Horse Quencher, the “You lead ‘em to water and we’ll make ‘em drink” miracle cure for dehydrated horses, is proud to announce they are now official sponsors of ACTHA, the American Competitive Trail Horse Association.

“I am a dedicated user and believer in Horse Quencher,” said Robin Tilghman, marketing director for the ACTHA. “In fact, whereas most organizers rely on donations from manufacturers, I was actually purchasing single serve packs of Horse Quencher to put in rider goodie bags. That’s how much I believe that every rider should try it! Horses tend to not drink away from home, which can cause serious health problems, and we’d really like to avoid that,” she concluded with a smile.

Robin’s purchase of the single serve packs and obvious dedication to the product incited Horse Quencher co-founder and CEO Nancy Issenman to visit a nearby ACTHA Obstacle Challenge, where Nancy and husband, David, were able to greet each rider as they came through the “carwash” obstacle, and handed them a sample of Horse Quencher to try.

David Issenman’s favorite story of the event shows just how serious an issue drinking problems are to veterinarians, especially those who live the lifestyle of traveling with their horses. “We were at our booth at the event, and a veterinarian came by with her horse Bubba, who is apparently a very finicky drinker. We mixed him a ‘horsey cocktail’ of Horse Quencher in a gallon of water, and he dove right in and slurped it down. The veterinarian giggled, she was so happy and amazed that he drank, and promptly bought our largest size, a 20-pound bucket.”

“Teaming up with ACTHA is such a natural fit for us,” said Nancy Issenman. “These are active, experienced horse people who take excellent care of their horses, and travel with them frequently, often camping with them for several days away from home. Many of these horses, even as experienced travelers, will become dehydrated because they ‘don’t like the water’ at a strange place. Adding Horse Quencher to their water makes them drink it right down, keeping all their systems going and potentially avoiding a colic emergency made worse by being far from home.”

ACTHA's Founder Carrie Scrima summed up by saying, “Having Horse Quencher join our stable of sponsors is a wonderful thing for the horses of ACTHA and all horses that thirst for the solution of proper hydration. We couldn't be more pleased and hope to expose this wonderful product to many thousands of fresh users."

Horse Quencher is available in single-serving packets, a 25-serving pouch, and a 144-serving tub, and in four flavors: butterscotch, root beer, apple and peppermint. All flavors have been cleared as safe for competing, including FEI level. For more information about Horse Quencher, please visit HorseQuencher.com or call 888-QUENCHS. For more information about the ACTHA, please visit ACTHA.us.

The American Competitive Trail Horse Association was founded to provide trail horses of all breeds a place to showcase their talents in an untimed environment, thereby also providing their riders a chance to relax, ride with family and friends, and enjoy camping together and camaraderie. An important mission of the ACTHA is to provide more “jobs for unwanted horses,” as ACTHA membership and participation grows, more horses will be tapped to be ACTHA members’ partners in this low-pressure competition environment. ACTHA has two types of competitions: CTCs and AOCs. Competitive Trail Challenges (CTC) are casual 6-8 mile rides that can be done with family and friends, pausing along the way for each rider to singly perform a judged obstacle. Obstacle Challenges (AOC) are held indoors or in a field, with 8-16 judged obstacles.

Horse Quencher is a proprietary blend of all natural grains and flavorings that, when added to water, make horses eagerly drink. Horse Quencher is especially helpful for travel, competitions, cold weather and illnesses, and also great to pair with electrolytes to aid in recovery after exercise. Because it's made of all-natural ingredients found in most horse feeds, Horse Quencher is safe for competition. Known for its humorous advertising featuring Hawley Bennett’s horses Gin n’ Juice and Five O’Clock Somewhere “no longer having drinking problems”, Horse Quencher is nonetheless a serious product for a serious issue that most horse owners don’t consider. It seems common sense that horses will drink if they feel thirsty, but that’s incorrect. Because horses lose salt as quickly as they lose water when they sweat, the salt levels never build up to trigger the thirst reflex. So, they drink when they feel like it, but frequently not when they should. Trailering, competing, different water at a temporary location, a new horse in the barn, illness, temperature extremes and weather changes all distract or deter a horse from taking a long drink of water. Yet, proper hydration is the first and least expensive way to make sure your horse enjoys optimal health and competition performance. At its worst, dehydration leads to tying up, impaction colic, and other critical issues that are best avoided.