mitt, including those:

• At rest/retirement
• In work from hacking to competition. This includes horses returning to work or retraining
• For older horse
• Horses on box rest, standing in for long periods of time or on limited turnout

**COMPETITION CLOSED**

If you would like further information on any of the Dengie products or a personalised diet plan for your horse please call our feedline on 01621 841188 or click here to fill in our feed advice form.

Terms & Conditions: This competition will close at 11.59pm on 28th February 2023. One entry per person. One lucky winner will be selected from the correct entries and be notified via email within 7 days of the competition closing. Prize consists of an Equilibrium Massage Mitt Hotspot worth £135 plus £50 of Dengie Feed vouchers. No cash alternative available. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. Open to UK mainland residents only. Click here for full terms & conditions

At the end of each year our team of nutritionists look back at the number and nature of the enquiries we have received to our helpline over the last 12 months.

Data collected from enquiries has shown that promoting condition safely remains the topic most frequently asked about. Many horse owners were keen to avoid or reduce the amount of cereals their horses were consuming, and so were looking for high quality fibre and high oil feeds, such as Dengie Alfa-A Oil instead.

What is really encouraging is that horse owners were also contacting us about horses and ponies at the other end of the spectrum too. It can be a fine balance to provide enough fibre without promoting weight gain, particularly with trying to reduce the risk of gastric ulcers at the forefront of many horse owner’s minds and it was this finding that came out of market research we conducted a couple of years ago and resulted in the launch of Dengie Ulser Lite.

Enquiries relating to gastric ulcers have also increased over the last couple of years making it the third most popular topic horse owners asked about in 2022, up from fifth spot in 2020. The Dengie Feedline team have also seen an increase in the number of enquiries regarding good doers or overweight horses prone to or being diagnosed with gastric ulcers breaking the stereotype of the typical ‘skinny’ ulcer prone individual.

Making forage go further was another key question which is no surprise in a year when the extreme weather greatly reduced forage yields in many areas of the country. What may surprise horse owners is the wide variety of animals the Dengie Feedline team are asked about so whilst not the most numerous, they are often the most unusual and test the team’s knowledge. The fibre feeds Dengie produce are suitable for a wide variety of species and so enquiries come in for everything from rabbits to elephants! Alfa-A Original is fed to many of the animals at Paradise Wildlife Park including zebra, tapir and camels.

The top 5 topics that horse owners enquired about in 2022 were:

1. Promoting condition safely
2. Providing sufficient fibre for good doers without resulting in weight gain
3. Enquiries relating to gastric ulcers
4. How to extend or replace hay
5. Fibre feeds for horses with dental issues

The Dengie Nutrition team are on hand to answer any feeding queries horse owners may have from what to feed a recently weaned foal to fuelling energy in the competition horse or providing fibre fore a veteran who struggles to chew hay.

For more information about Dengie’s feeds or for help and advice on all aspects of feeding call the Dengie Feedline: 01621 841188 or complete our Feed Advice Form.

 

 

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Enter our competition to be in with a chance of winning a bale of Dengie Pure Grass or Meadow Grass with Herbs & Oil plus a bag of Dengie Pure Grass Pellets!

Dengie’s range of grass products are the ideal way of counteracting the decline in pasture quality and replacing forage. Produced using only the finest grasses grown by UK farmers, Dengie Meadow Grass with Herbs & Oil, Pure Grass and Pure Grass Pellets are made from 100% natural ingredients and are FREE from:

• Artificial preservatives, flavours and additives
• Molasses – no added sugar
• Cereals and cereal by-products including straw

**COMPETITION CLOSED**

If you would like further information on any of the Dengie products or a personalised diet plan for your horse please call our feedline on 01621 841188 or click here to fill in our feed advice form.

