Natural pain relief - willow, juniper or acupuncture

R

ropa

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 June 2010
Messages
124
Visit site
Hello all!

My horse has chronic arthritis/ ringbone and has been on 2x bute a day for a few years now. My vet has suggested that we try alternative natural pain relief so that we can avoid giving him prolonged medication. We are thinking of trying willow, juniper and/ or acupuncture. All have studies behind them to show that they have given natural pain relief.

Has anyone got any experience wtih these?

I am also having to consider how to introduce these so that I can work out whether or not they have any effect i.e. we took him down from 2x bute to 1x bute and saw it made a difference so put him back up to 2x bute. I wonder which is the next step i.e. whether to try willow first and see if it has an effect and then either reduce bute or discontinue willow; and then juniper and then acupuncture (all of which is going to take a good few months with trial and error). Or whether to throw them all in at once! I think it has to be the first scenario otherwise we won't know what is working and what isn't!

Looking forward to hearing your experiences!
 
No experience with those but have heard great things about turmeric have a look at the "turmeric users group" on facebook lots of good stories. I use boswellia for my horse and he seems yo be doing ok. I'm going to try turmeric as well soon.
 
My horse (spavins and arthritis) will self medicate with willow whenever he gets the chance - they're pretty good at working out what they need
 
My horse had his first session of acupuncture, along with chiropractic treatment, two weeks ago and the vet is coming back tomorrow. I was told it would take at least two sessions to see how effective it would be but the initial signs have been very promising - for a very chilled-out horse - some would say lazy!, he often practically had to be dragged to and from his field due to his average walk pace being a painfully slow saunter; the next day he was stamping his feet and couldn't wait to get out, and his general demeanour has changed - two days later he jumped out of the arena when I tried free-schooling him and this weekend I couldn't catch him for ten minutes as he was just galloping round and round the field. Although he still has some way to go with a muscle/back problem, I think it's been very effective so far - happy to keep you updated if you're interested.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top