Self-Selecting Herbs

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Hoofprints101

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I have become recently more interested in the use of Self Selecting Herbs for horses, but am not sure where is best to purchase them from!

Does anybody have any recommendations are to where best is to buy from?
 
9tails - apparently, as horses are hedgerow feeders they feed on what they need in order to self medicate themselves. Due to often being in fenced paddocks, quiet commonly they don't have access such medical flowers, herbs etc.

I roughly think - from my limited knowledge, that by presenting these to the horse - they'll eat what they need and leave what they don't.

One of mine is a 24year old who has been on abit of a downward spiral in the past 3 months, and thought it be interesting to see if there's a few things that he feels that he wants. But to be honest he's a greedy thing and will most likely eat anything that I put in front of him!
 
Hmm, having googled, you seem to have to know where the problem is to pinpoint which herbs to buy! There's always Agrobs Musli, this has some of the goodies naturally found in hedgerows and some other good stuff the horses love:

Parsnip, carrot and beetroot which deliver highly digestible fibre, organically bonded minerals and vitamins as well as secondary plant nutrients.

Sunflower seeds, linseed and black cumin pellets aid digestion and provides essential fatty acids

Vitamin rich apple pulp with its pectin content supports your horses intestinal flora.

Marigold and cornflower blossoms, rose hips, raspberry and blackberry leaves for added vitamins and nutrients.
 
9tails said:
Hmm, having googled, you seem to have to know where the problem is to pinpoint which herbs to buy! There's always Agrobs Musli, this has some of the goodies naturally found in hedgerows and some other good stuff the horses love:

Parsnip, carrot and beetroot which deliver highly digestible fibre, organically bonded minerals and vitamins as well as secondary plant nutrients.

Sunflower seeds, linseed and black cumin pellets aid digestion and provides essential fatty acids

Vitamin rich apple pulp with its pectin content supports your horses intestinal flora.

Marigold and cornflower blossoms, rose hips, raspberry and blackberry leaves for added vitamins and nutrients.
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Yes... I was wondering about that. I wonder if there are taster packs where I can try him on a small amount of a large variety. Rather than, like you say, already know what specific thing they want!
 
My friend does this, she has my retired mare on livery. She did have someone to start her off but it was very interesting. 3 mares, kept in the same way, 2 not working and they all chose different herbs. (And my mare loves her food!)
 
following with interest, i've been told that the caroline ingraham book how animals heal themselves is of some interest for this topic, i'm currently in the process of having someone come out so i can pick the correct herbs for my horse, who is suffering separation anxiety after the loss of my old man, i'm very interested in seeing if this makes any difference.
 
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coloured_c0b said:
following with interest, i've been told that the caroline ingraham book how animals heal themselves is of some interest for this topic, i'm currently in the process of having someone come out so i can pick the correct herbs for my horse, who is suffering separation anxiety after the loss of my old man, i'm very interested in seeing if this makes any difference.
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I did the two Caroline Ingraham diplomas (small animals and equine) a few years ago. It was fascinating! I fell into it by accident really. My old mare had terrible itching problems with her legs and a massive phobia of having her legs touched. Applied Zoopharmacognosy worked instantly on both problems, where the 6 months worth of anti-biotics and steroids she'd been on previously made no difference.

The pros - the animal self-selects both the remedy and the dose and therefore cannot accidentally overdose (so long as you give any synthetic medication before you offer herbs/essential oils)
- the essential oils can work instantly with the mind, thus addressing emotional issues quickly
- the animal is in control. Very beneficial to rescue cases where trust in humans has been destroyed
- it's all natural. So long as you stick to pure blends with the oils, and don't mix the herbs, your horse won't accidentally be getting something he doesn't need
- because the medicinal part of the plant is used, and there is no nutritional value in these remedies, even greedy horses won't pig out on stuff they don't need. The nosy ones will try a bit of everything, but will only stick to the remedies that are useful to them

Cons - it's very time consuming! A full consultation usually takes up to 2 hours, and then the owner must continue to offer the remedies regularly until the animal stops selecting
- it can be expensive. My old mare went through kgs of rosehip shells before she'd reached her dose
- sometimes they don't select what you would expect - I now have a mare who is riddled with sarcoids and has been all her life. I've had her 3 years and she has only just started selecting sarcoid related remedies. Before that she was very nervous and wouldn't really select anything. However, this is highly unusual. I've only had 2 animals fail to select anything. The other was a dog who it turned out had a brain tumour that was affecting smell.

