ABOUT US

Family Owned and Operated in New Zealand for Over 20 Years.

Luke & Sacha are the owners and operators of Equine America products in New Zealand. Sacha comes from an Equine background, growing up in the Bega Valley, NSW Australia, where her parents ran a Horse Stud & Riding school. Sacha was a regular at Pony club in her younger years, before heading to the city when she was 12. Luke and Sacha live in Gisborne with their young children Lucia & Henri and dogs Marlo, Bella and Lily.

Equine America supplements have been in New Zealand for over 20 years now and has established a fantastic reputation as having the highest quality & widest range of products on the market. The NZ business was founded by Luke’s mother Sue, however in 2012 Sue sadly lost her battle with cancer. Sue worked extremely hard over the 12 years she operated Cortaflex NZ and left behind a legacy of determination to spread the word about the best products in the equine industry.

The Equine America range was formulated by Equine chemist, Bruce Snipes from Aitken, North Carolina USA. Bruce has pioneered the development of food supplements for horses, including the 1st use of electrolytes and of biotin for hooves. In recent years he created Cortaflex which is now the number one product for joint supplementation.

Equine America UK is a traditional, family run business, founded in 1997 by Phil and Julie Middleton and now run by their son, Lee. Wishing to maintain the trusted image of the Equine America brand, whilst moving it into the 21st century, Lee brought on board world-leading equine nutritionist Deborah Leabeater MSc.Eq.S., CBiol., R.Nutr. in 2018 and moved all production from the US to the UK. Deborah is now instrumental in the design and formulation of all Equine America products, from the original Cortaflex® to an extensive range of highly effective supplements and external applications for horses, dogs, cats and people.

All our products are manufactured in the UK, in food industry standard factories, using only the freshest, most innovative and effective ingredients available from approved suppliers. We use state of the art, unique, fingerprint laser quality testing on every single ingredient to ensure a uniform strength and quality along with an exclusive mixing process to ensure that each scoop contains equal amounts of active ingredients. Our BETA NOPS and UFAS accreditations reassure customers that we are doing our best to ensure our products are free from prohibited substances. We also comply with the regulations administered by the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Food Standards Agency.

Cortaflex is used by leading riders and trainers across the world and in all equine disciplines, and was successfully tested by the Veterinary Medical Research Centre at Michigan State University in a double blind clinical trial. 

Deborah Leabeater, MSc, CBiol, MRSB

Lead Nutritionist

Deborah was instrumental to the re-formulation of Equine America products following the move to UK manufacturing in 2018. She is now heavily involved in the design and development of all our product ranges, including EA Nutra.

Respected in her field, Deborah has been nutrition consultant to several of the UK’s leading equine veterinary practices, trainers and studs, in both the Thoroughbred industry, and the competition horse world. She has a Masters’ degree in Equine Science, is a Chartered Biologist and member of the Nutrition Society. Deborah has presented papers at veterinary conferences in many European countries, The USA, The Middle East, and South Africa, as well as at the prestigious British Equine Veterinary Association’s annual Congress. 

Karen Moss

New Zealand Sales Manager

Karen’s interest in horses began when she was young, having had riding lessons in school holidays she got her first horse when she was 15. She has ridden ever since, only having a few years off when she had her son Harrison. Her interests have changed over the years and now she predominantly focuses on dressage and showing. She loves to help out and write for dressage judges when time allows, as you really learn what the judges are looking for when viewing a test.

Prior to leaving school Karen volunteered at the local veterinary practise on Saturdays then on leaving school trained as a veterinary nurse. She worked for mainly small animal practises here in NZ and in the UK, until moving on to a variety of Veterinary and Medical Sales roles for the past 30 years. She has an extensive background and expertise in a range of veterinary related products both small animal and equine.

Karen lives in Palmerston North with her two cats and super wee dog Rosie. Her son Harrison is in the Army and based at Linton.

Karen has worked for Equine America NZ since January 2020 and she’s a strong advocate for the Equine America product range and the fact its backed by scientific evidence. Before working for us, Karen herself has been using the products for many years on her own horses. She travels around New Zealand visiting our retail stores and also does trade stands at the major equine shows. She enjoys educating people on the supplement range so if your at any of the shows please come and say hello.