MacKinnon Ice Horse Tendon
Ice Horse therapy systems have helped the most celebrated equines in the world, including 19-year-old Jamaica, driving champion Chester Weber’s 2008 USEF Horse of the Year. Chuck Dumbrell, president of Ice Horse and MacKinnon Quality Equine Products of San Diego, has never forgotten the boyhood tragedy that cost a beloved family horse its life. It’s where his commitment to improving equine wellbeing began. Chuck grew up on a 1940s family farm in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. “Life was pretty typical – chores, school, and 4-H club. Our farm was primarily beef cattle, but a neighbor had what we called ‘blood horses,’ off-track Thoroughbreds. We farm boys seemed to have more talent for driving than riding. Somewhere, we’d find harnesses and carts, and enjoy ‘amateur’ driving!” The Dumbrells also kept horses: “Dad came home from an auction with a team of black Percherons. They were locally bred and a real source of pride. Everyone in town knew the team, and they did look good, and were fun to hitch and drive.” Sadly, when Chuck was 13, one of the horses caught its leg in wire fencing, irreparably severing the tendons and ligaments. Despite all attempts, the veterinarian advised the family to put the horse out of its misery. “It was a sad day when we loaded the horse and sent it to the rendering plant. To this day, there are still so many questions: How could we have prevented such a debacle? What could we have done better?” During high school and college, Chuck shadowed the local veterinarian, learning the value of properly applied science to benefit horses and other animals. “Throughout my animal science study at Macdonald College, at McGill University in Montreal, and my resulting corporate career in the animal science field, I always associated with people focused on developing technologies directed towards animals.” He spent 28 years with a pharmaceutical and chemicals company overseeing sales and marketing. Divestiture of the parent company prompted a move to California, where he set up business for a biotechnology firm interested in animal health that was later purchased by an East Coast pharmaceutical group. “My decision was to stay in sunny California,” says the personable horseman. With a pair of colleagues, he set up a consulting business, Agrilynx, Inc., whose equine assignments eventually led to establishing in 1995 the Ice Horse cold therapy product line and Mackinnon Quality Equine Products. “I had always had a desire to do something related to horses. I started looking at ideas I had jotted down over the years, ideas related to competition horses.” Those ideas asked: “What if there was a simple, more effective way of icing the leg, reducing lactic acid development and inflammation, and lowering the impact of soft tissue swelling?” Chuck talked to veterinarians and medical doctors who were unanimous in recommending cold therapy. “Inflammation is like a brush fire. If not snuffed out quickly, it will rage into a major blaze.” He cites the Royal College of Veterinary Medicine: “As little as seven minutes of vigorous exercise can raise tendon and ligament temperatures to 113 degrees F.” This laid the foundation for Ice Horse’s “business model,” focusing on preventative and therapeutic products for care of the equine athlete’s legs, tendons, muscles and ligaments, utilizing heat and cold therapy techniques. Seven-time National Four-In-Hand Combined Driving National Champion Chester Weber attests, “We use First + Ice tendon wraps on horses recovering from injuries, or after a hard day’s work, as a preventative measure. No question, we don’t leave home without them.” The star on Weber’s four-in-hand team is Jamaica, the 2008 USEF Horse of the Year whose story began in Belgium where the horse was rescued from a slaughterhouse. Now 19 years old, Jamaica has been on all seven of Weber’s National Four-In-Hand Championship teams. Does Ice Horse keep Jamaica chillin’? Weber smiles. “At 19, he’s had every product over his long career, from the hoof boots and up.” From driving Ottawa farm horses to keeping the nation’s top four-in-hand team performing at its best, Chuck and Ice Horse remain dedicated to finding the right answer – for all horses -- to the question: “What can we do better?” Learn more at www.mackinnonicehorse.com