Page Self - A Modern Horse Herbal

Our ancestors discovered the rudiments of their folk medicine in the healing plants sought out by animals suffering from alimentary disturbances, fever and wounds. By observing how animals cure themselves from disease, they learned how to keep themselves healthy by Natures own methods.

Dr D.C. Jarvis (Folk Medicine)

Twentieth-century man has lost the sixth sense which allows him to know instinctively what is good for him. Mercifully, animals have not, and if returned to a more natural environment could fend for themselves very successfully. They would not be plagued with the ailments which domesticity, intensive farming and mans greed have created. Unfortunately the majority of our farm animals do not get the opportunity to exercise their instinctive knowledge, being kept in what can only be described as unnatural conditions, with little or no control over what they eat. Today, many farm animals such as cattle, pigs and hens are confined to housing which allows them little or no access to grassland and very often no natural sunlight; they are forced to stand on concrete floors and are crated in pens which restrict their movements. The resulting poor physical health, not to mention mental distress, is then treated with a cocktail of chemicals that subsequently enter the food chain, with all the future consequences that may entail.

Horses have fared better than the majority of farm animals, in that the place they fill in our lives is generally for pleasure rather than profit. They have retained the instinct to know what is good for them, but are often prevented from using it by being restricted at best to paddocks devoid of natural herbage, and at worse confined to stables for the majority of their working lives. One only has to see how well the British native ponies cope with hardship to appreciate how much goodness they take from the harsh landscapes in which they live. It is only when they are removed from these sparse conditions and introduced to herb-free, protein-rich paddocks that conditions such as laminitis and sweet itch arise. Long-term confinement in stables (for sweet-itch sufferers) or in starvation paddocks (for laminitic ponies), the common solutions for these conditions, subsequently create their own set of problems.

The role of the horse has changed dramatically in the last fifty years. Through selective breeding, the sports horse has been created. This animal now runs faster, and jumps higher and longer than his forbears. He is comparable with the modern-day athletes that we see breaking world records on race tracks around the world; unfortunately he is just as prone to injury!

Even if the horse is not being used in strenuous competition, he still has to cope with mental and physical pressures. Poor air quality and the breakdown of the ozone layer, which results in an increase in harmful ultra violet rays in the atmosphere, affects us all and does not leave the horse unscathed. Allergies, photosensitivity and respiratory conditions are now far more commonplace, resulting in a greater use of cortisone and other steroidal-based drugs. A series of studies carried out on racehorses over the past ten years both in America and Hong Kong have shown that as many as 80% of the horses examined, whilst in training, were found to be suffering from gastric ulceration. Although no singular cause for this ulceration was found during the studies, it was generally concluded that stress, insufficient fibre, incorrect feeding programmes, and the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may contribute to the incidence of gastric ulceration. Interestingly, in the Hong Kong studies the incidence of ulceration drops to 50% in horses who have retired from training for a month or more. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Science now plays a greater role in the control of our animal feeds and the drugs that we use to enhance their performance. Stresses placed on our horses, not only by their training but also by the way in which they are kept, have produced new problems which did not exist twenty years ago. Unfortunately it has also produced an even greater reliance on the quick fix approach.

One cannot deny the benefits of conventional medicine, particularly in life-threatening conditions, but now, more than ever, there is a need to look back to the benefits that herbs can have on the animals in our care. Herbal medicine can work side by side with conventional medicines and has often effected a cure when all other avenues have failed. Between 1900 and 1935 veterinary surgeons used herbal remedies extensively and successfully, as part of their treatment; this is well documented. sure that it is by moving away from the use of these herbs and their gentle healing action that we have served our animals poorly. Perhaps, with a greater understanding of the benefits that herbs can bring to horses, we can start to redress the balance.