Horse owners are always on a quest to keep their horses as healthy and happy as possible, often looking outside the traditional veterinary sphere of knowledge for alternative therapies. Keeping the equine immune system healthy to help the horse fight off infection and disease is one particular area where herbals have generated a lot of interest and support.
Shantel Perreal is a certified equine therapist based in Edmonton, AB, with diplomas in massage therapy and rehabilitation, herbology and homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractics, and kinesio-taping (equineremedialtherapy.com). She advises that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to administering herbals as remedies. “I have studied herbals and homeopathics for years with humans and horses, and there is no straight general answer,” she says. “As a whole, no human and no horse are the same. We have to look at everything in the animal’s homeostasis. Environment, food, water, work, stresses, social environment, toxins, etc. Our food has a lot to do with it: my grass is different from my neighbour’s, so all these things are such a huge factor when I am giving any herbs or homeopathic.”
A homeopath or herbalist should also want to see the horse. “There are characteristics that they will look at, such as hair, coat, body condition, gums, saliva, tongue, age, feet.These are just some of the things that will give the practitioner a better idea of how to treat the horse.”