Applied Zoopharmacognosy for horses – Lulu a pony with EMS

I was delighted to be paired with demo pony Lulu at the recent Equine Holistic Fair hosted by The Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy. She reminded me so much of my New Forest pony Elly and even said please by raising her front leg, just like Elly used to! She was very interested to find out what I had in my Applied Zoopharmacognosy kit.

Lulu has Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS). When a pony has EMS they are unable to regulate their blood insulin levels, in a way that is similar to type 2 diabetes in humans. Lulu is under the care of her vet and receives veterinary medication to manage her condition and is doing really well on them. It’s important to note, that prescribed veterinary medicines are always given first and given at least 20 minutes before offering any plant extracts. It’s recommended that you consult your vet before using the methods of Applied Zoopharmacognosy and self selection.

Lulu was interested in licking organic Barley Grass Powder and alternating this with eating organic rosehips. These two remedies are often self-selected by equines with EMS at the start of an Applied Zoopharmacognosy session. This may be because a pony with EMS is often on reduced grazing owing to the risk of laminitis and they are seeking to balance their systems.

Barley Grass Powder contains only 0.05% sugars and is frequently seen to be self-selected by horses with inflammatory conditions and gut imbalance. It doesn’t provide energy directly and so is not treated as a food source, but rather as a source of minerals. It’s nutrient rich and promotes enzyme activity in the body. It contains magnesium, chlorophyll, calcium, manganese, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, all of the B vitamins and 20 different amino acids.

Rosehips are rich in vitamin C and support the immune system. They also contain biotin, vitamins A and K, iron, thiamine, niacin, and beta-carotenes.

These two natural plant remedies seem to act to replace nutrients that may be missing in an equine’s diet and work in tandem, where the rosehips aid in the absorption of nutrients found in the barley grass powder.

Caroline Ingraham describes it further in her book ‘Animal Self-Medication - How animals heal themselves using essential oils, herbs and minerals’, “Barley grass and rosehip shells are important nutrients to offer to support enzymatic function and immune responses. They give the body a better opportunity to heal itself by strengthening it’s ability to break down the secondary metabolites efficiently, enabling the horse to take more plant compounds in order to reach the correct dosage.”

With Applied Zoopharmacognosy the key is to allow a horse to choose how much of a plant remedy they wish to try and also to allow them to guide how they would like to receive it. This may be orally, topically or via inhalation. The plant remedies are always offered separately to food, rather than mixing them into feed.

Lulu licked the barley grass from a scoop with very considered, firm and calm licks. She licked with the top of her tongue and also with the underside of her tongue. The underside of the tongue has many blood vessels close to the surface and when a pony licks sublingually, they are ensuring a fast absorption of a plant remedy into the bloodstream. She got barley grass all over her nose and really relished it. She wasn’t shy about sharing it with me either, giving me kisses and wiping it down my arms and t-shirt!

When she had had enough, she refused more and refused the rosehips and looked for something new in my box of herbs! During her intense interest in them she had given me kisses, nudges , said please with her foreleg, bitten the edge of the scoop and looked for more. As soon as she had received what she needed she stopped doing these things and put her nose into my box of supplies instead.

Organic Nettle leaf powder was her next favourite plant remedy. She licked again with the underside of her tongue and tugged on the side of the scoop with her mouth to ask for more. This is another nutrient rich plant, containing iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamins A and C.

Another popular plant remedy for equines with EMS is Seaweed absolute. It’s another nutrient rich choice and Lulu seemed very keen to address a nutritional need before switching to plant remedies for emotional support. Lulu licked the thick green liquid from my fingers, again using the underside of her tongue. When she had finished licking she sucked my fingers just like a foal would. Seaweed absolute contains vitamins A, B1, B2, C, D, E and K. She became very still for a while and then itched her back leg with her teeth.

Lulu then rummaged in my herbs again and indicated she would like marigold flowers by nuzzling the bag. These dried flowers are frequently self-selected for digestive health and also for sadness such as separation anxiety. Lulu’s handler revealed at this point that Lulu experiences separation anxiety, because she is very bonded with one particular friend and is upset to be apart from him.

So, I offered Lulu neroli essential oil alongside violet leaf absolute, both of which can help to ease the distress of separation anxiety. She licked one drop of neroli and then indicated that she would like it stroked over her forehead and third eye chakra. I’ve seen this requested many times by horses who have self selected neroli.

I then offered Lulu Rose essential oil because she is a New Forest pony and I’ve noticed that with this native breed there is often a heightened sadness and loss about leaving Mum as a foal. Rose pairs well with neroli to help a pony with emotional release.

Lulu was offered a choice of rose remedies as her handler also mentioned that she is quite “mareish” when she is in season. Lulu had a choice between Rose Otto essential oil, organic rose buds and a hydrosol called “Love in a bottle” which contains a blend of rose, vanilla and lavender hydrosols. Of the three, Lulu preferred “Love in a bottle” and licked a little, before indicating that she would like some stroked over her heart chakra for emotional support.

To finish Lulu’s session, I offered her Peppermint essential oil. She delighted the crowd by taking a lick of it and then doing long and enthusiastic flehmens and repeating the process over and over until she became very relaxed.

A flehmen in a horse, is where they lift their top lip, showing their teeth and looking a bit as if they are having a good laugh! It’s how they scent pheromones and scents of particular interest to them. They are drawing the scent up through their vomeronasal organ which is situated in the mouth and enabling a fast processing of the aroma. So, Lulu appeared to be extremely interested in peppermint essential oil!

Peppermint is such a popular essential oil with horses and I’ve seen it self selected for a wide variety of issues including digestive health, colic, nervousness, pain, arthritis, headaches, uveitis, stiffness, wind sucking and insect bites, to name but a few! I though Lulu might enjoy it because we had just experienced a mini heatwave and I’d noticed that the cooling effects had been popular with quite a few horses that I’d recently met.

One of the big changes people in the crowd noticed was that Lulu appeared to become younger in her behaviour during her session and was exhibiting some of the body language you might see expressed by a foal. She certainly interacted fully with the plant remedies, me and the crowd! It was lovely to be able to offer such a gorgeous therapy pony the opportunity to choose her own plant remedies for wellbeing on a physical, mental and emotional level.

If you are intrigued about Applied Zoopharmacognosy, you can read more here or book a free discovery call with me.

To read more equine Applied Zoopharmaconosy case studies please see Amy and Elly.