LEADING Irish horse feed manufacturer, Connolly’s RED MILLS, has signed a nutritional partnership deal with the world’s top female showjumper and Olympian, Australian Edwina Tops-Alexander.

The Kilkenny-based company joins the leading fashion house, Gucci, as a partner with the showjumper. Gucci designs her personal wardrobe and she is also an ambassador for the luxury watch-maker Jaeger-Le Coutre.

Under the deal all of the Edwina’s horses, including the multi Grand Prix winning gelding Cevo Itot du Chateau - will be fed exclusively on Connolly's RED MILLS horse feeds. They will follow strict diet plans to suit their individual needs formulated by Connolly's RED MILLS nutritionists at their headquarters in Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny.

The Edwina Tops-Alexander deal is the latest global coup for RED MILLS. Last year, Connolly’s RED MILLS, became the first in the world to secure a licence to import horse feed into mainland China. Connolly’s Red Mills horse feeds are already well-known to many of the leading stables in the world. Over one hundred group one, grade one, or grand prix events have been won by horses fuelled by their products in the last season alone

Edwina is the highest ranking female show jumping rider in the world since 2009 and her decision to feed her horses exclusively on RED MILLS product is a significant vote of confidence in the brand.

According to Joe Connolly, Managing Director of Connolly’s RED MILLS, the feeding program will help improve the performance and maintain good condition of Edwina’s horses.

“Edwina can keep all her horses in top digestive health on the inside and performing to their best with the assistance of our nutritional experts.” 

Speaking about the RED MILLS nutritional partnership she said: “I'm delighted to have this opportunity and support from Connolly's Red Mills feed. Nutrition is one of the key factors in performance, along with the sophisticated program and expertise knowledge now available through Red Mills to individually analyse my horses. I'm very confident that Connolly's Red Mills will benefit not only my horses but also my own performance level." 

Edwina’s career really took off in 2006 when she became the first rider in the history of Australia to qualify for the final of the World Championships in Aachen. Remarkably, she finished in fourth place.

She has since gone on to win numerous Grand Prix across Brussels, Valkenswaard, London and Zurich, as well as Cannes, Geneva, Vigo and Doha. She competed in the Beijing and London Oylmpics and since then, Edwina has gone on to make history by being crowned the Global Championships Tour winner in 2011 and 2012. 

The one hundred million Euro group employs 200 people at its plant in Goresbridge in Kilkenny and at export offices around the world, including the UK, Sweden, France, Japan and Malaysia.

The company uses the most advanced technologies and processes in making its feeds. The RED MILLS range of export products are packed using their unique Nutrient Fresh Management System (NFMS) to prolong shelf-life in warm climates. Connolly’s is the only feed company to use LCMSMS in its on-site laboratory, which tests for product quality and Naturally Occurring Prohibited Substances (NOPS) to parts per billion.

NOPS occur naturally (such as morphine traces in poppy seeds) and can find their way into the animal via the food chain. Connolly’s testing technologies are the same as those used by the Olympic Council and forensic bodies around the world. It screens samples for seven key NOPS: caffeine, theobromine, morphine, hordenine, atropine, scopolamine and lupinine