Purina Seminar a Success at Pet Food Depot May 10th

Yvette George & Gretchen Richards

Pet Food Depot was founded in 1990 by Bob and Rita Schuhle. Since opening their first store, many things have changed since the beginning. The family has grown, Bobby got married to Adelaide and they had a son, Branden. The store has grown too, a new custom built 'Purina Country Store' was opened in 1998. Also two new locations have been added, one in Cave Creek, and a second in New River. The Grand Opening for the New River store will be held on Saturday, June 16th. Located at 1039 E. Carefree Hwy., you can call them at (623) 780-0410. Don't miss this chance to stock-up on your horses favorite Purina feeds. The sale will be, 'buy 1 and get 1 free', with a two free limit.

Since the Schuhle family began in the horse and pet feed business, they have aligned their company with Purina Feeds. This partnership has been successful for both parties. Purina sales have grown in the Arizona market to records within the historic company, while at the same time the Pet Food Depot market share has expanded throughout the area. When the new store was built, it was one of the first of it's kind in America. The Schuhle Family took many chances by using an unknown, untried concept, but they stood firm and stuck with the idea. This has paid off for the store owners and the customers.

Pet Food Depot hosted their seminar on May 10th. Attendees sat in the air conditioned feed storage bay while Gretchen Richards and Yvette George presented the feeding and exercise guidelines. Cindy Ramsey from Horses Help gave a small presentation about her groups handicapped riding program, and the evening was topped off by a horse conformation and usability clinic by Mark Sheridan, AQHA World Show Judge, and new Vice-President of the Arizona Quarter Horse Association.

Purina Equine Education Series Continues at Tierra Farms May 24th

Tierra Feeds and Farm in Chandler, Arizona was the setting for another installment in the Equine Education Series, presented by Purina, on May 24th, 2001.

Set up in the center barn of the spacious facility, instruction began with Gretchen Richards. As the Arizona regional representative for Purina, Gretchen was speaking on the proper determination methods of your horse's diet. She began with the basics of the energy levels of an owner's horse - whether it's activities are aerobic (lower intensity, endurance, trail riding) or an-aerobic (hi-intensity, cutting, roping, racing).

Yvette George, Purina Equine Nutritional Specialist, elaborated on the specifics to this regard in terms of age, weight, work levels, whether breeding or not, show conditioning and more.

Combined, Richards and George presented an excellent overview of feeding your equine, based on calorie requirements, calculated feeding recommendations and more. They concluded with a question and answer period, as well as offering a prize drawing and free samples.

The training and management staff of Tierra Feeds were very accommodating in hosting the evenings events, which culminated with a presentation by Michael B. Richardson of "Unity Education," a form of therapeutic riding. Richardson is the noted equine clinician and motivational speaker who developed "Unity" after a spinal cord injury in 1986. The class moved from the barn out to one of the arenas to witness Michael's demonstration.

The evening was one of several in the 2001 Equine Education Series, which concludes with a national prize drawing of, 1st place: 2002 Exiss® Gooseneck Three-horse trailer; 2nd place: week's vacation at Home Ranch, Colorado' and 3rd: deluxe package of tack, healthcare and grooming products. All attendees were able to register for the sweepstakes.

Tierra Farms is located at 2661 Sourth Vall Vista in Chandler. You can contact them at (480) 802-0500.