Terms & Conditions: This competition will close at 11.59pm on 31st January 2023. One entry per person. Ten lucky winners will be selected from the correct entries and be notified via email within 7 days of the competition closing. Each winner will receive a voucher that is redeemable at their local Dengie stockist for one bale of Dengie Pure Grass or Meadow Grass with Herbs & Oil plus a voucher for a bag of Dengie Pure Grass Pellets. No cash alternative available. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. Open to UK mainland residents only. Click here for full Terms & condititions

Dengie have been working with the British Dressage Youth Foundation Academy for four years now, visiting various camps around the country as well as giving online lectures during the Covid-19 pandemic. Post covid, the Dengie team were delighted to be attending in person again this year and wanted to share some of the fantastic opportunities these training camps offer to young and aspiring dressage riders.

Foundation Academy riders are selected from B-A squad riders who are active in their region and are achieving scores of over 66% at Elementary and above. Riders receive coaching and performance development sessions both mounted and unmounted over two 2-day camps running through Autumn/ Winter. The aim of the Academy is to develop all-round equestrian athletes and so include sessions on rider fitness, ridden coaching, test riding and lecture demonstrations with industry professionals.

“I really enjoy watching the riders and their horses improve over the course of the camps” says Hannah James, Youth Development Officer at British Dressage. “It’s lovely to follow their progress throughout the year and seeing them put the skills they have learnt at the camps into practice when out competing”. Hannah coordinates the BD Youth activities including the Foundation and National Academies.

Performance Horse Nutritionist Claire Akers, MSc from Dengie Horse Feeds has been on hand at the Foundation Academy camps to offer nutrition advice to the riders as well as giving nutrition talks on a variety of different subjects including gastric ulcers and the digestive system using Dengie’s life size model ‘Harry the Gut’. “The difference between winning and losing can be so slim in the equine world” explains Claire. “Ensuring performance horses have the best nutrition possible to make sure they are as happy and healthy as they can be to compete and perform at the top can make all the difference in picking up those extra marks”.

Molly Esberger-Shepherd is in her second year of the Foundation Academy and was also one of only twelve National Academy athletes selected for 2022. “I feel like I have learnt so much on the Foundation Academy camps and all the different elements we take part in have been so interesting” explains Molly. “I have really enjoyed my lessons with Hannah Moody, I could feel and see improvements in my riding and my pony Harry’s way of going when comparing the videos from the first and second camps. I also found the Dengie nutrition talk really interesting, I couldn’t believe how long the horse’s small intestine is and I also found the case studies Claire talked about really thought-provoking with the before and after photos. I would definitely recommend the Foundation Academy camps; they are lots of fun, and I have learnt so much!”

Veterinary student Amy Charlton is in her first year of the Foundation Academy. “I wasn’t sure what to expect but it has been such a valuable experience and very different to the BD Youth Camps I have attended previously” says Amy. “As my own horse is injured, I have borrowed different horses for the two camps, so it has been interesting to pick up and learn different things. The camps are full on with lots to do and learn and although I am shattered at the end of the weekend, I love it and would absolutely recommend the experience! I have also found the non-ridden side of things interesting; the goal setting has been useful, and I found Claire’s talk on gastric ulcers helpful as my own horse has recently been diagnosed with them. The nutrition talk was also fascinating from a vet student point of view, and I found ‘Harry the Gut’ really helps to visualise and understand the horse’s digestive system”.

The BD Youth Foundation academy is a fantastic pathway for budding young dressage riders helping them to develop their riding and skills. It is a great example of a range of different professionals in the equine industry coming together to help up and coming junior riders to achieve their best

 

 

Dengie donated a pallet of feed to Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary in Essex with the help of wholesaler Essex Animal Feeds. Dengie have been working with Remus for over 15 years, offering nutrition advice and evaluating the horse’s diets where needed.

“It means so much that Dengie have helped Remus in this way; with rising costs and concerns about finances through the winter we are so grateful for this additional support from Dengie” says Sue Burton, Founder and Manager of Remus Horse Sanctuary. “We have had a lot of guidance about nutrition from Dengie over the years, working alongside our team and other professionals to plan diets for our horses; it’s been invaluable, especially for those who have come to us in a poor state with some serious dietary concerns”.

