Feature: Summer Relief

AROUND THE TRAPS

Kate Clancy and Australian Stock Horse filly Clancy Stud Wanderlust, all painted up and ready for the Clancy Horsemanship Halloween Shoot (Image by Kee-Anna May Photography). RIGHT: Olivia Johnson and Moon Dancer came 5th in the 60cm Super Two Phase at the first ever Valley & Rivers Showjumping event (Image by Jade Crystal Photography). BELOW RIGHT: Ashleigh Urban and Quaterbella K at the 2020 QLD State Dressage Championships where they placed 1st and 2nd, and scooped the Reserve Open Medium Champion title (Image by Chris Seen Photography).

FEATURE

Seeking relief during summer

As summer temperatures soar, our horses can suffer from a variety of heat-related issues. CATHERINE BIRD, one of Australia’s leading equine natural health therapists, suggests some herbal remedies for common problems.

With our weather becoming more extreme, the environment may become harsh and hostile to our horses. Herbs can help support and strengthen your horse’s body, making it more difficult for the body’s protective barrier to be compromised in the hot weather.

By addressing the internal health of the horse you will have more success in dealing with common summer discomforts such as itch, photosensitivity, headshaking, and annoying bugs.

With many of these conditions, a herbalist may suggest herbs that will address the most issues with the minimum number of herbs. Less often means more of a result, especially when the digestive system is struggling or stressed with the heat.

A summer herbal dispensary could include: Burdock root, calendula flowers, clivers, dandelion leaf and root, echinacea, eyebright, lemon balm, lime tree blossom, marshmallow root, mullein, nettle leaf, peppermint, rosehips, wood betony. These herbs are categorised as cooling.

Which herbs to use?

narrow down the choice. People often think more is better, when in fact two or three herbs will cover off on most of the clinical signs your horse is presenting. Look closely at your selection and see which herb might be duplicating another herb’s action. Giving only one of these duplicated herbs can be enough. Because healing is a dynamic process, you can always substitute the other herbs as you see how your horse responds.

If the choice is overwhelming, there are some carefully balanced commercial blends in which the thinking has been done for you. Then as you get to know your herbs and how they work, you might pick out the key herbs for your horse and use them individually.

How much to give?

For the purpose of this article, use dried herbs. They are more readily available and easily added to a feed. If you are giving five or less herbs, aim for one to two tablespoons of each daily and try not to exceed one cup in total. This will vary with some herbs and some conditions, so use this as a general guide. If you end up selecting only one herb, give up to one cup daily. Any more than that and your horse will not utilise all that you give, and your money is wasted. Often two heaped tablespoons is plenty.

By limiting your selection to five herbs or less, you are more likely to achieve a result. It means you can give your horse enough of each herb for them to activate in the body. If you select more than five herbs at one time, you might disperse the properties and in so doing, not achieve the result you are aiming for.

You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours – but a better approach by far is to relieve their itch with carefully selected herbs.

Thinking through your approach

Using herbs is a creative process. You can work through each of your horse’s clinical signs individually to see what herbs address each of these symptoms and where the actions of the herbs overlap. However, when you do this, consider the ‘whole’ horse. Sometimes the key element that helps trigger the healing process is not necessarily the herb you have chosen to heal inflamed skin, it may be the herb that helps the horse’s distress at being uncomfortable.

Itch

A veterinarian may suggest an antihistamine to help relieve your horse’s inflammatory response. Calendula similarly helps reduce histamine-like reactions. It is also helpful if your horse has rubbed their skin raw, as it will help reduce the likelihood of infection as the skin heals.

If your horse develops hives or hot spots with their itch, then nettle leaf could be the herb to choose. If he wants to be left

alone, settle his nerves with vervain.

With skin being the biggest organ of elimination, sometimes soothing

the digestive tract with a demulcent herb can have a reflex effect which will help to soothe the skin. This can be achieved with marshmallow root or slippery elm bark.

Photosensitivity

This is an area in which clinical signs and herb selection begin to overlap. Calendula is again a good herb to choose, this time supported with clivers to enhance cleansing by the lymphatic system. You may also want to support the liver and if the skin is itchy as well, burdock root could be your next herb as it cleanses the blood, helping to ease the itch, while its bitter element stimulates the liver. A sluggish liver is often linked to photosensitivity.

Allergies

Allergies can be varied in their source and your insights into your own horse become the key to selecting which herbs to use. The intricacies of allergies can be difficult to resolve, so adapt your approach as you address each aspect with patience and thoughtfulness.

If your horse suffers from runny, watery eyes in summer, eyebright has an antibiotic-like action to help cleanse the eye. Eye problems can often be linked to the stomach. You may have selected calendula for its histaminelike action and if you have, these two will combine their anti-inflammatory properties and cleanse the gut.

A cough can indicate an allergy or sensitivity. Demulcent herbs such as marshmallow root may be the key if dust is the irritant. If your horse is stressed with coughing, lime tree blossom can address upper respiratory inflammation and settle the distress that increases sweating. Then you might add rosehips. Although not noted as a liver herb, rosehip’s vitamin C content nudges the liver’s defenses to help with inflammatory responses in the body, and in so doing acts as a tonic for tissue that is healing.

A summer herbal dispensary could include a variety of cooling herbs, including bright orange and yellow calendula flowers.

Headshaking

Headshaking can be associated with an allergy, or can be another aspect of the horse’s photosensitivity. If your horse is photosensitive and you have read the paragraph above and decided that those herbs fit your horse, then wood betony may be the fourth herb to use. Wood betony has nervine properties that help to relax tension held in the head and poll. It is also a good choice for allergies, should they be the cause of your horse’s headshaking.

Bugs

Summer awakens all creatures, and bugs are no exception. They niggle at watery eyes, and the saliva from their bites may irritate the skin. Anyone who develops a long term effective bug repellent will be the