Marie & Hilary

In July of 2006, my husband Mike and I adopted an old Arab mare named Hilary.  She was a boarder where I went riding and the owners had decided to put her down.  She had actually been rescued once before – from the slaughter house in 2004. When I mentioned an interest in adopting her, they were thrilled that she would get another home.

Hilary was 24 or 25 when we adopted her; her health wasn’t very good - she was thin, arthritic (or so we thought!), and had “rain rot” with her coat being smelly, matted and her back covered with raw patches. She laid down a lot and basically looked like she was giving up on life - we were told she wouldn't make it through the winter. Nevertheless, we decided to take her in and give her a place to either retire or die naturally.

We knew nothing about owning a horse so first we went down the long road to find out how to feed her.   We asked everyone - people with horses, vets, feed stores, farriers, we even went to trade shows. And every time we asked for advice we got a different answer, so we were completely confused on how to feed her. Then we talked to Marijke and for the first time someone finally made sense.

We opted for a completely natural diet for her and put her on a nutritional program including Vitamin C, Iron, Vitamin B12, and Riva’s Pro-Dygest (colon cleanser) and Riva’s Equi-Boost (liver detoxifier) and Riva’s Happy Horse Senior as a nutritional supplement.  Within just a couple of weeks, the results were astounding! Her coat became shinier and started to smell better, she started to gain weight and we even saw her trotting and cantering in her paddock.  Then, with the help of a good chiropractor and massage therapist, we discovered that most of her hip problems had nothing to do with arthritis; she had some pinched nerves that made movements very painful. With a few treatments and a daily dose of Riva’s Bone-up (Calcium and Vitamin B6) she started walking normally again.

We were also very reluctant to use chemical de-wormers knowing how difficult it is on a horse’s system but we also didn't want her to have worms.   Marijke told us about her natural de-worming program, and we decided to try it. We’re pleased to report that after using the natural de-wormer every 3 months, she has been free of parasites for the past 10 months - we always do a fecal test to be sure.

Hilary has been with us now for 17 months, she has kept her weight on and her winter coat is lush, full and beautiful. We will be forever thankful to have come across Marijke - she is truly a horse healer and she does really care about the well-being of all horses.  On behalf of our beautiful arab, THANK YOU MARIJKE. You were instrumental in saving her life.

Marie Wrede
Vancouver, B.C.

Before (2004):

After: