Archive for the ‘Healing Horses Naturally’ Category

Magrit Coates & Oliver

This past weekend’s workshop with world reknown animal Healer & Communicator, Magrit Coates, was a fantastic success. We spent 2 full days learning from Margrit’s vast experience and wisdom. Our August newsletter will feature more information on how the weekend went, so today I want to focus and give a background on what exactly “healing” is…

*All information below is from Margrit Coates website www.thehorsehealer.com. Please visit her site from more information.

Horse Healing

What sort of horses need healing?
All horses can benefit from hands on healing and which you can give yourself. Any horse which has been traumatised in the past (for example through injury , accident, illness, bad handling, abuse, neglect etc) no matter how long ago, can benefit, as healing aims to restore balance top the energy field and discharge negative energy.

Disturbed energy can lead to disease and disorder and all physical illness will have an emotional element to it. Pain and stress are very upsetting for a horse and lead to, so-called, behavioural problems.

Healing and communication is not horse whispering – it is more powerful
Hands on healing, and communicating with horses, is not horse whispering because it works through unseen energies. Healing is a communication energy that you can connect with, which works deeply with your equine using soul language to rebalance and harmonise the energy field .

You can use healing energy for Read the rest of this entry »

By Catherine McDowell

Spring is with us, and so is the dreaded laminitis! Over the last 2 weeks Herbal Treatments staff have been inundated with requests for information and treatment of the laminitic horse or pony.

Step 1:  Day 1

Remove the cause of the laminitis

Green grass (especially from fresh small fast growing grasses) is critical. Do not re-introduce the horse or pony to pasture until you have full knowledge of the degree of the condition. Do not feed Lucerne hay.

Feed 3 hour soaked dry grass hay or oaten hay, Speedi-beet and appropriate herbs.

Weight must be reduced and appropriate feeds given to restore metabolic harmony. A natural mineral supplement with a magnesium and chromium supplement is advised here. We at herbal treatments prefer Khonkes Mag E and Life Springs Colloidal Minerals or Seaweed (kelp). Do not fast (starve) your pony or horse for longer than 12 hours. Read the rest of this entry »

by Marijke van de Water, B.Sc., DHMS

Spring Grass and Probiotics

Maybe what you need is not more diagnostic tests and medicine but a different medical approach and philosophy.

A MORE HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH MAY BE YOUR ANSWER
In the holistic approach to health and wellness, the patient is at the center of the treatment plan.  A truly holistic approach treats the patient with the intent of increasing the level of vitality and well-being, rather than treating to simply subdue the symptoms of an artificial diagnosis.

The result of this approach is a patient who is healthier, more resilient, and less susceptible to the common maladies of life.

VETERINARY HOMEOPATHY – THE APEX OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE
No other approach to medicine better fulfills the philosophy of holistic medicine than does Homeopathy.

Homeopathy is founded on the premise that symptoms seen in a patient are the result of an imbalance or disharmony in the Life Force.  
Rather than divide the symptoms into separate diagnoses and prescribe a different medicine for each diagnosis, the Homeopath seeks to find the common cause of all the symptoms and to find the single medicine which will bring the entire patient to health and wholeness.

With this premise, there is no condition in any patient which is not treatable with Homeopathy.  The Homeopath is not dependent on finding a diagnosis before treatment can begin but instead uses the entire complex of symptoms produced by the patient as a guide to the single medicine which will treat the entire patient.

The Homeopathic approach catalyzes health and wholeness in the patient.  The end result is a patient who is not compromised by chronic, recurrent disease.

THE HOMEOPATHIC PROCESS
To treat a patient Homeopathically, the Homeopath must gather as much information about the patient as is possible.  This will require an in-depth examination of the patient and interview with the care-giver.

Sometimes in complex cases, diagnostic tests may be run or the services of other individuals such as body workers or animal communicators may be used to gather more information.

Once all the details about the patient have been gathered, the Homeopath, following the specific techniques of Homeopathy, searches for the single medicine which will address all the symptoms seen in the patient.  By treating the patient with a single medicine, the Homeopath can avoid the complications caused by multiple concurrent medications so common in conventional medicine today.

When this single medicine based on the complete array of symptoms of the patient is found, it is given in the least dose at the greatest interval necessary to catalyze healing changes in the patient.  

After the medicine is selected and given, the care-giver observes the patient for changes in the symptom pattern and reports these changes to the Homeopath.  In this way, and only in this way, can the Homeopath be directed to the appropriate therapeutic measures in the future.

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Mustang Feet

The Mustang is our best example of how healthy and hardy horses can be barefoot. Wild mustangs live on very hard ground, often extremely rocky ground. They also cover from 20-30 miles daily looking for food, water, and avoiding predators.

Mustangs have excellent hoof conformation with short heels, a dubbed toe, large frogs, and short bars. Mustangs are almost never seen with a hoof deformity or lameness.

Example of a Mustang's hooves

Example of a Mustang's hooves

Example of a Mustang's hooves

However, our domestic horses ARE NOT mustangs.  Not all horses live in arid rocky climates. A rider’s goals, their horse’s genetics and the boarding situation will make the difference in just how far an individual horse can go barefoot. A horse that is stalled the majority of the time may have problems living a barefoot lifestyle. Bare feet are natural, stalls are not. 