Dengie Hi-Fi Molasses Free and Alfa-Beet are fed to the range of different horses, ponies and donkeys that live at Remus, many of which have dietary related issues such as PPID, EMS or poor dentition. This combination of high fibre feeds provides the horses and ponies with a low sugar and starch ration and can easily be eaten by those that struggle to chew. They are all fed Dengie Leisure Vits and Mins alongside to provide them with the vitamins and minerals they need for a balanced diet.

“I have worked with the team at Remus for many years, in fact they were one of the first places I visited when I joined the Dengie Nutrition team” says Tracey Hammond, Nutritionist at Dengie. “For me, beyond helping the horses, one other rewarding factor has been supplying Sue and her team with the tools to make decisions on what and how much to feed, which means it’s only the really tricky cases they need to consult me on now”.

When Dengie first started working with Remus, they had a very elderly population including many animals with dental problems. Finding an appropriate alternative to hay that these horses could chew was key to helping with weight gain and maintaining digestive health. Some of the horses were later involved in a Dengie funded study by a Writtle College student to assess the impact of poor dentition on forage consumption. It was found that those with poor teeth consumed 2/3 less than normal horses. When the fibre format was changed to a completely soaked fibre source, Dengie Alfa-Beet, there were no feed refusals at all showing that for the older horse, supplying fibre in a format they can easily chew is vital.

Over the years the population of horses at Remus has changed and the number of younger horses that are laminitis prone due to Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) has increased. The facilities at Remus have changed to reflect this and they now have some superb woodchip areas to manage those that have to have restricted or no grass access. With the cost of living crisis the demands on Remus have significantly increased. Not only are their own costs to run the charity increasing, but the requests to help horses has multiplied as well. It is wonderful that Dengie have been able to make a contribution of Hi-Fi Molasses Free and Alfa-Beet that the majority of the horses eat to help lighten the load.

For more information about Dengie’s feeds or for help and advice on all aspects of feeding call the Dengie Feedline: 01621 841188 or complete our Feed Advice Form.

Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire have been feeding Dengie Alfa-A Original to their various zoo animals for over 15 years. The animals fed on Alfa-A Original include Lowland Tapir, Plain Zebra, Bactrian Camels and Red Deer.

“At Paradise Wildlife Park we have used Dengie’s Alfa-A Original for many years now across various species” explains James Cork, Head Keeper. “We mix the Alfa-A Original alongside their concentrate feeds and have found this to be a great product for increasing the animals’ roughage. It’s clear to see that all the animals enjoy their Alfa-A, particularly our Bactrian Camels who love grabbing mouthfuls out of their feed buckets before we have even placed the food in their troughs!”

The animals at Paradise Wildlife Park are fed hay and straw alongside their Alfa-A Original as well as a specialist browser pellet to provide them with the vitamins and minerals they need. The tapir have various fruits and vegetables in with their 400g Alfa-A Original, their favourite being peppers and pumpkin, which is split over their three feeds per day. The camels also enjoy carrots as treats and are fed 1.6kg of Alfa-A Original split over two meals.

The animals at Paradise Wildlife Park also have various forms of enrichment including treat balls, branches and forage at varying levels including hay racks and feed troughs.

For further information on zoo animal nutrition and providing the right diet in zoos click here. We also recently organised a webinar on saving and caring for exotic species with guest speakers Tullis Matson, founder of Nature’s Safe and Andy Beer zoo animal nutritionist of Zoocraft Limited. The recording of the webinar can be found on the our YouTube channel.

**COMPETITION CLOSED**

If you would like further information on any of the Dengie products or a personalized diet plan for your horse please call our feedline on 01621 841188 or click here to fill in our feed advice form.

