About Us
Our Mission
Steve Blanchard
President of Finish Line Horse Products
We have become a trainer recognizable name as a company you can trust as a result of internal Research & Development, customer feedback and quality ingredients. Finish Line® Horse Products promise to bring you the best quality healthcare products for your horse at the best value. We commit to manufacturing products that work. We back up our commitment with 100% money back guarantee. We offer the best guarantee in the industry.
Our History
History & Our Mission
Passion remains at the core of who we are, it’s in our DNA and has been for four generations. The Finish Line® tradition for manufacturing quality equine health care products officially began in 1975, however, our history with horses started over 100 years ago. It started with John Edward Howe, our founder’s great-grandfather, who rode with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in the Oklahoma territory. John Edward’s key responsibility, along with being the cook, was to take care of Teddy Roosevelt’s horses and riders, keeping them sound and healthy. In 1929, the family purchased their first horse, Tangerine, and the story continues.
John Edward used botanicals, herbs and natural remedies for equine health. He then passed this tradition to the next three generations. His son, Oscar, depended on his family remedies and his training skills to feed his family and survive during the Great Depression.
His grandson, John Casper Howe, known throughout the racing industry as “JC,” started out as a jockey at Sportsman’s Park in Illinois at just 13 years old. He was an apprentice rider under contract to both Bootsy Hernandez and Harry Trotseck. JC rode in New Orleans, southern Florida, and the Midwest. JC began his long career of training horses at the age of 19. Jockey agent Oscar Sanchez noted, “He was very good with fillies. He knew his medicine and how to work on horses’ legs to keep them cool, tight and sound.”
JC won over 500 races with a modest stable. He trained horses for nearly 50 years. JC’s training suggestion: “Horses are like children. Trainers need to be content with what they get, mold them and treat them equally”. He provided his son, John R., with insights to Finish Line® product development and helped formulate the product named after him: JC’s X-Tie Up™.
John R. Howe was destined to be the founder of Finish Line® Horse Products. He felt a responsibility to further advance and develop his family’s horse legacy. In 1973, he proudly became the third horseman in the family to earn his trainers license and worked the race tracks in the Midwest, Florida and Arkansas alongside his father and grandfather. They used longtime family formulas to keep their race and pleasure horses sound. JC helped his son with product development and formulation. John R. was so dedicated to his family’s products that he visited race barns every morning to sell his made-from-scratch poultices and remedies. Soon after, you could find the newly-titled Finish Line® Horse Products at tack shops in Chicago and at racetracks around the country. The positive results opened John’s eyes to the need of helping more horses by expanding the product line to reach more disciplines and regions. Finish Line® Horse Products is a culmination of his pride in his family’s traditional horse care remedies blended with the state of the art science of manufacturing.
John R. used his family’s tried and true remedies and combined them with the talents of his in-house chemist team to expand Finish Line® Horse Products. Finish Line® has become a trusted name with trainers and owners because of internal research & development, customer feedback and quality ingredients. We proudly offer a complete line of horse healthcare products developed over time to include electrolytes, shampoos and other supplements along with the original remedies and poultices.
While racing provides the hoof print of Finish Line® Horse Products, our products have since expanded into a variety of disciplines and horse activities. We are proud to provide over 43 products to help horses of any discipline at the best value with 100% money back guarantee.
