Memorial Day is extra memorable at Four Schools Farm for unusual reasons. The late May holiday is when Joanie Morris' 7-year-old eventing partner, Betterthanexpected, breaks out in hives. It was to the point that his hair fell out and bouts of troubled skin lasted for weeks at a time. Since "Admiral" came to Joanie and her husband Richard Picken's Lexington, Kentucky farm as a 3-year-old, "We could set our clock by his hives."

Not this year.

Steamed Hay has been a big help for another Four Schools horse: the recently retired Timaru, owned by young rider Colin Gaffney. The senior citizen 3* eventer had a slight bleed from one nostril when stressed or after an especially rigorous jump outing. It occurred intermittently at first, then more regularly.

Nebulizer treatments didn't help and veterinary exams did not determine a cause. Without a diagnosis, they could not recommend a specific treatment. Like Admiral, Timaru performed as if nothing was bothering him, but Joanie figured that blowing capillaries in his nose had to be agitating.

After starting Haygain Steamed Hay, Timaru completed the most rigorous events of his career: two CCI3*-L events, throughout which there were no nose bleeds. Haygain was the only change in his daily routine before that happy outcome. "I like isolating the variables so you can kind of find out what's working," Joanie explains. "Haygain has made a huge difference for him, too."

Joanie's not saying Haygain Steamed Hay is a magic panacea for everything. Admiral, for example, showed different allergy symptoms while competing in Aiken, South Carolina this spring. The triggers in that setting seem to involve sand and rain, Joanie surmises. And his hives have occasionally hinted at returning, but with nowhere near the severity or duration. A Steamed Hay diet made both cases much more manageable, she reports.