We recently selected a few bloggers to try out a 30 day supply of Omega Alpha’s popular joint supplement, Sinew-X. These bloggers have received their supply and will be starting their horses on a 30 day regimen, all while blogging about their observations and results! We can’t wait to see how their horses take to the supplement, and we hope you enjoy following along! Check back this coming week for introductory blogs from all of our writers!

My mare, Tess, and I are adventuring into our first real eventing season, with the hopes of entering a recognized Beginner Novice event by 2016. I am a 24 year old graduate student, working on my Masters in Library Science.

Good Time Contessa, or Tess, is a 12-year-old registered Appendix Quarter Horse mare. We came to eventing together from very different worlds — I grew up in the hunter/jumper arena in Atlanta, and Tess is a former Quarter Horse circuit hunter-under-saddle and showmanship horse.

This, of course, means that we have a ton to work on! Dressage is certainly the weakest phase for both of us, but we’re in dressage boot camp right now. We’ve made a ton of progress already, and I’m excited to come out swinging in the spring.

I first met Tess when I started volunteering with a local 4-H club in the summer of 2012. A friend of mine grew up in the club and got me involved, particularly during fair season. One of the club advisor’s daughters was aging out of 4-H and had become less interested in riding frequently. She ended up offering me the ride on her mare, Tess.

I took her on one trail ride, and then ended up taking her on a hunter pace the next day. For a horse who I was told was “spooky” and horrible on trails, she did absolutely amazing. She jumped everything I pointed her at and only hesitated once at, what I admit, was quite a large ditch.

Fast forward to summer of 2013. I rode Tess all year, and I knew we had something special going on. I dropped hints to her owners that I wanted to buy her. After some convincing, they agreed, and in September of 2013, she became mine!

Of course, she also promptly got hurt. A month after bringing her home, she came in from the field with a pretty significant gash on her side (think Jenni Autry’s Frankenhorse, but less dramatic). We dealt with that injury, only for her to wrench a fetlock coming out of the winter.

Summer of 2014 rolled around, and we were back in business. In June, I made the decision to move her to Lost Creek Equestrian to ride with bronze and silver medalist Renee Peters.

Tess lives out in a field with a couple of other horses, which is super for her mental health and for keeping the slight swelling down in the fetlock she injured. We spent the summer and fall cleaning up at the local hunt club’s hunter pace series, ending the year as fast division series champions.

Now that winter has set in, we’re in dressage mode full time. I’m learning how to be less of a “hunter princess” and more of a “dressage queen”, and Tess is figuring out that contact actually means steady communication, not “I’m bumping your mouth, put your head down.” It’s amazing the progress that can be made with weekly lessons and a lot of hard work.

I can’t wait to get Tess started on Omega Alpha’s Sinew-X. Since she was started young, as so many circuit Quarter Horses are, Tess has already developed some arthritis in her front legs.

Even though she is only 12 and did not do much work for most of her life, I want to be really proactive about keeping her joints healthy. I really appreciate Omega Alpha’s all natural formula for their joint supplements, and I think that the more readily absorbed formula they use will be a good option for her overall joint health.

I’m curious to see how she likes the liquid supplement, as I’ve never had her on anything like it before. It probably won’t be a problem, as this is the horse who happily eats Bute powder!