Nutri-Foin, a story of the heart….
Danielle Levac andS erge Guay, from the Laitoibleu stable in Mirabel are the inventors of Nutri-Foin. They candidly tell us their story, full of emotions and anecdotes.
"As the owner of a boarding stable, we had several asthmatic horses, and we had to wet the hay constantly, administer the medications and the wet hay ended up drying in the boxes creating dust and mold. And therefore a lot of waste...
One of those difficult years when there was very little first-cut hay, of poorer quality, and second-cut hay that was much too rich, we had to find a solution to mix the two hays, avoid waste and find a solution for the dust without adding water.
Listen to the interview with Danielle and Serge (french)
We thought of using soybean oil in our hay because it was used in feed to reduce dust. Not sure of the results, we started feeding our own horses this processed hay. Quickly we saw great improvements, especially in terms of their flesh side, the quality of their hair.
But especially with the fact that they no longer coughed at all!
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At the request of our residents, we started feeding all the horses with this hay, and to our surprise, the results were surprising and instantaneous. Horses with lung problems no longer coughed. Our veterinarian at the time, Dr. Desjardins, asked us if another veterinarian came to take care of sick horses because he no longer received calls to treat asthmatic horses! Challenged by the incredible results,
Dr. Desjardins asked us for treated hay to treat the pony of a good client who was extremely ill and had to be euthanized due to her severe asthma. In just a few days, the pony felt better, and a few weeks later, the pony had regained her health to start giving lessons to the delight of the children.
Dr. Desjardins and the owner were completely amazed by the results!!
In our stable, in addition to the absence of respiratory problems, we noticed a good difference in our herds. Firstly, there was more hay wastage and the horses had good energy, they played more, but also the colic was almost non-existent….
We asked the owners of asthmatic horses where there was more solution to bring them, so we could give them this treated hay and the results were not long in coming! Within days, the problem was under control and Nutri-Foin was born! Impossible for us at that time to hide the solution, because we wanted to share it with a larger number of horses!!
We then decided to market the treated hay, but this option unfortunately quickly became unviable. But having the concern for the well-being of the horses and seeing the quantity of sick horses, we then thought of another option. And it was in 2015 that another step in the Nutri-Foin adventure was taken. The development of the machine! Encouraged by our veterinarian, we have developed a series of prototypes, some of which are still in operation! Thanks to the creation of a safe and robust machine, horse owners can now be independent and produce their own Nutri-Foin! This option allowed us to offer Nutri-Foin technology to people who were too far away to have our hay treated. After only a few days, we were receiving calls from machine owners in tears of joy, because their horses had regained their health!! Some of these horses were condemned and thanks to our technology a new life was offered to them!! I might as well tell you that this gave us the incentive to create an even more solid, safe, and, above all, easy-to-use machine!! Our first machine in its final version was sold in 2017. With each machine sold, we received the same message from the owners of sick horses a few days later of relief and joy. This is our greatest reward… We spent 5 years of research and development between the very first tests and the commercialization of the machine, but we wanted it to be solid, safe, easy to use, and built with components that would not be damaged. Anyone can operate the machine! Because a horse with respiratory diseases needs its Nutri-Foin daily."
