Owners Alan and Anne Burton found themselves at an impasse. Their three-year-old Quarter Horse mare Invitation N Roses, known as Emma around the barn, was providing them with quite a conundrum.

While her mind was at ease with the work asked of her, Emma’s body was not, particularly her muscular system. Despite a natural talent for the slow, extremely collected gaits sought after in western pleasure, the mare become increasingly body sore after rigorous training sessions. For more than a year, the Burtons provided the mare with professional massage and acupuncture treatments. While these therapies worked to some extent, their frequency—sometimes as often as once a week—wreaked havoc on the pocketbook. In defiance of the cost, the couple forged ahead, as keeping the mare content and comfortable in her job was of paramount importance.

In October 2005, Emma suffered a bout of gaseous colic, which eventually warranted surgery. The lay-up that followed, two months of stall rest and hand-grazing, allowed the mare to make a full recovery, and she was placed back into training. It wasn’t long, however, before the soreness that plagued her early training returned, leaving the Burtons scratching their heads in bewilderment.

In January, the Burtons stumbled upon literature that described Elevate, a liquid source of natural vitamin E. The brochure mentioned that the product was effective in  alleviating many of the muscle problems associated with intense work. With nothing to lose, they bought a bottle and began supplementing Emma. The trainers noticed an improvement in Emma’s comfort just two weeks after supplementation started. As Emma improved, other treatments fell by the wayside. Besides her daily dose of Elevate, Emma is visited by the acupuncturist every four to six weeks during the hectic show season.

The improvement in Emma’s physical well-being has allowed her to blossom into a true all-around show horse. In addition to western pleasure, she has added several new events to her repertoire: trail, western riding, and western horsemanship.

The Burtons could not be happier with the change in Emma. “If anyone would have told us last year that Emma would be competitive in all of these events at this point in her career, we would have laughed, only because we know that her muscles would end up in knots from the strenuous work,” said Anne Burton. “Elevate made it all possible.”

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