Equine Zoopharmacognosy Demonstration Venues?

As we head into the tail end of 2012 it is time to plan for next year including more demonstrations, workshops and happier healthier horses.
If you know of an establishment that would be interested in hosting a demo please let me know. The requirements are a room which has access to power and is suitable for holding a short Power point presentation (no death-by-PowerPoint instigated).
Also of course a couple of horses in a stable yard are required. They may have either behavioural or physical issues so that we can offer oils, herbs and minerals for their selection. Please get in touch if you would like one in your area.
As yet a date for the Spring Workshop is undecided although late April/Early May is the likely time frame. We learnt alot from the first one and will be implementing changes to make next year’s even more fruitful for four and two legged participants. In the meantime happy hacking!

Equine Zoopharmacognosy Workshop a resounding Success

Last weekend we held the first Equine Zoopharmacognosy Workshop at Whitethorn Farm. It was an absolute resounding success, with participants from a wide range of the equestrian world – including veterinary, supplement manufacturers and medicinal herbalists.

Participants journeyed from as far as Wexford and Cork to spend two days learning the theory and practice of Applied Zoopharmacognosy. The first day kicked off with a presentation giving an insight as to how and why and on what, horses self-medicate on. This was followed by a demonstration with a mare Tizzy, that we have worked with previously.  She selected mostly supporting constitutional herbs.   

Sandy selecting from Katie

The second day, following a short presentation the students worked on two horses to actively gain an appreciation of the process. The first pony, Sandy had ‘riggish’ behaviour and was very quick to engage and become involved.  His modus operandi became established very quickly by selecting oils and then turning his back on us and processing.  Vetiver and Vanilla were his favourite which are selected for aggression and hormonal imbalances. 

Gorden between the lemon & lime inhaling deeply

 The second horse was a little more sensitive and trickier, selecting oils and herbs for cleansing –lemon, lime and nettles.  He also selected Lavender and Mimosa – both oils for nervous horses. 

Debbie keeping note of oils selected 

   The open discussion encouraged participants to engage in free-flowing thought, questioning and probing the concept of horses self-selecting. 

 Of course, we also had plenty of craic and all in all it was a brilliant start to what is the first of many with another already scheduled for April 2013!

Rosie selects for a painful rash

Working with a dog this morning that has a nasty rash on her underbelly. She was text book in that she selected Spirulina and Calendula Macerate alongside inhaling English Chamomile. Whilst she has been under a very good vet for a while, the owner is concerned that the injections (that give only temporary relief) are not the long term solution. And no better compliment could have been paid to me, other than when I went to leave Rosie - who wont normally go into cars other than her owners, got into my car and sat next to my kit and had to be pulled out. Give nature the chance and it surely knows better than we ever could.

Demonstration of Zoopharmacognosy at Kildare International Equestrian Centre

Last week we held a Zoopharmacognosy Demonstration evening at Kildare International Equestrian Centre - the first to be held in Ireland. There was a good selection of attendees with members from the Racing Community as well as Riding Club and Leisure Riders. Everyone engaged and seemed to enjoy themselves and much interest was shown from all with questions coming thick and fast!
After a short presentation, we worked with one of Julieann's mares called Chocolate who had a history of being contrary. She selected Valerian and Hops and then went into a deep state of relaxation. She didnt select oils for trauma or grief (on this occasion) and with hops being associated with hormonal issues, it looks as though the problem may be hormonal. She was a model participant and was very quick to engage in the process. All in all a very successful evening!

Tizzy and her mood swings!

 

Here's Tizzy - a beautiful mare that has erratic heat periods during which time she is very grumpy! She selected Clary Sage initially (for hormonal imbalances) and then went on to select Mimosa, Linden Blossom for behavioural issues. She engaged quickly and was very responsive.  At the second session selected Clary Sage again and took more Mimosa plus plenty more Germain Chamomile.
 Well done Tizzy!

Tattersalls International Horse Trials 2012!

We attended Tattersalls International Horse Trials last weekend - it was absolutely fantastic with Olympic hopefulls aiming to qualify! As I watched competitors work round the course I was reminded time and time again of the sheer out and out bravery of our fine horses and the level of trust, team work and co-operation between horse and rider. Absolutely outstanding! Well done to all those that took part and the management for facilitating such an extraordinary exciting top level event. And of course, well done to those that qualified for the Olympics.

The Roving Reporter caught up with me there too. Here follows a link to an interview that I gave to Equestrian News Northern Ireland :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjDVkt826qU


 Thank you Raymond from Equestrian News Northern Ireland - you made it so easy !

Article on Equine Zoopharmacognosy published in Irelands Horse & Pony

Check out this link to an article in Irelands Horse & Pony (June Edition) about Equine Zoopharmacognosy!

http://irelandshorseandpony.com/

The article starts on page 28 according to the progam or page 26 as stated on the mag at bottom of page!
Hope you enjoy!
Off to Riding club festival at Stradbally this weekend - hope the weather improves!

