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Giving Trips Led
Thanks to you, we've helped thousands of working animals in need.
This Is Our Story
80 million. That's the estimated number of horses, donkeys and mules that are used daily by impoverished families around the world. These animals are essential to sustain life. And, they lack the proper nutrition and healthcare to keep them healthy and alive. The question we set out to answer... "Can we use our business, FullBucket, to help people who are in desperate need?
Turns out, we can.
HELPING POOR COMMUNITIES
A bedraggled burro gamely carried his passenger, an amputee, into the makeshift veterinary clinic. Dismounting with his crutches, the elderly Mexican man looked to veterinarians Rob Franklin and Keith Latson for help.
“The burro had a huge saddle sore on his back and was clearly undernourished,” said Latson, an orthopedic surgeon practicing in California. “For this man, the burro was more to him than the burros and horses we see in the U.S. This burro was his transportation, companion and provided a way for him to make a living for his family.”
Over a period of four days Keith, Robo and Rob, along with a group of volunteer veterinarians from around the US, treated more than 1,000 working horses in Mexico for a variety of ailments, and provided basic services such as trimming feet, floating teeth, and de-worming to rid the animals of potentially fatal parasites.
The Epiphany
That experience in October 2011, an “Equitarian Initiative” mission sponsored by the American Association of Equine Practitioners, proved to be a bit of an epiphany for the two former Texas A&M University roommates and fraternity brothers. Already working together to produce a superior probiotic product, the pair realized that by providing such a product to underdeveloped regions dependent on burros and horses, the people would be better able to care for their animals and families.
The question then became, “what to do about it?” The answer: FullBucket's One-4-One Giving Program.
FullBucket Probiotic is the first in what will become a full line of products developed by the veterinarians to not only provide a superior quality product to horses and other equids in the United States, but to underdeveloped countries, as well. With the purchase of one FullBucket in the United States, another FullBucket will be provided at no charge to treat horses and donkeys in these regions through the company’s Giving program.
The Giving Product
For every FullBucket you buy, we give one to an animal in need. However, the product we distribute for these animals is not the same product we sell here in the US. These animals have very different nutritional requirements.
Proper nutrition for animals is LIFE for people. The health and welfare of animals is our TOP PRIORITY and is considered in all our decisions.
During our first Equitarian experience, we wondered if there was a way to extend the benefit of dental work in horses that couldn't masticate, of deworming equids so burdened that they couldn't absorb nutrients presented to the gut, and of B-vitamin injections which may be quickly metabolized/excreted. We partnered with veterinary Universities in the countries we serve. They used hair, feed and stool samples in the areas where we work to determine specific nutritional deficiencies in the population.
From the analyses, we work with native companies to develop a palatable nutritional supplement to address the specific nutritional needs. The result is our "Giving" product, that we distribute for malnourished animals.
Creating Balance with Probiotics
While probiotics for both humans and animals have been on the market for years, many horse owners aren’t aware of the value of the product in their animals as part of a health care maintenance program. Plus the word “probiotic” isn’t necessarily well understood. “Any horse that has been exposed to antibiotics or is under stress from travel, training or intense feed programs, should be on a Probiotic. A probiotic helps with nutritional balance.” Said Latson.
Probiotics, live microorganisms, have been scientifically proven to beneficially affect horses by improving the intestinal microbial balance.
For humans, probiotics are often marketed in yogurts and dietary supplements. In horses, they come labeled as a nutritional supplement and the formulas vary – a fact Latson and Franklin discovered while treating animals after surgery. “Keith and I got really frustrated with the way our patients were responding to surgery and the problems some were having with gut issues and diarrhea,” said Franklin. “I recommended a formulation of probiotic that was surviving medical scrutiny in humans and with some modification would do well in horses. For the most part, the problem was solved and we began working on developing a more effective model for horses.”
A go-to product
Veterinarians consistently rely on fullbucket supplements
Through careful scientific exploration and formulation, the pair captured what they believed to be the most concentrated and effective formulation and began to share with their fellow veterinarians, who responded with “overt” excitement. “Once the formula got out there, other veterinarians began to tell us this was exactly what they had been looking for and it has become their ‘go to’ product,” said Franklin.
“Veterinarians have since discovered that if they have a horse on an antibiotic, that horse needs to be on a probiotic. Antibiotic associated diarrhea can be devastating.” Premier veterinary practices, including Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky., Littleton Equine Medical Center in Littleton, Colo., and Mid Atlantic Equine Veterinary Center in Ringoes, New Jersey, have consistently relied on FullBucket Supplements.
"We think it's important for horse owners to know that even though our corporate mission is to deliver help to these amazing working animals in poor countries, we also have the best-in-class products available.
We have made a pledge to create ONLY products that are REALLY needed and we will make the the BEST in the industry." says partner Rob Hendrickson.
Care+Care
“Horses are exquisitely sensitive to stress,” said Latson and that stress can come from being hauled for an extended period of time to changing pastures with more aggressive horses in the mix.” As the FullBucket nutritional line of products expands, Latson, Franklin and Hendrickson intend to continue providing assistance to underdeveloped countries through the Care+Care program. Having witnessed the conditions in which these animals exist, they believe they can serve the dual purpose of helping animals and horses even more effectively. “Right now our priority is to invest back into the Care+Care program first, then into the company and lastly ourselves. We are third.” said Latson.
“We hope this program will encourage people to get engaged and will help them satisfy their inspiration to help animals.”
