Specific herbs are used to treat specific ailments. Before making your poultice for your horse you will want to identify what ailment you are going to treat and determine how big the area is you are trying to treat. Make your herb mixture sufficient for each circumstance. When using herbs that may irritate an open wound such as salt or onion, you can apply a thin cloth between the wound and the poultice to keep the herbs from making direct contact with the wound.
Here are a few herb mixtures that are used to treat common ailments in horses:
· Onion and white willow barks are used for pain, swelling, sores and boils.
· Epsom salt can be used for hoof abscesses or founder.
· Cayenne pepper and wintergreen oil is used for pain and inflammation.
· Chickweed and/or calendula are used for joint pain and stiffness.
· Slippery elm powder mixed with castor oil is used for cleaning out wounds or drawing out infections.
· Plain mud poultices are often used to treat founder in horses and relieve the pain of laminitis.
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Calming Herbs For Horses That Are Sensitive To The Touch
Vervain is also known as Herb of Grace and has been well connected over the ages to sorcery, magic and other spiritual traditions. It was even used in ceremonies by the Druids of ancient Britain and Gaul. Dioscorides in the 1st century called vervain the “sacred herb” and it is a traditional herbal medicine in both China and Europe.
The Romans also called it herba sacra and herba veneris and it was used as an altar plant and was involved in the Christian tradition. Today it is used medicinally as a nervine herb. Vervain is native to the Mediterranean region.
Description: Vervain grows 350-900mm tall, with ribbed stems. It is loosely branched and only sparsely leafy. The opposite leaves are up to 60mm long and they vary from ovate and coarsely toothed. Flowers are small, lilac coloured.
GROWING-Vervain doesn’t have many leaves and is quite a scruffy looking plant. But it is quite productive and quite easy to grow. Vervain grows well in a wide range of climates though it doesn’t enjoy cold winters and can suffer from frost damage. Moderate fertility is required. Vervain grows wild throughout Europe, North Africa, China and Japan.
Uses: Nervine, Tonic, Mild sedative, stimulates bile secretion, mild bitter
Although Vervain has not been hugely researched some of its uses are widely well known. Vervain is bitter and stimulates digestion. It is considered a digestive tonic and thought to improve the absorption of food.
Vervain is particularly admired as a restorative of the nervous system and is especially helpful for nervous tension. In horses it is said to be very useful with horses who are sensitive to the touch and who need help in calming their nervous system.
It is also thought to have a mildly anti-depressant action and is used to treat anxiety and the nervous exhaustion which can follow a long illness. In the case of helping convalescence, vervain is said to aid digestion and to help restore the nervous system.
Vervain is said to alleviate headaches and in Chinese medicine is used for headaches related to the menstrual cycle. It is also used for jaundice, asthma, insomnia and helps labour contractions.
With regards to horses, Vervain is a great herb when combined with Chamomile for the nervy, tense horse that doesn’t seem to settle. Ideally suited for the horse that is sensitive to the touch opposed to the horse that tends to hold tension in their muscles. Herbal blends can be fed on a daily basis to help relieve tension and can be used to help calm a nervy horse while you re-train and re-educate either a young horse or a horse that lacks confidence.
Herbs can be fed for 3 months in order to re-balance the nervous system and to allow time for re-training. A wonderful natural and gentle way to get the best performance from an excitable or nervous horse.
How to Grow Rosemary and the Benefits of Using Rosemary for Horses
Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, is a popular herb because of its distinctive scent and its many culinary and holistic uses. It has anti-inflammatory properties and is used as an anti-bacterial and anti-microbial herb. For horses, it is used as a fast-acting antiseptic to repel fungal infections and bacteria. It can also be used in a homemade insect repellent.
How to Grow Rosemary
Rosemary will grow from cuttings or from small plants bought from a nursery. They do not grow well from seeds. If you want to grow a new plant from a cutting, cut an 8-inch cutting from the plant during spring or summer, dip it in rooting powder and plant it in potting soil to allow it to form roots. Keep the soil slightly damp and it will be ready to transplant in about a month.
Rosemary needs a partial-sun location. If you live in a cold climate, consider planting it in a large outdoor container that can be moved indoors during the coldest parts of the winter. Rosemary can tolerate some below-freezing nights, but it will be damaged by long periods of below-freezing temperatures. To help guard outdoor rosemary against cold nights, pile 3 inches of mulch around the base of the plant to protect the roots from the cold. This is also useful in hot climates for keeping the roots from becoming overheated.
Rosemary needs a well-draining soil to grow well. If you have thick clay soil, break it up with a spade and add compost or potting soil to the mixture. For particularly thick soils, adding sand will further improve the drainage.