May - Sowing, sheep and poisonous plants

Part of this month’s activities has been sowing crops for the supply of herbs needed for our online shop that is due to be opened soon. We have been making macerates for some time, using our own organically grown herbs guaranteeing top quality and freshness. Comfrey grows well here as does the St John’s Wort albeit sheltered in the polytunnel. We have also sewn plenty of carrots for the Carrot macerate that horses will select when they are low in vitamins, or generally run down and require a liver tonic.

Yesterday, we picked our first crop of marigolds for the Calendula macerate – often selected for inflammatory conditions. The buds smelt gorgeous, being full of oil and fingers sticky from picking!

Yarrow for wounds - emotional & physical

 As Whitethorn Farm operates on organic principals, it has many of the plants absent in conventionally run farms. For example in our fields we have Queen Anne’s lace (wild Carrot), wild violets, orchids, meadowsweet, wild yarrow, plantain, eyebright and so much more. We try to harvest and dry as many as possible for winter use – eyebright being useful for eye infections and meadowsweet an anti-inflammatory. 

Wild Yarrow (Achilles Mille folium) was named after the famous Greek warrior Achilles as it was used extensively on the battlefield during that period to stem bleeding - obviously not successful on heels though!

I also came upon a bundle of Rosehip (Rosa Canina) plants in Lidl – 10 for €3. I love a bargain and was delighted to bring them back to the farm to plant them for a crop of rosehips in years to come. Rose hips are full of Vitamin C and Biotin, helping hooves and coats alike. Quite often during a Zoocog session a horse will select them in between oils.

Fennel for digestive disturbances

As noted on our Face book page, we were asked to help at an unusual case at a neighbouring farm this month. A sheep had eaten some Rhododendron and was frothing at the mouth. She had only lambed 2 days previously and her lambs lay beside her. She had been to the vet but the prognosis was not good and she was not expected to survive. I offered Rose Otto for calming and she did indeed show an interest as the lambs promptly collapsed and fell asleep. Going through the most likely oils she very quickly understood the process and turned her head into the corner when she didn’t want an particular oil. I was very surprised by her responsiveness and ability to engage.  She took the most interest in Fennel – for colic, and lavender for healing. She went through some very agonising spasms but also exhibited the Flehmen response – the sheep farmer had never seen any of his sheep show this type of response and was quite amazed. I explained that when an animal exhibits this type of response he/she is exposing the Vomeronasal Organ – a secondary olfactory organ that mammals use to activate chemo-receptors  in the brain (via the Olfactory Bulb and Hypothalamus)which in turn directs the body physical and emotional responses.

When she looked like she was over the worst, we left buckets of water each with a few drops of the selected oils in her stall including one bucket that was just pure water so she could have a choice. Immediately she drank urgently from bucket of water with the lavender.  The next morning she had recovered.

So why, if animals have an innate ability to select only those that are good for them, do they eat poisonous plants? In this particular case the likely cause is that the sheep has not evolved to develop the enzymes capable of dealing with this foreign plant – rhododendron only being introduced from Tibet to Europe in the 18^th century. The other possible factor is that the rhododendron does have medicinal properties – mainly anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective. It is possible that the sheep was attracted to these qualities and was unable to sequentially graze to neutralise the effect of the toxins.Needless to say the Rhododendron bush is on death row now on that particular farm!

Have a good month and look out for dates of workshops to be released soon!

Happy healthy horsing!

Carly

April

Easter is upon us and spring has truly ‘sprung’ in this part of the world with the Herbarium starting to come back to life as well as the buds on the trees in the recently planted forest starting to emerge. We had summer temperatures for the last week in March, followed promptly by snow, sleet, rain and cold wind during the first week of April. However, we are optimistic that the good weather will return in time to save the hay! 

With such changeable weather patterns it’s really important to support a horses  immunity by offering  plants such as Bladderwrack Seaweed (in all its forms – as an extract, dried or fresh) Dried Rosehips (rich in Vit C and Biotin) or even Garlic extract (a powerful anti-bacterial). Remember, never force an animal to take an extract by mixing it with a feed in order to mask the smell.

We are very pleased that an article on Zoopharmacognosy was published in the April edition of the Irish Horse Review – the first time information on this topic has been published in Ireland. This publication is central to Equine Activities in Ireland covering all disciplines in depth so we're delighted to gain such exposure. We anticipate it will stimulate discourse on the concept of the domesticated animal’s ability to self-medicate and therefore inspire some to use this approach with their own horses.

 If you wish to read the article, follow the link below: 

http://www.whitethornequinehealth.com/weh_article2.pdf

The extra three stables, demonstration area and workshop is on target to be completed mid-April and we’re very much looking forward to holding Zoopharmacognosy workshops here at Whitethorn Farm from early summer.  These workshops will show owners how to offer oils and recognise responses as well as the theory on how the concept of self-medication works.