Historically horses were ridden and used barefoot until a variety of husbandry changes occurred (stalling, diet, genetics) caused shoes to become necessary. Stabling conditions cause the feet to be exposed to extreme drying situations (bedding) which then became wet situations (soiled bedding) while minimizing hoof mechanism due to the restricted movement.

This leads to deterioration of the hoof wall and form, thus bringing about the practice of shoeing to keep them protected. The more turn out and exercise your horse gets the healthier their feet will be.

Horses that are primarily ridden in sandy arenas, or on soft trails  may not need shoes. Horses that are ridden long distances on rocky or hard terrain will need more effort to ride barefoot, though it is often possible. Many disciplines will require shoeing for competitions or training as they are very different from what “wild horses do”.

For example, a reining horse will need shoes on the back feet in order to slide without abrading their back heels. Event horses who may jump large fences and make tight turns in mud often need shoes and removable studs for safety.

Barefeet have BETTER traction than shoes in most footing circumstances (rock, roads, firm ground). But when the mud is 6″ deep, there is no barefoot approach to over come it.

Before we can truly understand how to start supplementing our horses’ diets or treating their disorders & illness with herbs, we need to understand the actions of each herbs, and in so doing we begin to learn when, where & how to use specific herbs…

It would be a good idea to print out this list and put it somewhere where you can see and read it often and soon you will suprise yourself with how quickly you learn…

Adaptogen
Herbs that normalize and restore body functions and increase the body’s nonspecific resistance to stress: ginseng, licorice, nettle and astragulus.

Alterative
Also known as blood purifiers. Herbs that gradually restore health and vitality to the body: burdock, red clover, nettle, oregon grape, alfalfa, gota kola, marshmallow, dong quai, and ginseng.

Analgesic/Anodyne
Substance that relieves pain: scullcap, valerian, passion flower, catnip and chamomile. Read the rest of this entry »

Note from Faye:  Here is another great article from Zoe Dodds about Flower Essences for Horses. I love reading her blog… Enjoy!!

Flower Essences can offer Emotional Balance for You & Your Horse …

By Zoe Dodds

Flower essences have a special place in my heart because of their ability to influence our emotional and spiritual wellbeing. I find horses very receptive to flower essences and will usually recommend both horse and rider take them together when seeking to balance any behavioural or emotional issues. This is because very often our horses will mirror or reflect any imbalances or problems we are working on, with both issues we are aware of, and issues we are not.

Dr Edward Bach, an inspirational physician and homeopath, developed flowerremedies in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Today these remedies are used throughout the world and are widely acknowledged for their gentle yet profound qualities. Read the rest of this entry »

Note from Faye: This article does a great job of describing and summing up why we prefer to choose Herbal (or ‘natural’) medicine over Western (or ‘traditional’) medicine whenever possible. That is not to say Western medicine does not have it’s place, rather that we, whenever possible choose to treat our horses with natural, holistic and non-invasive methods ...

By: Zoe Dodds

Herbal Medicine uses remedies derived from plants to treat common illnesses. These herbs are dietary supplements that you can give to your horse in its raw form or dried, through teas (infusions), extracts, tinctures and oils or as part of a combined remedy. Herbal Medicine aims to not only treat the symptoms but to introduce improvements to your horse’s lifestyle and wellbeing.

Herbs have been used on people and animals for thousands of years across a range of cultures. Shamans, Medicine men and women, pharaohs, kings and field workers all knew the benefits of herbs on their people and animals. Some of the more common cultures to have used herbs on their horses were the native american indian tribes, the ancient greeks and the romany gypsies of Europe. Horses also have instinctively foraged on medicinal plants native to their grasslands gaining the necessary nutrition to heal and prevent illness.

Modern medicine is in fact foundered from the use and experimentation of thousands of years of herbal medicine knowledge. Veterinarian science and the development of pharmaceuticals has evolved directly from the accumulated wisdom of herbal history that has greatly benefited western medicine as we know it today.

So how do herbs work and how can we use them safely on our horses in the context of our modern world? Read the rest of this entry »

Most people think that herbal remedies are limited to humans alone. But horses also benefit from Naturopathy, or herbal medicine. This article specifically focuses on a range of herbal remedies for equines.

Many horse owners feel the need to resort to herbal remedies that do not hamper a horse from competing in the show ring, or being active and drug-free.

Horses have health concerns that are similar to human health issues, yet they have a different system, which requires a different approach to naturopathy than one would take with a human being. Read the rest of this entry »

By Madalyn Ward, DVM

Sometimes diagnosing our horses’ pain can be a pain in the you-know-what! Our horses don’t speak English, and they can’t tell us exactly what hurts or why. That’s why understanding the different kinds of pain, especially from a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) point of view, can be so valuable.

 This information can be difficult to digest at first, but you’ll find that in time you will be able to distinguish one kind of pain from another based on your horse’s symptoms. In last month’s newsletter I covered excess pain conditions, and this month I review deficiency pain conditions. Read the rest of this entry »