Teal Blake
Teal Blake, 28, of Weatherford, Texas, is a roper, cutter and an accomplished artist who specializes in equine art, particularly rodeo scenes. He's also a big fan of Platinum. After seeing what the Equine Wellness Formula did for his horses, he even added Platinum to his own diet.
In 2002, Blake won the rookie award for the AQHA in Texas during his first year of competition. At the AQHA World show, he placed 5th out of 80 competitors, and his horse Dallas placed in Senior Heeling out of 80 competitors making it into the top 15 and the Short Go.
Blake says he attributes his affinity to horses to his upbringing on ranches in Montana and Idaho. He rode rodeo in high school. Even today, his parents continue to raise cutting horses. Blake also happened to have inherited his father's artistic genes – his dad is the highly regarded western painter, Buckeye Blake.
The younger Blake does design work for Western companies and horse magazines. He also does a fair amount of commissioned work. "It works out great for me because I love to draw and paint and it allows me to do it what I want when I want," he says. I can go and rope and rodeo, and come back and draw when I want to."
About six years ago, Teal acquired his 12-year-old cutting horse, Uno Dinero, who is by MISS N CASH and out of UNO PRINCESS. Blake, who has a great deal of respect for this horse, simply calls him Uno.
Before Blake got Uno, the horse was initially meant to be a cutting horse, but ended up being a formidable rope horse, being shown in the AQHA heading and heeling, as well as calf roping by J.D. Yates, an accomplished horseman and trainer. Unfortunately, Uno came to Blake with unfound coffin joints and bones. The coffin bones are the third phalanges of the coffin joint, a highly elastic and mobile joint on the horse's forelegs that act as shock absorbers. Uno stumbled a lot when ridden and with such a big heart he would eventually hurt himself more due to not knowing when to slow up.
Blake, who was told Uno would likely be crippled for life, wasn't willing to settle for either the diagnosis or regular injections. Instead, he had a farrier fit him with eggbar shoes and pads. These are special shoes that can help prevent, correct or provide support for structural issues like foundering and muscle and tendon problems. And then he began looking into interventional nutritional support, doing some research on the Web and talking to people with experience using nutrition supplements. He heard several reports of horses that had good results with Platinum Performance, including his mom's horses, and decided to give Platinum Equine Wellness Formula a shot.
Uno started on double doses of the granular formula — two scoops in the morning and, again, in the evening. Blake also gave him a scoop a day of Platinum Ortho-Chon. Blake began to see results within a month. Today, Uno no longer stumbles or carries himself like he's in pain. On his last trip to the veterinarian in Las Colinas in early 2003, it had been more than 18 months since the horse had been injected. Typically, the effect of injections lasts about seven months, says Blake. "The vet was amazed. He thought I had been injecting him all along."
Uno continues to surprise Blake, and has won his deepest admiration. Since Uno's amazing recovery, he has gone on to win numerous ropings and rodeos in the past few years, says Blake. The horse that was once pronounced crippled has returned to amazingly swift and surefooted self. "That's what makes him a great rodeo horse," says Blake. "Everything in rodeo moves very quickly because you're going for the money and the fast time. Having a horse that's correct and athletic makes it all that much easier for me.
"Uno's biggest accomplishment was teaching me how to rope, and putting up with me all those years - and continues to do so - while I learned," says Blake. "He's so much more high-caliber than I am experience-wise. Sometimes, it seems like he's holding back or waiting on me."
Blake hopes to make it to the NFR Finals and he's saving Uno for when that time comes. "I don't ride him for competition - I don't want to ruin him. But the good thing is that I know I can count on him. He never forgets. He's extremely reliable and dependable. For competition roping, Blake rides Dallas, whose registered name is Frantic Dually by the famous stud DUAL PEP.
As much as Blake admires Uno's consistency, he's also taken by the horse's great personality. "He's really funny, a goof," says Blake. "If I miss an obvious shot [when he's roping], Uno knickers like he's either laughing at me or is mad at me for missing something that he put me in such a good place to catch. In practice, when we're done roping, I'll score out of the box and he knows we're done. He'll nicker again and paw at the ground a couple of times."
Dallas, a 10-year-old quarter horse also gets Platinum as part of his daily diet. Blake describes the handsome roping and cutting horse as a fast learner. He hopes to qualify for the Cutting World Congress show on him and has already won a third place with him at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Dally Team Roping - Heeling and a fifth place at the AQHA World Show Team Roping - Heeling.
Teal, like his horses, also makes Platinum a regular part of his daily diet. He keeps a box of bars on the truck, in the tack room and in the horse trailer and uses them to keep him well fueled for the action.
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