“I felt like there was a piece missing…”
Dr Erin Roddy was working as a vet and ran her own rehabilitation centre in Camden, NSW when she first came across Poseidon Animal Health. Despite using what she considered to be quality feed, Dr Roddy believed the horses she was working with – as well as her own – could have been healthier.
“I felt like there was a piece missing,” she recalls. “I found Poseidon Animal Health’s original product, Digestive EQ, and I became interested in the idea behind gut health.”
Dr Roddy got in touch with Poseidon founder and CEO, Linda Goldspink-Lord. “Linda opened my eyes to aspects of equine health they do not teach in vet school… about the way the horse’s digestive tract works, the importance of the microbiome, and also the deception that exists in the horse feed industry. Linda really inspired me to learn everything I could about gut health.”
Poseidon’s flagship gut health products – and consequently the company itself – came about through Linda’s personal health journey, which you can read about in the May 2025 issue of Equestrian Life.
At the time of discovering Poseidon, Dr Roddy had two off the track Thoroughbreds of her own who she was show jumping at the time. She started them on Digestive EQ, and that “missing piece” fell into place.
“They were my personal horses and the change in their condition, hoof quality, attitude, behaviour… everything about them changed and it just completely sold me on how important gut health and nutrition are in horses.”
Dr Roddy started with Poseidon as a consultant, assisting and helping to educate customers. Nearly three years ago, she and her husband moved to the US – and as fate would have it, Linda and her husband and Poseidon co-founder Pete were about to launch their products there. Now, Dr Roddy not only provides educational support to customers but is also head of sales for Poseidon in the States.
Out of sight, but not out of mind
Dr Roddy says that her time in vet school taught her a lot about the parts of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that could be seen – for example, the stomach and stomach ulcers, as this can be scoped and visualised – but not the other parts of the gut that remain out of sight.
“It’s risky to say, ‘because I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist’. We know that the microbiome is hugely important in the horse,” says Dr Roddy. “Horses, which are hind gut fermenters, are designed to process their food and produce their energy, their hormones, and their vitamins and minerals from their hind gut… their microbial health is really important.”
As Dr Roddy explains, over centuries humans have changed so much about the way horses live, what and how they eat, and their breeding – however, the horse’s gut hasn’t changed.
“We’ve completely changed the shape of a horse, but we don’t think about the fact that their microbiome is really the same as their wild ancestors. We have a wild microbiome that’s now in domestication and it hasn’t had time to catch up.”
Digestive EQ and Digestive RP
Poseidon’s core gut health products, Digestive EQ and Digestive RP – the latter formulated specifically for sport horses and horses under more stress through travel, stabling and competition – are not only backed by science, but reformulated when that science changes.
“One of the things that’s really different about Poseidon is that we continuously reformulate whenever science changes,” explains Dr Roddy. “Digestive EQ is on its second formulation in terms of changing different active ingredients or the levels of active ingredients.”
Digestive EQ and Digestive RP are designed to treat the entire gut as one organ. “All the different organs in the GI tract are connected. There are a lot of products on the market that contain one or two active ingredients aimed at treating one part of the gut… that’s been a real difference for us, by treating it as one whole tract rather than only the stomach or only the hind gut.”
Dr Roddy explains that the other key point of different with Poseidon products is a commitment to delivering active ingredients at effective levels. “There are no fillers – and nothing that is counterproductive, such as sugar or starch. Every ingredient is based on science, chosen to work together, and is included at an effective level where it’s actually going to affect change in the horse.”
Dr Roddy says she feels very privileged to be working in a space where I she can help horses via her work with Poseidon Animal Health. From what she knows via personal experience and evolving science, Dr Roddy is adamant that addressing a horse’s gut health has the power to really improve their lives for the better.
You can find out more about Poseidon Animal Health and their product range here.
