Image of Denise with Grey Mare
Equine Herbal Medicine
with Denise Farrugia Cert.Eq.Herb.Med
Anyone whose lives are tied up with horses will tell you that defining moments in their life are often the result of their horses. So it was with me. One of my English riding ponies that I bred at Walkenny Park, named Jock, sparked my fascination in herbal medicine for horses, that was in 2006.
As a result I established Walkenny Park Herbs and completed my Certificate of Equine Herbal Medicine.
I help horse owners to use herbal medicine to heal their horses, to embrace natural feeding as the basis for real health and to use herbal first aid so they know what to do in an emergency.
But first here is Jock’s story published in Victoria Ferguson’s second horse herbal book “The Complete Horse Herbal” in 2010.
Denise Farrugia of Heywood, Vic, contacted the author four years ago with the sad news that her 4 month old English Riding Pony foal, Jock, had run smack bang into a strainer post badly injuring his head. The vet gave a poor prognosis as he said there was severe nerve damage, one side of his face was paralysed, his ear was hanging down, his tongue was hanging out one side of his mouth and he could not eat properly, with food becoming caught in the side of his face. He also had severe bruising and swelling. Jock was treated with herbs for four months.
Initially circulatory ,anti-inflammatory, anti-bruising and anti-spasmodic herbs were used and for the whole period of treatment herbs to repair nerve damage were used. In the first month all the swelling dispersed and his ear straightened up, in the second month his muzzle straightened up and the paralysis improved but he was still getting food caught and his tongue would often hang out the side of his mouth; in the third month there was minor continuing improvement.
By the end of the fourth month, everything was back to normal. Jock has remained on his natural diet and now four years later he is an excellent all round pony club horse for Denise’s son, Bryce. Jock lived in happy retirement at Walkenny Park until he was 25 years of age.
I have always been a great supporter of Victoria’s work and in 2014 we collaborated in the formulation and marketing of WP Equi-Vital, Australia’s only all natural feed supplement for horses and ponies, which is the mainstay of the natural diet. In 2024 Victoria became a Consultant to Walkenny Park Herbs, working with me on everything to do with horses and herbs.
Victoria and I are great believers in empowering horse owners with the knowledge they need to become self reliant in the care of their horses. This saves a lot on vet bills! Educational blogs, case histories and newsletters are published regularly and our Masterclass Webinars are very popular.
Between us we have decades of hands on experience with horses together with formal training in the use of herbal medicine to heal all common ailments – a combination horse owners and managers can trust.
WHAT IS A HOLISTIC CONSULTATION?
There are so many benefits from having a Holistic Consultation for your horse/s. Every detail of the individual horse is taken into account to provide a unique herbal prescription for that horse. And the horse is monitored with the owner throughout the treatment period to ensure healing is progressing as it should.
All this for a one off only fee of $150. This also includes a customised natural diet which works in concert with the prescription herbal medicine for best results, and after treatment is complete, the horse is maintained on the natural diet.
This is a simple, yet effective approach which is extremely cost effective – no more buying ridiculous numbers of different products!
WHAT IS A HOLISTIC CONSULTATION?
Walkenny Park equine herbal consultations provide holistic prescriptions tailored to each individual horse’s requirements. The prescriptions are made up for each horse after obtaining comprehensive information through our downloadable consultation chart. Plus photos, and if applicable videos, other practitioner/veterinary reports and blood/hair tests.
Walkenny Park’s philosophy is to treat causes as well as symptoms, and to treat individually, to promote complete healing.
Prescriptions are made up from liquid human medicinal quality herbal extracts and tinctures, which have guaranteed provenance, and also include selected Bach Flower essences. Australian grown organic tinctures are used wherever possible.
The advantage of liquid herbal extracts is that they are quickly absorbed via the liver and do not have to go through the gastro-intestinal tract. This is useful if the horse is suffering from gut ulceration and/or is off it’s feed.
Some Walkenny Park herbal prescriptions and products are formulated from dried herbs which are added to the feed. These are where it is important that the herbs come into direct contact with the gastro-intestinal tract.
Dosage amounts for liquid herbal extract prescriptions are from 5 – 10 ml twice daily and the dosage method is by oral syringing over the tongue after mixing with an equal amount of water. Most horses are easy to dose and often get to like their herbs so much, they just open their mouths for them! For the occasional difficult character the dosage is placed in a bowl and they lick it out, often it is the syringe they don’t like – memories of yukky worm pastes.
A horse or pony does not necessarily have a “named disease” to be in poor health. This is why taking into account the whole horse and treating accordingly works so well.
Herbal medicine began with animals showing man that plants could be used for medicine as well as food. They have self medicated on herbs since the beginning of time. This is why there are virtually no side effects from using herbal medicines, especially those prescribed by a trained herbalist, who is aware of any cautions or contra-indications.
Classical herbal medicine practised by Walkenny Park is a holistic approach to healing disease, treating the whole body to bring it into balance and harmony.
COMMON EQUINE HEALTH PROBLEMS
Here are the most common equine health problems which horses have been seen to recover from using prescribed or well formulated herbal medicines.
- Digestion – ulcers, scours, poor appetite & doing ability
- Immune – bacterial & viral infections, adrenal exhaustion
- Respiratory – coughs & colds, allergies, anhydrosis (The Puffs), bleeding (Epistaxis)
- Skin, Hair & Hooves – abscesses, mud fever, greasy heel, Qld Itch, sarcoids, warts, seedy toe, thrush
- Eyes – ulcers, uveitis, infections, injuries
- Musculo-Skeletal – arthritis, tendon, bone & ligament injuries, Navicular Syndrome, chips, spurs, splints, rheumatism, tying-up (Azoturia)
- Nervous System – nerve damage, Headshaking Syndrome, stringhalt, nervous behaviours
- Wound Healing – first aid, post-veterinary treatment
- Metabolic – Cushings Syndrome, laminitis, founder, Equine Metabolic Syndrome
- Liver, Circulatory, Blood – anaemia, liver detoxification, lymphangitis, blood cleansing
- Urinary – urinary tract/bladder infections
- Reproductive – breeding mares – fertility/foaling problems, performance mares – irregular cycles, uterine cramping, difficult behaviour
EQUI-VITAL ALL NATURAL FEED SUPPLEMENT
Natural feeding is the basis of real health. Horses are genetically designed to thrive on raw, natural feeds, not processed feeds with synthetic minerals and vitamins.
Equi-Vital is Australia’s only all natural horse feed supplement – every single gram is an essential nutrient. Absolutely NO fillers of any kind in this popular product.
The nutrients in Equi-Vital are all from raw food sources providing easy absorption and bio-availability, thus maintaining a healthy immune system.
Bursting with essential nutrients, this unique raw food supplement is freshly blended just before despatch. Rosehips Granules, Raw Wheat Germ, straight from the mill, freshly crushed French White Millet, Brewer’s Yeast and Australian Seaweed provide an abundant source of nutrients essential to equine health.
Minerals, vitamins, amino acids, anti-oxidants, essential fatty acids and phyto-nutrients are highly bio-available to horses from Equi-Vital.
Equi-Vital has been independently tested by Livestock Logic, and provides an excellent balance of minerals, trace elements and vitamins.
In keeping with Walkenny Park’s philosophy to educate and empower horse owners, Equi-Vital buyers can download an 18 page FREE GUIDE TO NATURAL FEEDING from our site.
https://walkenny.com.au/equi-vital/
Equi-Vital is available in 4.5 kg & 8 kg packs and 15 kg buckets.