For those of you that are following Ben’s progress, we are delighted to report that he is going from strength to strength, continuing to gain weight and being allowed to mix with the herd again where he has begun to re-establish himself in the hierarchy. The wind sucking, although not as bad as it was, is still an issue so more work to be done there. But one step at a time as Ben moves towards a place of mental and physical ease.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Easter!

Carly

March - hurtling into spring, through the snow and hailstones!

Things very busy here at Whitethorn Equine Health here this month. Just returned from the Ingraham Academy Science seminar in the Uk where among other things, we cemented our understanding of secondary metabolites and their action on the neurotransmitters in the brain. Neuroscience is a fascinating topic, if a little complex sometimes.

We are also expanding facilities by extending the stables so that we shall be able to accommodate and work with more horses this season. Not easy when we seem to have snow, sun, rain, hailstones and wind all in the one day!

Update on Ben: He has now been moved along with all the other horses of Sheeffrey Riding Stables, down from the side of Croagh Patrick to a new home on the Mayo coast. Marie asked me to pay him a visit to see how we could help him further.  He was being kept in at night with restricted turn out as his near hind leg was swollen as well as the left side of his sheath. He was wind sucking with gusto on the stable door. Not good. Working through the oils, he showed the most interest in Lotus Blossom alongside English Chamomile (both carminative and anxiolytic) and encouragingly he started to show a preference for inhaling rather than wind sucking. This is a first, as before he would only try to inhale oils between wind sucking.  During this session he would grab the door with what teeth he has left, and then divert towards the bottles to inhale. A good sign. When he had enough of the essential oils, we moved onto the macerates. Hemp and Safflower were the order of the day and he consumed my complete stash! Hemp oil is indicated for Ulcers and nervous tension and Safflower (thistle oil) is an anti-inflammatory - so both ideal for his presenting symptoms. As I left we agreed it might be good to try if he would take seaweed – Bladderwrack being down on the shore near the stables. Later that week Marie harvested some and offered it to Ben – he took it fresh for a couple of weeks.  Seaweed is a fantastic food full of major and trace elements and Ben seemed to prefer seaweed fresh rather than dried.  She also continued to offer Hemp and Safflower oil for the next six weeks – litres of Hemp was consumed and at this stage Marie was making enquiries as to where she could purchase in bulk! However she also emailed me to say she couldn’t believe the rate at which he was starting to develop a topline and that she could finally see flesh returning. She was no longer wincing every time she removed his rug and was delighted with his progress.  For me, when I saw him on the next visit the biggest improvement – apart from the fact he wasn’t a skeleton any longer, was that he had lost the manic quality to the wind sucking. The worrying look in his eye had gone, and it had softened. Beautiful.  A brave guy supported by a devoted owner. Alot done, more to do.......

Other news – two London Universities have decided to incorporate Zoopharmacognosy into one of the 2nd year modules:  Equine Sport, Therapy & Rehabilitation (BSc), which will be jointly offered by the University of Greenwich(London) and Hadlow College(Kent). Not quite a full degree course, but it’s only a matter of time.

That’s it for a while. Hopefully next time I post, the March that has come in like a Lion will have gone out like a lamb!

This is our first post and I would like to thank you for taking the time and interest in our work with horses at Whitethorn Equine Health.

I thought some may be interested in a current case of a horse whose home is on the side of the highest  mountain in Ireland - Croagh Patrick. Ben was purchased by Marie from a dealer and as a 16.3 ex-hunter he was in bad shape. Unfortunately along with physical scars he is also an obsessive wind sucker and Marie has had great difficulty keeping any weight on him, even though she gives him as much feed as he can possibly eat. It has got so bad that it has come to the point that she winces when she takes his rug off dreading the sight. When I first went to visit, the stables were located up high in the mountains with fantastic views but wind that would blow all cobwebs out of existence. At the same time whilst the farm had no electric, running water or sanitation  - just a turf fire to boil a kettle on, it had a real Irish charm.  

When I brought my kit out from the car, I was practically mugged by horses that seem to come out of nowhere, so I retreated quickly into a corner of a stable to work with Ben. There was nothing he wouldn’t eat, he was so desperate to find what he needed to gain relief. Whilst he had a bit of everything, he showed the most interest in a highly nutritional Barley Grass powder (high in magnesium and other minerals), Comfrey Macerate (comfrey leaves macerated in sunflower oil for inflammation) plus peppermint essential oil (for digestion).I left the chosen plant extracts that he had selected with Marie to give him when he wanted.

A few days later Marie emailed with some good news. She said that whilst the wind sucking had not fully abated Ben had started grazing away from the outskirts of the field (where he had used the posts to facilitate his obsession with wind sucking) and had now started to move into the middle of the field to graze. She also said that he had started to look for affection which he hadn’t done previously. So all in all Ben had done well in making a start in his long journey back to health. And I had a pretty awesome cup of tea that only a turf fire can make -with views across the West of Ireland that just cannot be matched.

Next week I shall report on the next session where Ben took another giant leap on the way to regaining health.

Until then, have a great week.
Carly