Feeding Oily Herbs - pros and cons

[Surbie]

And updates from the folk that ordered the herbs? Can you see a difference?

I'm not sure if any differences are attributable to herbs or not. However my horse has dropped more weight than he did last year(which is a GOOD thing!). He is also keener on his feeds not he's got over his horror at the initial change.

Not an oily herb, but still herbal - I've started mine on Devil's Claw on top of the boswellia he'd been having and that has made a marked difference in 3 weeks.

 

[lynz88]

I didn't think you could feed boswelia and devils claw together?

 

[Surbie]

I didn't think you could feed boswelia and devils claw together?

yep you can - my previous YM's horse was on it for years under vet advice.

eta: out of interest what are your reasons not to?

 

[lynz88]

Oh interesting. I think I did some searches ages ago about feeding both and think the general thought process was that they shouldn't (can't remember why). Boswelia makes mine very spaced out anyways (and wasn't strong enough on its own) so will stick to just a bute a day for him anyways but good to know.

 

[BMA2]

I have just ordered the oily 3 herbs

I think herbs and gut biome balance are going to turn out to be huge in equine (and human) health.

I can see the possibility of strong links between the reduction in feeding hay made from old pasture land and from grazing on large fields with old pasture and an apparent explosion in EMS, laminitis, early Cushings, equine asthma, young arthritis, ulcers ..... basically everything with any connection to stress and inflammation.

I swear that when old meadow hay was all you could buy and turnout had plenty of species of plant in it, we had far fewer problems with horses than we do now.
.

100% agree

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I’ve just taken delivery of the three herbs plus a bag of spearmint. Having just mixed them I’m now sneezing like mad

 

[BMA2]

I've mixed the oregano thyme and rosemary and I keep now thinking about lasagne

Am using a 100ml scoop once a day

Only on day 2

 

[Dave's Mam]

I've mixed the oregano thyme and rosemary and I keep now thinking about lasagne

Am using a 100ml scoop once a day

Only on day 2

I know, it smells delicious.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I save a bit in each bag and take it indoors and mix it and use it for cooking.

 

[ponyparty]

My YM said she thought I was going to cook Beryl when she saw the big bags of herbs

I feed the three, plus marigolds and cleavers (was just cleavers originally but they were out of stock on the site I use so I bought some horsey stuff with marigolds - not as nice quality, bit dusty and found a piece of wood in it!).

No loose poos, no filled legs, no mud fever. I am feeding a balancer and other stuff too so can’t be 100% sure what’s causing what, but whatever I’m doing it’s working so I’m sticking with it!

The cleavers is already growing round here so I’ll collect it on my dog walks and feed fresh once it’s grown enough.

 

[HopOnTrot]

What do these herbs actually do? I bet they smell delicious

 

[cauda equina]

They are thought to improve the health and diversity of the gut biome

 

[lynz88]

I've mixed the oregano thyme and rosemary and I keep now thinking about lasagne

Am using a 100ml scoop once a day

Only on day 2

The girls at the yard keep saying how they enjoy serving mine his spaghetti bolanaise I always steal a bit of Jonny's herbs for myself as well....

Mine wasn't a fan of marigolds unless mushed in so I don't feel them anymore.

 

[ycbm]

What do these herbs actually do? I bet they smell delicious

A lot more than we currently know about probably. They change the gut biome. In humans, the gut biome is now being linked to all sorts of issues, including depression. I read recently that they have found a transfer from the gut biome directly into the brain via the nervous system, something previously thought impossible.

 

[SEL]

I've mixed the oregano thyme and rosemary and I keep now thinking about lasagne

Am using a 100ml scoop once a day

Only on day 2

I poured warm water over a feed on a cold morning and thought about lasagne all day!

I have oregano rampant in my garden but can't get them to eat it fresh

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Day 1 and they both approved of the taste. Bowls licked clean. I’m hoping it helps B as he is a grumpy sod at the best of times and I would love to see him a bit happier in himself.

 

[Squeak]

And updates from the folk that ordered the herbs? Can you see a difference?

I'm another feeding herbs, last year, I wasn't so impressed with them as I thought some of his signs for his gut being off were triggered by them but he looked good condition wise. This winter I decided to try them again and had no signs of his gut being off. I don't know if it's the feed or the herbs but for a tb he's on fairly minimal feed and yet was still in show condition for LIHS in the middle of December.

 

[dottylottie]

ordered some for mine! i tried lily on the d&h last year and didn’t notice the slightest bit of difference, so i didn’t bother buying any more, but maybe it’ll be different this time!

