Another award for 'horse mad' teenagers' equestrian health company

FenuHealth.com, a company set up by two teenage sisters from Summerhill, has won a leading innovation award.
The company, which was founded by teenage sisters Annie (15) and Kate (17) Madden won the New Frontiers Category at The Irish Times Innovation Awards, held in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham recently.
FenuHealth.com, based in Summerhill, produces powdered supplements that are sprinkled on horse feed to prevent or treat gastric ulcers in horses. The products – Fenu Save for prevention and Fenu Care for treatment - cost less than 10 per cent of the price of leading rival products.
Annie and Kate said they were thrilled to win the award. As category award winners the company will receive a €10,000 media package with The Irish Times as well as a one-year digital subscription to the paper. 
The idea for the company began two years ago when the horse mad sisters entered the BT Young Scientist exhibition with a study that looked at encouraging horses to eat by adding flavours to their feed.
“Around 90 per cent of race horses and 70 per cent of sport horses have gastric ulcers because horses produce acid all the time, not just when they eat. Horses in the wild are constantly grazing and have food in their stomachs all the time whereas this is not the case when horses are stabled” explains Kate. 
Now the business employs eight employees, has five Royal families as customers and exports to 14 countries across four continents. 
One of the big advantages of the company’s supplements is that unlike rival products they can be fed on the day of competition. The products have also received testimonials from numerous top trainers, including Noel Meade while the girls have also worked closely with Jim Dreaper.
The aim of The Irish Times Innovation Awards, which are now in their eighth year, is to showcase and reward excellence in innovation across a range of products and services.
Associate Sponsors of the awards include Abbvie, Teagasc, Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, KPMG, and UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

Also this month, Kate & Annie Madden received the Sodexo WMB Female Newcomer Award for 2017 for setting up Fenuhealth.com.