Annette, her passion and ‘The New Feeding Concept’
‘Let food be your medicine and your medicine be your food’. This was the oath doctors used to swear to Hippocrates, the founder of our Western medicine.
We can put this into practise when we start feeding our horses and ponies according to their natural minimum roughage requirements. Far fewer problems will occur. If we zoom in on nutrition even further, the health and behavior of the horse will show to be influenced even more by an inappropriate diet.
Annette, veterinarian and horse lover, won the HIP ‘changemaker’ award for the equestrian sector in 2019 with her ‘New Feeding Concept’ and her dedication to horse welfare.
Who is Drs. Annette van Weezel Errens?
As a child, Annette loved animals, and she grew up with a particular passion for horses. That love and the wish to better understand the animals and work with them on a professional basis led to a study in veterinary science. During her study she worked as a groom for various sports stables. It was here she first encountered the vast amounts of supplements and other substances that riders and veterinarians used for their horses.
Doubts about secondary interests
During her veterinary study, her passion for the horse remained, but more and more doubts started to creep in about the secondary stakes entwined in regular veterinary medicine. For Annette, this was a reason not to graduate as a qualified veterinarian, but to graduate with a free field of study in veterinary medicine. Her subject was animal ethics and ‘doping in the equestrian sport’.
It had to be different
In the course of the research she did during her study in this area and the plethora of supplements she was confronted with in her work as a groom, she understood the time had come for change. If Annette was not able to see the wood for the trees, how must the average well-meaning horse owner be feeling?
In addition, Annette firmly believes that when horses experience too much stress combined with insufficient nutrients, veterinary and behavioral problems are waiting to happen. And so her quest for making a positive contribution to the improvement of horses’ lives started.
Research
Annette started researching what a horse actually needs for a healthy body. Equine nutritional management, as it was described in all the books, was outdated in her opinion.
A major shift was needed to start feeding horses according to their natural needs. Furthermore, Annette found that there was no product on the market that would meet all her demands.
The natural dietary needs of the horse.
She decided to not sit back, but to be part of the solution and part of the change.
In 2008, she founded Equilin® to start developing products that would fit her vision.
In 2018, her vision of a doubled roughage norm was internationally ratified. It was subsequently adopted as the new welfare norm for equine management.
A horse needs a minimum of 1,5% of their body weight in dry matter in roughage to feel satisfied and keep their body healthy. In nature, a horse will eat even more roughage.
Annette calls this ‘The New Feeding Concept’; an innovative, fresh look at nutritional management where roughage is the foundation.
Go to the nutrition guide and request a free nutritional consultation.
Research without blinders
Equilin continues its research with an open mind, keeps up with the latest scientific developments in the field of nutrition, analyzes, innovates, and continuously improves its products.
This ensures that every equine veterinarian, professional, and horse enthusiast can be certain that Equilin® products are produced according to the most recent insights and that no compromises are made in terms of quality.
Get your horse in top condition the super smart way too. Start today with Equilin’s ‘The New Feeding’ and experience it for yourself!
