Alternative therapy?What are you using and to treat what condition?

[NIKKI1974]

When my mare got laminitis i was advised to give her belladona which was in tablet form especially for horses with this condition .i am always a little hesitant about using herbal remedies i think because of my lack of understanding on such things.Does your horse have a condition that you are treating with alternative therapy and have you found it makes a difference to their condition i know some people are a little sceptical on this type of treatment.

 

[hadfos]

I tried the hilton herb equiimune with the ditton cream when my lad got sarcoids!!Brill stuff it shrivelled them right up but i unfortunately had to stop using them due to the expense!Went down the vet route(liverpool cream and global herbs sarcex,gone completely but i am sure that is down to the liverpool cream)(preferred the latter)!!So yes i would jump at trying herbal remedies on him!!

 

[cobden99]

Ive tried quite a few different things, for example aromatherapy and homeopathy, but I have never tried them instead of veterinary advice or treatment, just alongside.

 

[NIKKI1974]

yeh same as me.I know some who has a box which is full of different types of oils and quite often used to get all the different bottles out put a drop on her hand and offer it to her horse.The idea being that if the horse licked it depending on which particular oil it licked would mean it had a particular condition such as it was depressed or was lacking in something or other. But sometimes i think well mayb it just liked the taste and smell of one and not of the other ones so would naturally go for them anyway.Dont know may be its just me but i dont think i would be wanting to offer my horse loads of different things.

 

[kerilli]

i'd obviously always get a vet for anything serious or acute, but i use homeopathic remedies for various things, and i use essential oils.
socksnblaze, horses in the wild (all animals, actually) self-medicate with plants, and offering them essential oils is the closest we can come to letting them do that. they really do know which ones they want/need, and the different oils have very different effects. you should only ever offer them 3 or so at a time anyway (never mixed together, either), i was told.

 

[mpicton101]

In terms of physical alternative therapies, we use a combination of massage including shiatszu (sp!?) and healing. A few of ours have also been muscle tested and we use natural antibiotics such as mullien, bladderack etc. We also use fresh garlic as a sort of natural wormer, don't worry we do also use regular wormers! We do work along side our vet with these therapies and have seen good effects.

 

[NIKKI1974]

i understand that a horse would naturally self heal by grazing certain herbs ect in the wild not saying there is anything wrong in doing what you are doing personal choice so dont get me wrong but what i am trying to get my head around is that most of our horses are domesticated anyway have not come into contact with half the things anyway when out grazing have been ok without them so dont seem the need to introduce them to him now please dont take offence!

 

[kerilli]

yes, i see your point, and i'm not offended, sorry if it came across like that. i think that even though we think our horses are so domesticated, they still have a huge amount of instinct left, and that if we can offer things that the horse might want/need, based on our analysis of its behaviour etc, why not? the essential oils are cheap, and the horses really love some of them! just because they've never come into contact with the specific plant before, doesn't necessarily mean that they don't already know about it... my lot have never met a snake or a tiger either, but i reckon their instinct would resurface v. quickly if one appeared here! sorry if that seems an extreme example, hope you get my drift...!

 

[ThomasTank]

If you were given belladonna, then your mare must have had a lot of heat, pain and pulsation and refused to move.
Hypericum would have helped with the acute pain and Bryonia would have helped if there was an unwillingness to move and the symptoms were less severe.

I use homeopathy a lot and swear by it

I also dont care two hoots if it has been proved scientificall or not. One needs to open ones mind to these things

 

[NIKKI1974]

She was really bad couldnt move but did not stand with the typical lamanitic stance as you see in some horses . Obviosly the first person i called on was the vet but it is nice to know that you can sucessfully treat a horse with natural remedies rather than pump them full of man made drugs which can have adverse affects if used long term. Its like me if i have a headache i would rather try and sleep it off than take paracetamol or asprin but im not the sought of person to take all the vitamins on the shelf either unless i was seriously lacking in some thing .

 

[ThomasTank]

Did the Belladonna work??

 

[NIKKI1974]

no thats great its a good way to look at things what i did ask the person when discussing the oil issue with her not to argue with her but just to get grasp on it was, that when he took this one particular oil she told me he had taken it because he felt threatened or frightened by something and as there were no visible signs of it and the horse looked relaxed it did in all honesty make me wonder .Then i said well i could put anything on my hand and if he liked the smell of it he would prob lick it anyway.I know a horse can select something because he is ill or lacking but didnt realise selection for emotions as well it is interersting without a doubt.

 

[NIKKI1974]

not sure i would like to think so but i was told by the vet to use bute first before trying alternatives .

 

[ThomasTank]

Thats a shame. I dont expect you would have needed the bute and she would have recovered much quicker too.

 

[NIKKI1974]

There was another one i forget the name of it but i know ive got the little booklet somewhere that i used to give my shetland mare for sweetitch.Now i had tried all the lotions, the supplements you name it i had tried it,non worked on her and she still scratched like mad i put her on the tablets the following year leading up to the summer and she hardly scratched at all so there must be something to these remedies.

 

[ThomasTank]

That would possibly be sulphur or graphities.
I swear by it but be careful.......*whispers* the scientists will be here soon wanting evidence about its effectiveness