Success Stories - CARRIE & VAL

Carrie Hirshberg- Professional Ladies 6 Cowboy Mounted Shooter 

Since getting amazing results with our own horses we have helped countless horses feel and perform better through the line of Basic Animal Health products. I couldn’t be more thankful for that individual that pushed me to give this company a try. Now, I pay it forward and help others! 

My 11 year old mare, Val Uptuous Lu (Dash for Cash x Mr. Eye Opener), puts me at the top in our sport of Cowboy Mounted Shooting. She has the build, the speed and the heart to perform. In my opinion she is “pure bred”; there is no buffer in her. She tries and she tries hard, unfortunately her care to try has made her very uncomfortable. 

Two years ago we started doing more consistent longer hauls to go to more events. This is when we hit the low of our roller coaster… Prior to GutHealth I had done several loading doses and would treat Lu with Omeprozale and Sacrulfate leading up to and during events. Trying to stay ahead of her finicky gut cost more than all my entry fees, but its what I had to do to have a horse to compete with. We hauled 13 hours to an event. I competed the first day with much hesitation on her end and that night she started drawing up and thrashing out in pain like I’ve never seen. It was our all time low. We didn’t know what to do besides give her Banamine. I had her on Ulcer Guard, Sacrulfate, electrolytes and a lactic acid build up paste. Literally, nothing should have been wrong with my horse and everything was. I ended up scratching from the event. I talked with several vets and other horseman and decided to give her a month off of no competition and started her on Succeed and Equisure. It was a pain to get her to eat her feed with those supplements on them. At events she would still go off her feed and by the end of a long event she would be over it. She would still compete, but wasn’t happy. I felt I was walking a very fine line and was very nervous about our traveling season coming up. 

Someone knew about our issue and told us about Basic Animal Health products. She simply said “it works”. I thought, well, I’ve literally tried everything else, so I called the number provided and talked to Tom Hall and told him my story and asked him to set me up for success. I was optimistic, yet very skeptical. I had spent hundreds of dollars before on Ulcerguard, Sacrulfate, Succeed, Equisure and Banamine that I had to give this a full hearted try. After all, the vets had no other answer for me. $400+ later he set us up for success for two months. I got the products and administered them exactly as he said. 

Two months later we went to Vegas (South Point) for a 5 day national event. This was our first big, long event on the GutHealth products. Leading up to this event my horse was performing again and we were winning local events. She was running great and super free coming into a barrel turns. Her demeanor was better all the way around, so much so that people were commenting on the change. I wouldn’t tell anyone what we were giving because I said Vegas was the true test.  

Well let me tell you, I made a total of 9 runs in Vegas, 5 of them were main match stages, where for the first time ever, Lu and I won the coveted Ladies Overall at a National event. I couldn’t have done it without the GutHealth products. Lu was ready to work for every stage, she was level headed all the way to the last run, true and honest. I had a happy horse. For the first time during a Major she was healthy leaving the event. She cleaned up all her feed the entire time. Thanks to Basic Animal Health we won our first Major. This is hands down the cheapest form of treating and maintaining my horse and “it works”. 

She is still a high maintenance horse, but now I am able to take care of her. So here is what happened… the omeprozale and sacrulfate helped initially, however, by feeding the omperozale and suppressing stomach acid we messed up her digestive system and screwed up her hind gut. She was drawing up and in immense pain from her hind gut. This was the hard part to treat. Until Basic Animal Health came into our lives I was walking a fine line with treating her and essentially throwing money down the drain. 

Side note: When I had a vet out for routine work he asked if I needed any medications. I went on to tell him that I didn’t and what I had been using that was actually working. He was happy that I found something that worked so well, and he went on to admit that he hates prescribing Ulcer Guard and Gastric Guard. ((((( WHAT?!?!?!?!?)))))) 

To this day I give her GutHealth Xtra Strength Pellets daily and give her GutHealth Xtra strength Gel any time I haul her and leading up to events. She gets the O2 Advantage Gel during an event, especially multi-day events. If we are in the thick of competition season I will give her Gold Oil as well. My horse has never looked better, nor performed better in 11 years. 

We have three other personal horses, which are not high maintenance, that get half dose of GutHealth Xtra Strength Pellets daily and GutHealth Xtra Strength Gel at events. Any training horses I get in also get pellets and gel. It’s amazing how different horses act when their gut is happy. 

Since getting amazing results with our own horses we have helped countless horses feel and perform better through their line of Basic Animal Health products. I couldn’t be more thankful for that individual that pushed me to give this company a try. Now, I pay it forward and help others!