By MARLEY LIEN-GONZALEZ
Entrepreneur Doug Spatz comes from a line of lifelong horsemen and is, as some might say, a magician of sorts.
The founder of EyeOn Equine Care developed a powder compound made up of minerals that can be integrated into any material, giving that material healing power for horses. Spatz’s remarkable discovery, and the journey that led him to it, make him a daring pioneer in the horse industry.
Born into a generational horse family, and a rider since childhood, Spatz has always loved horses. Even as he outgrew riding as a teenager, he participated around the family farm and has always sought ways to bring horses into his life up until he established a business around them.
“I stopped riding and competing because I grew to be 6’5,” and at the time, I was a big guy on the football team. My grandfather didn’t have any Clydesdale-sized horses for me, but I stayed involved,” says Spatz, who did a lot of grooming and mucking stalls around the barn.
In his spare time as a kid, Spatz collected minerals, and when he went to college, he pursued degrees in Linguistics and Archaeology. He became very immersed in his areas of study, traveling across the world to conduct eld research on disease etiologies among Mayan descendants. All the while never forgetting his and his family’s horse history.
“I took a year off in college and worked for a company that built jumps. I also did some horse show announcing. My mom was a judge with a big “R” for four decades, and it’s amazing how every time I came home to visit, it seemed to be timed perfectly with when the hay shipment was dropped off and needed stacking.”
During a work trip in South America, when Spatz bought a mineral from a local souvenir shop for his collection and later researched the fact that it had unique healing properties. He immediately thought of how he could bring that propensity to a hock boot or hoof pad for horses to relieve pain and expedite recovery from injury.
“I didn’t understand the properties at first, but the mineral does two things: gives off a continuous ow of air anions, which is a natural antimicrobial against bacteria, and as we discovered one day through extensive experimentation, it also decreased pain,” he says. By absorbing heat waves and turning them into far infrared waves, it reduces pain, swelling and inflammation.
The ultimate compound that Spatz now uses in all his products is composed entirely of natural materials and magnifies the original mineral’s output to be 25% more efficient. In the product’s building stages, Spatz worked with horse owners who had very little hope left. Their horses were on the brink of having to be put down due to chronic and worsening pain, and the EyeOn technology was their last ditch effort to save them and give them comfortable lives. The results were resounding.
“The letters I received from these owners about the product were absolutely wonderful,” says Spatz. “Thanking me for giving their horses another chance, that encouraged me to keep going.” It began with the hoof boot which offered cushion and anions which serve as a natural antimicrobial, as well as far infrared which reduced pain, swelling, and inflammation by enhancing blood flow and oxygenation. Then, Spatz worked closely with an individual textiles manufacturer, and together they developed a very special foam for leg wraps.
“It’s a medical grade, breathable, and non-slip material, which means once wrapped, it stays in place. EEC doesn’t use any dangerous, heat-trapping ceramics in our products. The process of integrating the EyeOn compound technology was painstaking. It took a number of years to perfect the formula, but the result was truly worth it and amazing,” Spatz tells The Plaid Horse.
Now, he’s working to infuse the compound with even more materials for a wider range of products. Always imagining ways to improve the quality of horse and human lives, Spatz has recently released a far infrared EyeOn soap bar, which helps to treat acne, dermatitis, age spots, and wrinkles. His next project involves combining the technology with even more equipment–potentially an EyeOn saddle pad or a non-slip pad. The options are endless as Spatz stays on the modern curve of traditional medicine.
As an ex-football player, Spatz sustained his fair share of injuries. He’s tested EyeOn products on himself and afflictions that naturally would take two weeks to heal actually healed usually over one night, or sometimes two. “It’s a versatile product, it can be used on horses, humans, dogs; we’ve received a lot of testimonials for all different kinds of uses,” he says.
But his most grateful customers are the ones who don’t even have a voice to thank him. “We have places locally around here that serve as retirement farms for horses, and we’ve donated products to them,” says Spatz. “It’s incredible the impact it’s had on their lives and that’s something I’d like to continue doing. Hopefully we can expand enough to begin donating internationally, and not just for horses, but for people everywhere, too.”
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