Innovation and Care at the Heart of ARK Equine
On the Saturday of the RDS’s 150th anniversary, the bustling show grounds were alive with the hum of conversation, the clink of tack, and the unmistakable rhythm of hooves on ground. Among the stands, I found myself once again in conversation with a familiar face, Kirsty McCann, manager of ARKequine.
“I think everybody kind of knows who you are,” I said with a smile, but for the uninitiated, Kirsty was happy to start from the top.
“We are based in Newbridge. We are an equine healthcare solutions company,” she explained. “We cover a wide range of products from feed and nutrition through to technology... foaling alarms, hay steamers, disinfectant solutions, water treatment systems, first aid.”
It’s a breadth of offering that speaks to their ethos: targeted, informed, and deeply practical. And this weekend, ARKequine had even more to talk about.
Product Launches Straight from the Show Floor
Yesterday, the company unveiled two new products. Something I was lucky enough to witness first-hand myself.
“We launched CopperPro Liquid, which is the partner product to CopperPro Paste,” Kirsty said. The paste, released 18 months ago, had been a strong success. “Everyone started saying, can I have a liquid? We said, fine. We bring out a liquid.”
The formulation has been fine-tuned with a few additions “to spec it up a little bit.” Designed to be mixed with feed, CopperPro Liquid supports copper levels in young stock, mares, and foals, and is particularly useful in areas where hay is low in copper. “We wouldn’t advise somebody to feed it beyond six weeks without veterinary advice,” Kirsty noted, though in deficient areas, a low rate could be fed consistently—always under professional guidance.
Advice Without Barriers
That guidance is a hallmark of ARKequine’s approach. “We’re owned by a veterinary pharmaceutical company, Forte Healthcare. We’re very lucky we have five vets on staff, and then we’ve got industry professionals as well,” Kirsty said. The result is an open-door policy, clients can call with questions they might not feel comfortable asking their own vet, confident they’ll get informed, practical answers. “We don’t mind ever having people pick up the phone and ring us and they can ask us anything.”
A New Chapter for Pets
Alongside the equine developments, ARKequine has stepped into the pet care market. Their new pet range draws on the same proprietary manufacturing technology used in their Viusid Equine product, designed to improve the bioavailability of active ingredients. The range includes support for ageing dogs with Alzheimer’s, respiratory and joint health, urinary tract care, weight management, cancer care, and Viusid Pet, a “super antioxidant product” balancing oxidative stress in pets’ bodies.
“It’s about helping support them through treatment or to the end of life,” Kirsty explained, underscoring the focus on wellbeing at every stage.
Staying Connected Beyond the Show
For those unable to visit the RDS stand, ARKequine’s full range is available online. “They can go to www.ark-equine.com and shop our entire range,” Kirsty said. Contact details for both the company and their veterinary team are available on the site.
As our conversation wound down, it was clear that ARKequine’s work is as much about trust as it is about products—offering innovation backed by expertise, and solutions shaped to the needs of each animal and owner.
