In October 2005 the McCombe family bought Leam Tynagh’s Flint, a handsome 9 year old, 14.2 registered Connemara. Flint had a history of sweet itch which was generally controlled successfully with rugs.

In February 2006 Flint started to show signs of the sweet itch returning and by April had scratched his mane to the extent that he somehow managed to get a foreign body under the skin,  which caused a very nasty infection resulting in a vet’s visit, antibiotics and hot poultices.  That was the turning point! The family tried all types of lotions and potions to keep the midges off Flint. They  bought a rug, which was quite successful, however, the downside of that was, poor Flint was boiling inside it! The early summer was so hot. Julie  then decided to do some research into midges and what repelled them. She spent many weeks trialling different plant oils on the very forgiving Flint. One big question that puzzled the family was why don’t the native ponies in their wild state get sweet itch? You could say it’s because we’ve taken away their ability to graze freely over large areas – quite right! Actually, our equine friends have quite a limited range of plants around them now compared to their wild cousins.

That’s when the penny dropped, if we can put some of those plants (which must obviously help in the repelling of midges) into  a bottle, we have cracked it! Thus, Flint’s Remedy was created.

Julie went to Regent’s Park College, London in September 2006 and took part in a product blending course. This gave her an insight on professionally putting the remedy together. During this trip, she was put in touch with Alan Howell, a well respected gentleman within the world of natural products. After months of working together they were able to produce a lotion which was both effective, natural and still within the jurisdiction of  the new stringent Health and Safety Executive regulations.

Since then, Flint’s Remedy has been licensed by the HSE and awarded funding and support from the University of Plymouth’s Research & Development team. Furthermore, the McCombe's invited a veterinary practice in South Devon to offer their equine customers a sample of lotion, to trial it on their horses.  The result of this trial revealed that 80% said it was better than any other product they had used before.

Flint's Remedy Limited. Lipton Farm, East Allington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 7RN
Tel: 01548 521777  Fax 01548 521759  Registered in England & Wales No 06147905