It’s become such second nature to whip out my phone, pull up Amazon, and order a frightening amount of items scheduled to be delivered in an equally frightening short amount of time. I can still remember the days of poring over the JCPenney catalog when it would come in the mail, dog-earing the pages of the clothes I wanted to wear to school that year. It’s quite a stark contrast, thinking of the mail order days from which we aren’t all that far removed.
Twenty years after its inception, most equine households know the name SmartPak. Originally begun with the intent to make dietary supplementation easy and convenient for horse owners, SmartPak has grown to be one of the biggest names in equestrian retail. And in today’s heavily competitive e-commerce and health industries, that’s no small accomplishment.
SmartPak: Chinch approved. Photo by Sally Spickard/Eventing Nation.
If you’re like many horse owners, you’ve likely struggled to find the perfect formulation of dietary balance for your horse. Making a decision for your horse’s nutritional needs can be overwhelming when faced with a myriad of choices and opinions on what is best. SmartPak saw this writing on the wall and leapt at the chance to offer an option designed to put horse owners’ minds at rest.
The unique SmartPak system allows horse owners to customize their horse’s supplements into easy-to-use, pre-measured doses. Any combination of supplements can be made into convenient SmartPaks, giving equine nutrition a much-needed boost of consumer education and buy-in. When the concept of the SmartPak was in its earliest stages, the company wanted to accomplish three main objectives:
- Consistency: Feeding supplements every day is key to supporting a healthy horse. With SmartPaks you get: The right dose every time with pre-measured Paks, the freshest supplements due to their airtight seals, and confidence that each supplement has undergone quality control procedures.
- Customization: Your horse is unique, and his supplement program should be, too. With SmartPaks you get: The exact support your horse needs from custom-made Paks and foolproof feeding because each strip is clearly labeled.
- Convenience: Feeding supplements from buckets can be a hassle. With SmartPaks you get: Assurance that you’ll never run out thanks to their AutoShip program, an organized feed room due to their free storage drawers, recycled packaging that’s easily recycled again, and world-class service from their Horse Health Experts.
Eliminating guesswork takes much of the stress out of maintaining a proper nutritional profile for your horse. Much of how SmartPak develops its product offerings and the marketing around them comes from input from actual horse owners. SmartPak believes that supplements are part of good horsemanship, and every horse deserves support from the right supplements to help him look and feel his best. Therefore, the idea that the company is made up of horse owners adds a layer of camaraderie — the notion that hey, we’re all in this together.
I asked the SmartPak Health team what they had observed in the equine nutrition industry of late. “We’re seeing the rise of new and novel ingredients to support our horses’ wellness and longevity,” the team responded in an email interview. “The landscape of products available is constantly evolving.”
It’s a welcome challenge for the SmartPak team, constantly hard at work at implementing the best technology and processes as it strives to offer the best quality products that are supported by adequate research.
At the end of the day, SmartPak gets us because, in a way, they are us. They’re also worried about the older horse at the barn who wakes up a bit stiffer each morning. They also watch carefully when their horses play in turnout, ever watchful for any signs of lameness or trouble. They also want the best for their horses, and to have the privilege to spend as much time with them as possible.
Convenience does not necessarily equate to loss of quality. In a world in which competition is cutthroat and information overload is a common ailment, horse owners can trust that the SmartPak way won’t steer them wrong.