Your outdoor plant won’t need to be watered often unless you live in a dry climate. The soil should become completely dry in between watering. If you receive regular rainfall, this will be enough to keep your plant watered. Each spring, apply fertilizer to the soil around the plant and water it to allow the fertilizer to soak into the soil. Once you have an established plant, you can snip off leaves and stems as you need them. However, always leave some on the plant to allow it to continue growing.
Using Rosemary
Rosemary has been used since ancient times for both its flavour and its medicinal qualities. It is high in vitamin A, B-complex vitamins, folic acid and vitamin C. It has been used for everything from improving memory to stimulating circulation. The many minerals contained in these tiny leaves make it a nutritionally complex plant that can calm the digestive system, protect liver cells from disease and alleviate rheumatism pain.
For horses, the scent of rosemary is useful for repelling flies. Essential oil from rosemary leaves is often used in horse shampoos and skin products to cleanse the skin and hair and repel insects. A homemade fly repellent for horses is made with rosemary leaves, lemons and water. Lemon and rosemary steeped into boiling water and left overnight can create a gentle insect repellent that can be sprayed onto a horse to keep bothersome flies at bay.
Enhancing General Horse Appetite
Fenugreek has been used since the Early Bronze Age; it was cultivated in Assyria (7th century BCE) and remains found in Iraq have been reliably dated to 4000BCE. In the Ebers Papyrus (c.1500BCE) it is mentioned as an herb to induce childbirth. Dried plants are sold as hilba in Egypt as a remedy for painful menstruation.
It was first mentioned in Chinese medicine in the 11th century and has a long tradition as a tonic herb in both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. Western interest in the herb centres on one of its constituent alkaloids, trigonelline, which has potential in treating cervical and liver cancer, and its saponins, which are extracted for use in oral contraceptives and other pharmaceutical products. Trigonella is from trigonus, "triangular", referring to the flower-shape. Foenum-graecum means "Greek hay", because the plant was grown as a fodder crop in Greece.
Fenugreek, a popular spice and cousin to the pea that is grown in the Mediterranean area of Europe and western Asia, was used by the ancient Egyptians for incense and embalming. The Romans preferred it as an aid in childbirth, while the Chinese employed it in cases of weakness and swelling of the legs. Today fenugreek is used to treat a number of ailments, including diabetes. In studies, an extract of fenugreek seeds was shown to lower blood sugar in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
Both a spice and a medicinal herb, fenugreek has a long and respected history, dating back to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Today, it is used to soothe stomach irritations and improve appetite. Recent studies indicate that fenugreek also lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
This annual herbs with clover-like leaves belongs to the family Leguminosae. It grows to a height of 20-24 inches. While the plant has a strong, sweetish-spicy aroma, the seeds taste slightly salty and when chewed have a mildly bitter taste.
Description: Strongly aromatic annual growing to about 32 inches. Has sickle shaped pods and yellowish white pea-like flowers. The seeds are harvested during autumn.
Constituents:
With their emollient effects, fenugreek seeds ground into a paste help heal boils, abscesses, swollen lymph nodes and skin inflammations. Because of its mucilage content, fenugreek can protect the mucous membrane of the stomach and relieve gastric irritations.
By the same token, it soothes inflamed respiratory membranes and quiet coughs. Fenugreek is also known to be anti-diabetic, lowering blood sugar, as well as cholesterol levels.
Fenugreek powder makes an appetite-stimulating tonic. The seeds contain a good proportion of mucilage and protein, as well as fatty oils, amino acids, alkaloids, sterols, flavonoids and vitamins A and B. Steroidal saponins account for the bitter taste; they are also thought to chemically resemble human sex hormones, which may be why fenugreek was once considered an aphrodisiac and why it is still used to stimulate the uterus and milk flow.
Delicious Smelling Lavender for Naturally Happy Horses
Those who are horse owners know how expensive it can be to own and care for a horse. Routine care and feeding is costly enough but when something goes wrong and calling the vet is the only option you think you have, it can really cause a financial hardship. There are ways to cut some of those unsightly vet costs by learning how to make some of your own home remedies that can be just as effective as any modern treatment, at a fraction of the cost; no vet necessary.
The Benefits of Lavender
The lavender plant has long held many healing properties. Not only is the plant fragrant but also very useful in home remedies that offer relief from many types of ailments for people as well as animals. When we think of lavender, typically we think of perfumes, soaps and lotions. In addition to its soothing smell, lavender also offers real health benefits and relief for animals and people. In various different forms lavender has been known to treat respiratory issues, improve the circulation of blood, relieve pain and been used as a disinfectant for the skin, coat and scalp. The soothing scent offers a calming property thought to reduce anxiety and nervousness.