In terms of buying herbs, I use The Organic Herb Trading Company (minimum order £50), Norfolk Essential Oils, and the Wild Health Shop.

Sorry, this turned into a bit of a sermon!!
 
FFAQ said:
I did the two Caroline Ingraham diplomas (small animals and equine) a few years ago. It was fascinating! I fell into it by accident really. My old mare had terrible itching problems with her legs and a massive phobia of having her legs touched. Applied Zoopharmacognosy worked instantly on both problems, where the 6 months worth of anti-biotics and steroids she'd been on previously made no difference.

The pros - the animal self-selects both the remedy and the dose and therefore cannot accidentally overdose (so long as you give any synthetic medication before you offer herbs/essential oils)
- the essential oils can work instantly with the mind, thus addressing emotional issues quickly
- the animal is in control. Very beneficial to rescue cases where trust in humans has been destroyed
- it's all natural. So long as you stick to pure blends with the oils, and don't mix the herbs, your horse won't accidentally be getting something he doesn't need
- because the medicinal part of the plant is used, and there is no nutritional value in these remedies, even greedy horses won't pig out on stuff they don't need. The nosy ones will try a bit of everything, but will only stick to the remedies that are useful to them

Cons - it's very time consuming! A full consultation usually takes up to 2 hours, and then the owner must continue to offer the remedies regularly until the animal stops selecting
- it can be expensive. My old mare went through kgs of rosehip shells before she'd reached her dose
- sometimes they don't select what you would expect - I now have a mare who is riddled with sarcoids and has been all her life. I've had her 3 years and she has only just started selecting sarcoid related remedies. Before that she was very nervous and wouldn't really select anything. However, this is highly unusual. I've only had 2 animals fail to select anything. The other was a dog who it turned out had a brain tumour that was affecting smell.

In terms of buying herbs, I use The Organic Herb Trading Company (minimum order £50), Norfolk Essential Oils, and the Wild Health Shop.

Sorry, this turned into a bit of a sermon!!
Click to expand...

Thanks FFAQ thats really interesting, hence why i've gone for the consultation to start really, i figured they would be able to give me an explanation and i assume they bring a selection of things with them to test out? i think it'll be worth it if it works.
do you recommend the diplomas? i'm the same really just something my timothy practioner recommended and we've gone from there really
 
I use Phyto Pharmaceuticals - need to ring up to order though and as far as I know they don't have a catalogue; I just tell them what I want and how much!
 
Hi Coloured_Cob, yes I would recommend the diplomas. However, I found it wasn't something I could turn into a business very easily. There were several problems with this - you couldn't predict how much an animal would select so you couldn't give an accurate quote before the visit. To combat this, I tried offering a flat rate, but when an animal ended up selecting a lot I would end up out of pocket, but I felt I couldn't charge a higher flat rate. Also, because there are no pharmaceutical companies funding research into essential oils and herbal products, there is a lot of cynicism about herbal remedies. Another thing is that it is incredibly expensive to keep a kit. I have been allowing myself to run out of remedies because I don't want to throw them away when they go off, but the other day I worked out how much it would cost to replace what I have left and it came to over £400!!

Nowadays I keep a basic kit for use on my own animals.
 
I came across Herbs that Horses Seek on the Thunderbrook Equestrian site, thought they looked interesting. Mixtures of summer and winter selections
 
http://www.naturallyanimals.co.uk - I have used them for years, they are very well priced and very helpful. On the postage side, it's good to try and get a couple of people to order with you to share the cost as obviously the orders can be heavy!

I'm a great believer in herbs, marigold is brilliant for slight stiffness and I love rosehips & celery seed for joint help. Look at Meadowsweet for a general covers everything boost!
 
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