#TEAMDiO: MEET EVIE JAECKLE, GRAND PRIX SHOW JUMPER

By Allison Armstrong Rehnborg

As a lifelong horsewoman and Grand Prix-level show jumper, Evie Jaeckle is devoted to caring for her horses to the best of her ability. She’s also the business manager of the Jaeckle Centre, a world-class performance, therapy and rehabilitation center for equine athletes, which means that her dedication to providing the best care extends beyond her own personal horses to the horses that receive therapy in the Jaeckle Centre every day. 


“My vision for the Jaeckle Centre is for it to be known for its level of care and the amount of education and customer service we provide to our clients,” Evie said. “There are days when we’re walking horses at 11 p.m. because the horse has cellulitis and the client asked us to. Our highly trained staff have
worked with performance horses of many disciplines their whole life. We want our customers to know that their horses’ every need is being met because we’re working with performance athletes here. Whether it’s preventative care to avoid injury, or a horse post-operation that needs care, therapy and rehabilitation, we want to bring their horses back even stronger than they were before. We want to make horses not just good, but great.”

Located in Thompson’s Station, Tenn., the Jaeckle Centre opened in 2009 as the South’s premier facility for equine therapy, training and rehabilitation. The Centre is located on 75 acres in the heart of Tennessee horse country and includes an Olympic-sized, climate-controlled indoor arena, 55 stalls with automatic waterers, multiple temperature-controlled tack rooms and much more. Since its inception, the Centre has also been home to a state-of-the-art equine therapy and rehabilitation unit, complete with a team of on-site veterinarians and equine therapy professionals. Then, in 2020, Evie Jaeckle spearheaded a complete revamping of the facility and its services when she became the new barn manager at the Centre.  


“I just knew this facility could be even better, so I restarted the whole facility from the ground up,” Evie said. “When I became the barn manager, I had just graduated from Auburn University with my degrees in business and psychology with minors in entrepreneurship and family business, so I knew I could do it. After we’d been open under my supervision for about four months, we got 11 clients in one weekend and they all said it was from word of mouth about how amazing our care was. That’s when I knew my program was flourishing so I could pass things on to our then-therapy manager, Naomi Minardi, who is now our new barn manager and director, to manage the whole operation, and then I became our business manager.”

Owners can opt to board their horses at the Jaeckle Centre full time to receive ongoing therapy, or they can haul horses in for a day or two to receive targeted therapy sessions. The Centre houses twelve different therapy machines, including a cold water leg spa, which uses salt water at 32 degrees to help decrease inflammation; a dry treadmill and an underwater treadmill that can use hot or cold salt water; the EquiPulse, which delivers pulsed electro-magnetic field therapy to improve circulation and help regenerate damaged or diseased tissue; a class IV therapeutic laser to speed up the healing process; and an EquiVibe, which provides vibration plate therapy to help increase circulation and bone density. 


“Our ultimate goal is to provide the most beneficial therapies for horses, and I really believe that horses thrive on these therapies,” Evie said. “I’ve seen so many transformations and worked with a lot of rescue and performance horses, and it’s amazing to see the difference in these horses after they go through our therapy program.”

Evie’s own show horse, Johnny, became partially paralyzed in an accident at the age of 16. Rather than give up, Evie dedicated the next two years to rehabilitating him at the Jaeckle Centre. She just hoped he’d be able to walk again someday, but by the summer of his 18th year, Evie and Johnny were able to return to the show ring and jump again.


“His first class back was a meter class, and he jumped double-clear and was second in his class,” Evie remembered. “No one ever thought that horse would come back, but there he was, jumping again! And he’s super happy.”


In January 2021, Johnny went on to jump to 10th place in the $10,000 Child/Adult Jumper Classic in Wellington, Fla., and is now on circuit with Evie, currently showing in the 1.15. This is just one of many success stories of rehabilitated horses that have come out of the therapy program.


As part of her dedication to the equine athlete, Evie is an ardent fan of Draw It Out and became a proud member of #TeamDiO in 2020. Frustrated with the blistering and heat that accompanied the use of other liniments in her showjumpers, she was looking for a natural product that was safe to use on horses with sensitive skin.


“A few weeks before I called Jon Conklin, I had a horse that blistered so badly with another liniment that I knew I couldn’t use that anymore,” Evie said. “So I found DiO online, called the company and ended up speaking with Jon himself.”


As soon as she started using Draw It Out’s products for herself, Evie was hooked. She ordered products for her own horses, but also decided to stock the store at the Jaeckle Centre with Draw It Out for therapy clients to try on their own horses.


“I love it. I literally put it on everything, from swollen legs to scrapes in the paddock,” Evie said. “At home, I like to use the Draw It Out Plus Horse Liniment because it works very well to bring the inflammation down and prevent any soreness associated with training at home. At shows, I use Draw It Out Horse Liniment gel and concentrate. I’ll spray their whole bodies after a show so they’re not sore. I also love the MasterMudd Equine Poultice. It’s no mess, so I love that I can put it under a wrap and there is no residue the next day.”


The Jaeckle Centre also uses DiO products on horses in therapy.


“We use it within our routine, so if a horse has sore legs or if it’s body-sore, we’ll always use a DiO product to help alleviate that. Our clients are constantly asking questions about it once they see it in action. We feel DiO goes hand-in-hand with all our therapy modalities and our goals here at the Centre. We’ll hand our customers a pamphlet and then they usually go buy some in the store because they love it,” Evie said. “I really believe in this product and I’m so happy that I found DiO.”


To learn more about the Jaeckle Centre, visit www.equineperformax.com. And if you’re ready to try Draw It Out products on your own horses, find an authorized DiO Dealer near you with our handy store locator.