“Would I recommend GastroAID Recovery? Oh my goodness YES!”

Mandy and Remy’s story of success when faced with Largest Fire Front in Australia’s History!

Mandy lives on a 12-acre property on the South Coast of NSW surrounded by the Morton National Park and near the towns of Milton and Ulladulla.   She says it’s a wonderful place with loads of riding trails and close enough to the ocean to pick up lovely sea breezes. Wonderful, that is, until ‘the largest fire front in the history of Australia’ is heading your way threatening your family, your property and your precious horse, Remy. This is the situation that Mandy faced during the catastrophic fire situation on the South Coast in December 2019.

Here is Mandy’s story in her own words.

My horse, Remy, has certainly had a history of some severe setbacks including peritonitis and severe infection in his near side stifle. I’ve always found when horses are on antibiotics and strong pain relief, their bodies are stressed, and their gut is the first to suffer.  We must make the gut healthy and happy for the horse to return to its previous good health.  Healing starts from the inside.

I’ve used GastroAID Recovery for quite a few years and always found it to be a wonderful support in the actual recovery from an illness or gut issues.  I also find it’s wonderful for prevention when things like deworming pastes can upset him or if we are going to be travelling and there is any chance of stress.   When Remy is a bit stressed and his manure changes, it’s a sign to me that he needs assistance.

I had taken him off GastroAID Recovery as he’d been doing really well when four months ago, a mild case of colic made me nervous considering his history, so I bought another tub of GastroAID Recovery starting him back on it. And I am so glad that I did as only weeks later we were evacuating to Milton Showground and I knew that we were in for the ‘Long Haul’.

Whenever we need to evacuate, I always get him out early for his safety. It also helps me to prepare and take the things that we need and to get a good yard.  When the fire was approaching, I took his minerals, his GastroAID Recovery and feed. We had enough for two weeks but we were there for a lot longer, so I had to drive out to the road block near home and get my husband to pass me the remainder of the tub over the road block!  Then I bought another tub when that ran out of the second one. As always GastroAID Recovery kept him eating well in a strange environment and kept his manure healthy and his gut happy.

While we were there, I had people commenting on how ‘chilled and relaxed’ Remy was, whether in his yard or out walking the show grounds and the show ground was a place that used to make him very anxious.  He was so calm and his manure stayed perfectly healthy at all times, and he ate so well which was wonderful because I had to soak his beet flakes with town water which is not like his usual tank water and he ate it regardless. He most definitely eats much better when the GastroAID Recovery is added to his feed.

We had to go to the show ground three times over six weeks and spent a month down there all up.

With the second evacuation, I had to get him out earlier than I had planned because he had injured his near side stifle doing heaven knows what and he was dog lame. The only way to have him seen by a vet was to get him back to the show ground as we were 300 metres from the road block and no-one, other than residents, could come through.  He needed yard rest (that was handy!) and Bute and that would have really knocked his gut around had he not been on the GastroAID Recovery.

When we left, we were coming home to a property that had virtually no grass and didn’t look anything like Remy was used to and he had to be in a smaller area to keep him off the charred ground. At no time did he look upset or stressed and again his manure was wonderful and he looked a picture.   He also came home to Endeavour Energy hurtling through our property with dozens of huge trucks and cranes, new power poles and excavators! He just chilled and took it all in his stride.

Throughout his long evacuation, Remy’s twice daily dose of ‘good health’ enabled him to stay gut healthy and calm with healthy manure. For me, whose gut was in an absolute turmoil, it enabled me to have one less thing to worry about knowing that Remy was feeling good in a very difficult situation. He gained weight and I lost it! I needed to be taking the equivalent for humans!

Would I recommend GastroAID Recovery? Oh my goodness YES! I recommend it all the time!  So many people tell me that their horses stress and lose weight when showing or travelling or when they’re in a new environment or that their manure isn’t what it should be, or they suspect ulcers etc.   My first ‘go to’ (after I have called the vet, if necessary) is my GastroAID Recovery.  I’m grateful my local produce store always keeps it in stock for me.

We are now in recovery mode after the onslaught of the last few months and January 4th in particular, which all but wiped us out and would have had my husband not saved the place.  We have no fencing apart from our powder-coated steel front fence, so I’m hoping for no power cuts as we are relying upon electric fencing!  And of course, we are hoping for no more fires, just dealing with the insurance company and assessors to rebuild fences and my precious arena fencing and get on with life.  I am riding Remy down on the arena even if the melted fence is lying at Remy’s feet!

We are amongst the lucky ones that have a house and our health. I am looking forward to starting lessons again and getting him out to local Dressage days or shows and just having fun with him. Perhaps not trail riding for a while as those trees are still dropping!

Mandy, NSW South Coast.

 

 

Want to find out more? Head to the GastroAID Recovery page, get in touch on 1800 Kelato or email technical@kelato.com.au.

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