The Magic Elixir for Nervous Horses!

Victoria with Lea Smart’s Quarterhorse mare Jade at her Herbs for Horses Workshop in Ballarat in May, demonstrating horses’ interest in herbs by way of aroma

Chamomile

Passiflora

By: © Victoria Ferguson Dip.Herb.Med.

No doubt that statement has your attention?! Of course there is no such thing, just good training, good feeding and good management. 

Beneficial results can be obtained using herbal remedies provided you are prepared to spend some time working on the individual requirements of each horse and also most importantly that you are not looking to sedate your horse or put it into a drugged state. 

The ethical use of herbs which benefit the nervous system do so by strengthening the system so that the horse is not over reactive to normal stimuli and later on the types of stimuli they will encounter in competition.  In this way there will be no need for the use of nervous system herbs during competition.

Sedating or drugging horses does nothing to rehabilitate their nervous systems as they can learn nothing when they are in that state, they simply don’t remember.  

No matter whether you ride horses just for the love of them or whether you are trying to win an Olympic Gold Medal, our horses are always to a certain extent a reflection of ourselves.

As riders and handlers of horses we influence their behaviour more than we realise. This is especially true in relation to their nervous system. The first thing we need to understand is that horses do not think, see, smell, hear or perceive things the way we do. To understand the genetic hardwired behaviour of horses, Stephen Budiansky’s book “The Nature of Horses” is highly recommended.  Once the true facts about equine behaviour have been grasped, especially their nervous reactions, a harmonious partnership is possible.

Horses, like people, show nervous discontent with reactions in various body areas - gut, skin, heart, lungs, kidneys and sensory areas. They may react in two or three different areas. 

The Chamomile type manifests nervousness in the gut with loose manure possibly coupled with extra numbers of droppings. This internalising of stress into the gut if not balanced can worsen into ulceration and/or scouring. 

The Vervain type is a skin reactor which shows up as itchiness and sensitivity to biting insects, rashes or lumps.  They may also sweat excessively when nervous, tremble or even shake or just be impatient or fiddly.

Horses who react in the heart and muscles are producing excess adrenaline, often taking a long time for the elevated heart rate to return to normal and tight, hard muscles to relax. Often this tightness may extend to the gut with the effect that the manure is small and hard. This is the Valerian type.

Some heart reactors respond better to Lime Flowers.  Either way they both need Hawthorn and Oats as well to regulate heart rate and strengthen heart muscle.

The lung reactors do not breathe deeply and regularly while being ridden, which prevents relaxation under saddle.  These also respond very well to Chamomile.

The Hops type includes horses which are very set in their habits or react with a lot of physical energy, such as galloping and whinnying, but as soon as they are happy again, they instantly relax.

Horses who over reactive to sight, sound, touch and possibly even smell, wind or barometric pressure are the Mugwort type.  They are often redheads !

The high energy group will pace yards and stables and walk fence lines.   This is the Passiflora type – often mares.

The low energy group may be naturally laid back or they may need help in recovering from illness or injury. Either way Oats is called for.

If a horse’s nervous system is not balanced, this impairs performance in the sport horse and inhibits enjoyment of the pleasure horse. Obviously the causes of the imbalance need to be discovered and rectified as part of any treatment.

Causes of nervous system imbalances range from breed traits, inherited behaviour to intolerance of feeds, training methods, riders, handlers, occupation, environment and imbalances in other body systems.

Differentiating soundness and behavioural problems is usually one of the first steps in deciding how to treat apparent nervousness. The main reason humans are able, or in some cases unable, to train horses is the phenomenal memory of the equine species. All good horsemen know how to use this fact to their advantage. So depending upon each horse’s individual degree of sensitivity and temperament, they are a product of what has happened to them in their handling, or mishandling, by people. So whilst actual pain in varying degrees is often the cause of behavioural problems, often it is only the memory of pain and the apprehensiveness that it might happen again, associated with rough handling and insensitive “training” that produces an ongoing nervousness.

One stark example of bad handling which stays with horses for life to some degree is the appalling practice of giving shocks with a battery, usually to get racehorses out of the barriers.

Treating the memory of pain is where the Bach and Australian bush flower essences often produce astounding results.

Girthiness is a very good example of a problem which can be from the memory of pain but can also be from a physical cause. These include pain in the wither, spine and ribs or discomfort coming from the gut, spleen and/or liver indicating gut ulceration.

Over stimulation of nerve fibres can produce acid wastes in the body and many nervous horses who appear cranky as well as being generally sore are a victim of this problem, usually worsened by inappropriate feeding.

Nervine herbs work best when given in a mixture with a selection of appropriate flower essences as well as a selection of other herbs to treat the whole horse. All aspects of the horse’s metabolism must be brought into balance for nervous system problems to be permanently effective.  Treatment should be continuous over a full blood cycle (12 weeks) after which the horse should be maintained on its own natural diet.

Customised flower essence mixtures can be used during outings or competition if needed as they work on the energy meridians and not through the metabolism and therefore cannot be detected by swabbing.

The influence of the rider on the nervous behaviour of a horse should always be considered as part of the equation. Most thinking riders are aware of the sensitivity of the horse in this regard. For nervous riders, a mixture of Bach flower essences can be used to help them. These benefits flow through to the horse and improve the quality and harmony of the horse and rider partnership.

So the magic elixir consists of a lot of dedicated hard work to get the best results !  My friends who have just returned from the WEG in France tell me that the World Champion Dressage Horse “Valegro” ridden by Charlotte du Jardin, stood attentively throughout the massively noisy medal award ceremonies and then cantered in total control in his victory laps in stark contrast to the other medal winners. “Valegro” is turned out to grass on a daily basis and is hacked around the village by an 80 year old woman.  A perfect example of perfect training and management. 

The team at Horsezone is excited to bring you informative articles from Victoria Ferguson www.thecountryherbalist.com.au