Terms & Conditions: This competition will close at 11.59pm on 31st December 2022. One entry per person. One lucky winner will be selected from the correct entries and be notified via email within 7 days of the competition closing. Prize consists of: £50 of Dengie Feed Vouchers, Dengie branded saddlecloth, NAF Blueberry & Banana Treats, WeatherBeeta Stocking Socks, Equi-Flector Wraps, Equi-Flector Hat Silk, Equi-Ping Safety Release, Slow Munch Hay Net, Hy Sport Active Brush, NAF Pro Feet Hoof Moist, Canter Coat Shine, NAF Cooling Wash, NAF Silky Mane & Tail D-Tangler, NAF Skin Wash, Travel Cup Gift Set, Galaxy Hot Chocolate, Net-Tex Seven Day Mud Away, LeMieux Beanie Hat, LeMieux Fluffies, Aubrion Winter Work Gloves, Cadbury Selection Box, Shires Schooling Whip, Red Gorilla Tub. No cash alternative available. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. Open to UK mainland residents only.  Click here for full Terms & conditions

JJ Equestrian, a competition and training yard based in North Lincolnshire, held their open day on Sunday 23^rd October. JJ Equestrian is run by show jumper and BS coach Joanne Burns Firth who understands the importance of working with her team of professionals to keep her horses fit, healthy and performing well. The idea of the JJ Equestrian open day was to help Joanne’s clients to have similar access to help and support for themselves and their horses. It was also beneficial for the equine professionals in attendance to work simultaneously to benefit horse and rider.

Members of the Dengie Nutrition team, Claire Akers and Katie Evans, were on hand to weigh horses and offer nutrition advice for yard owner Joanne Burns Firth’s own horses as well as the liveries and visitors’ horses.

It was positive to see that those who had been on a weight loss program after their last weigh-in had lost weight including Spirit, who had been trialling the new Dengie Ulser Lite, who lost 20kg. Joanne’s yearling ‘Unique GB’ who is an exciting prospect for the future had gained 99kg and grown a hand since Claire last saw him in May. Monitoring youngstock is a good way to ensure their development and growth rates are on track. Jo uses a weigh tape between weigh-ins on the more accurate weigh bridge but calibrates her tape against the bridge.

Saddle fitter Liz Pears was available for trying and fitting new saddles as well as checking and adjusting existing saddles where needed. Riders could also take part in rider alignment sessions both on and off the horse with Topline Vet Physio, and Blitz training working on straightening riders. Riders were given homework exercises to help them improve over time. Foster Equestrian Ltd were also onsite with their trailer full of matchy set bargains.

The open day was a great success with different equestrian professionals working together to get the best out of both horse and rider.

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Win your horse’s Winter Feed Bill!

With winter just around the corner now is a good time to review your horse’s ration. This will then allow you time to make any gradual dietary changes required to keep them healthy, happy and in  good condition during the colder months.

At Dengie we are devoted to creating the best and healthiest horse feeds because we love your horse as much as you do! Fibre is vital for the healthy function of your horse or pony’s digestive system and satisfies their need to chew – it’s what they’re meant to eat! With our full range of products, from the Alfa-A and Hi-Fi ranges through to our balancers and supplements, Dengie can help you formulate the right diet for your horse or pony whatever their age or work load.

This month one lucky winner will receive £250 of Dengie Feed vouchers to go towards their horse or pony’s feed bill this winter!

**COMPETITION CLOSED**

If you would like further information on any of the Dengie products or a personalized diet plan for your horse please call our feedline on 01621 841188 or click here to fill in our feed advice form.

Terms & Conditions: This competition will close at 11.59pm on 30th November 2022. One entry per person. One lucky winner will be selected from the correct entries and be notified via email within 7 days of the competition closing. Prize consists of £250 of Dengie Feed vouchers. No cash alternative available. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. Open to UK mainland residents only.  Click here for full Terms & conditions