 

[lynz88]

Day 1 and they both approved of the taste. Bowls licked clean. I’m hoping it helps B as he is a grumpy sod at the best of times and I would love to see him a bit happier in himself.

Mine also approves of the Hilton Herbal treats over any other sugary treats if given an option

 

[vam]

I starting feeding oliy herbs off the back of this thread about a year ago. At the time i felt i noticed a difference and she seemed a lot more 'level' in herself but no massive changes. At the time she was off work for injury but i like to think it helped keep her weight down as she has EMS and it was a bit of a challenge while she was out of work, she came out of winter looking great and trim! She has been back in work and i kept her on them but ran out last November and in a effort to save a few pennies (she is on a few supplements!) i didn't re buy. After a while i noticed that she didn't like her belly being touched towards her bits, not something she has ever liked but now she was really saying bog off. I put it down to being clipped as she is very ticklish and sensitive with her skin and doesn't much enjoy it. I also had a mare move next to her that was very anxious and really threw herself about at the slightest change, just taking mine out her stable set her off. It wasn't until i thought about the dates that i made the connection, put her back on the herbs in the new year and the belly behaviour stopped pretty quickly. She is still unsettled by the mare but i think thats a whole other issue.
Anyway, that long winded response was, yes they do work at least for mine they do. As i said she has EMS, i'm very careful with what i feed and she is more or less on a forage only diet but she looks well and has more energy than i know what what to do with and i absolutely won't stop them again, even if i look like an apothecary mixing her feeds!

 

[poiuytrewq]

I keep coming back to this thread.
Think I'm going to give it a try.
Would they have any benefits for a pony with cushings and seasonal skin problems?- doubt he'd eat them anyway but out of interest!

 

[Peglo]

I’m tempted to try mine on these but they are already on a gut balancer for the pre and probiotics. Would you feed the herbs with it or instead?

Especially interested with a few of you saying it helped weightwise.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I’m tempted to try mine on these but they are already on a gut balancer for the pre and probiotics. Would you feed the herbs with it or instead?

Especially interested with a few of you saying it helped weightwise.

Obviously from my comments i have no experience of feeding Oily herbs, although have just ordered!
I'm going to keep everything exactly the same so that if there are any changes to be seen it will be clear whats caused them. Maybe if all go's well in the future you could look at dropping other things. That was if there is change at that point, again its going to be obvious what the cause was.

 

[Tiddlypom]

As well as.

Interestingly, my homebred whose life was saved by getting her hind gut issues sorted by the Equibiome oily herb protocol can now tolerate Danilon. She’s currently on a short course of Danilon following a kick injury.

Her extreme intolerance to Danilon (she became dangerously unmanageable in it) was part of the symptom history which led to her firstly being scoped for foregut ulcers (clear) and by default being diagnosed with hind gut issues.

 

[poiuytrewq]

This company must be wondering what the hell is going on right now! Sales of bulk bags of certain herbs soar through the roof

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Mine also approves of the Hilton Herbal treats over any other sugary treats if given an option

I tried some with Turmeric in, they weren’t that keen on them but will do anything for minty ones Haven’t tried the Hilton herb ones though but I try not to feed many treats unless they go in food bowls or I get mugged constantly.

 

[Peglo]

Obviously from my comments i have no experience of feeding Oily herbs, although have just ordered!
I'm going to keep everything exactly the same so that if there are any changes to be seen it will be clear whats caused them. Maybe if all go's well in the future you could look at dropping other things. That was if there is change at that point, again its going to be obvious what the cause was.

That is a good point. Thank you. I started taking pre and probiotics myself and I can’t remember the last time I got a cold, even when OH did have one. It had definite positives for me so I don’t really want to take them off it incase but adding to it will either do nothing or make them even happier.

 

[poiuytrewq]

That is a good point. Thank you. I started taking pre and probiotics myself and I can’t remember the last time I got a cold, even when OH did have one. It had definite positives for me so I don’t really want to take them off it incase but adding to it will either do nothing or make them even happier.

Out of interest what do you take?

 

[Peglo]

Out of interest what do you take?

I started taking an Actimel once a day. Dont think I would chance coming off them now

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I keep coming back to this thread.
Think I'm going to give it a try.
Would they have any benefits for a pony with cushings and seasonal skin problems?- doubt he'd eat them anyway but out of interest!

Both of my Arab's are so fussy they won't touch some feed but they love the herbs.