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Treatments for Horses - McDowell's Herbal Treatments

Herbal Support for Equine (Horses) Health

Spring is with us, and so is the dreaded laminitis! Over the last 4 weeks McDowells Herbal have been inundated with requests for information and treatment of the laminitic horse or pony. Step 1:&nb...

Lameness issues of the equine occur for several reasons. Over, or incorrect, training and work, conformation, fatigue or training a horse too young can contribute. The healing process in the legs can ...

Foals can gallop within hours of birth and in the wild horses will travel vast distances to find food and water. A horse's body has evolved to avoid predators, with their instinct being for flight bef...

Ulcers are very much like the lumps and bumps and represent your horse's system packaging up blood toxins into little cysts. Over the body there is little chance to release this material through the s...

Some horses, especially in Spring and Summer, can suffer from a runny nose, snorting, sneezing and snuffling which does not involve infection.  This is more like hay fever in humans than anythin...

Horses have three patella ligaments that do the same job, and these three ligaments make the horse's stifle stronger. This also allows the horse to lock its leg while standing by shifting its weight a...

This herbal formulation (now known as Alleviate) has evolved from a consideration of the dangers of administering phenylbutazone (Bute), routinely, to horses sensitive to its side effects. These ...

Lyme disease is a highly prevalent tick-borne disease of humans and animals across many countries. Lyme disease is caused by a tick-borne bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi which infects severa...

Anaemia simply means a reduction in red blood cells in the horse's blood. A low grade anaemia is generally an efficiency problem with managing blood iron and blood oxygen problems. This will show...

Maritime Pine Bark Extract is the primary immune system tonic for all our equine cancer patients.  It is due to failings within the fundamental levels of the immune system that can...

Anhidrosis or "The Puffs", is a compromised ability to sweat when exercising or high temperatures and is a potentially dangerous condition for horses. It is a lymphatic efficiency problem charact...

Mastitis can be treated within a single day using Castor Oil alone and I recommend that a stop is put to all Veterinary treatments that result in damage to the mare and the foal and extreme difficulty...

Herbal approaches to parasites all revolve around discouraging rather than killing the parasites. Also herbs provide support for your horses own systems defences.  I prescribe individual formu...

Mud fever has many names including cracked heels, scratches, rain rot, greasy heel, mud rash, and dew poisoning. It is a common condition, usually affecting horses lower limbs; especially the back leg...

Arthritis and Rheumatism are conditions which affect the joints and connective tissue surrounding the joints. These can be caused from environmental factors such as wear and tear or injury, or from au...

Handling and breeding stallions, serving mares, weaning and gelding can all be done with a much more natural approach. In wild horses, behaviours of herd centre around the social life which occur...

'Tying-up' is a pretty good description of what happens to horses suffering this condition. They move with difficulty and look for all the world as if their hind quarters especially, are tied up with ...

Before we kept horses in artificial environments, they roamed free across large tracts of land, and kept themselves healthy by grazing on a large variety of grasses, grains, herbs, and other seasonal ...

Back pain and back issues is a common issue for horses and their riders. Issues might present themselves as actual pain in the back, lameness, 'misbehaviour', reluctance to be saddled or appears 'girt...

Following a life trauma or serious accident during work, the nerve cells and plexuses of the central nervous sytem and peripheral nervous system and their surrounding sheaths may be damaged, this may ...

Bladder or kidney stones are dependent on a number of factors that are not fully understood but horses that consume a diet rich in calcium may be at higher risk. They are fairly rare and can diff...

Unusual nervousness, can be triggered by small incidents, accidents and operations. Herbs nourish, strengthen and re-balance the nervous system so that once an anxious horse calms down he no longer re...

Many horses show signs of bleeding either by fading under maximum effort or by snorting blood. Many others show dried blood around the nostrils hours or a day after maximum effort. It is the rupture o...

Osteochondrosis is a joint disease of growing cartilage. It can occur in all growing animals, including horses. And this disorder is now affecting increasing numbers of young horses. As a complex mult...

Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH) or 'Bleeders' as they are commonly known, is a disorder mostly affecting racehorses. It's been recongnised for over 300 years - a horse was called a &ldquo...

A poison is a compound that irritates, damages body tissue or alters the metabolism. There's many things that can poison a horse - water, weeds, chemicals, bites and heavy metals the horse may have be...

Robust immune and elimination systems should actively and positively discharge waste products of infection and inflammation.  Less robust systems will try to function with a toxic load in the bl...

Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy is a disease that occurs when excess glycogen (storage form of glucose) or glucose-6-phosphate (form of glucose taken into cells) is present in muscles. Often refe...

As part of all ligament and bone related problems in the lower limb of your horse, we formulated an oil to be applied to the hoof during treatment. This hoof oil contains herbs that dramatically impro...

Proud Flesh essentially occurs following a wound, injury or surgery when normal granulated wound tissue that is pinkish and succulant , overgrows around the wound. Later there may be evidence of irrit...

  McDowells Products  Many owners and trainers of harness racing horses find they benefit from the improved respiratory efficiency supported by the Breathe-Well tonic. This herbal tonic us...

Some horses are more inclined to be 'hard doers' while others have physical, environmental or emotional reasons for having difficulty in keeping weight on. You should never be in a rush for a horse to...

This blend of herbs is designed to improve or restore fertility and normalize the mare's heat cycle, to protect and develop the foetus, and to tone up the uterus for ease of foaling. It will help...

The problem with Queensland Itch is that it is initiated by a variety of causes and then perpetuated by another variety of causes. Most often the initial reason for the itch in a horse starting off wi...

Maritime Pine Bark Extract is my primary immune system tonic for all my equine cancer patients for it is due to failings within the fundamental levels of the immune system that cause all cancerous pro...

Queensland Itch is known by many names depending on where you live: Sweet Itch, Summer Eczema or Midges. What is Queensland Itch? Sweet-itch is an allergic reaction to the saliva of the midge. The...

I have a wonderful herbal Eye Wash formulation that addresses inflammation dramatically and slows cataract progression; it will also cure any infection and support the health of the eye itself. You ...

All young horses beginning work need to have their structure protected as a first priority (ligaments and bones) as well as their kidneys and adrenals, the physical and metabolic/nervous system stress...

Chamomile is one of the most widely used flowers for herbal tea. Chamomile tea is so popular, it is found in most grocery stores in the tea aisle. It is used as a mild sedative, and is good for insomn...

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) or 'heaves' is a common term in the equine industry but the phrases 'Recurrent Airway Obstruction' (RAO) and 'Inflammatory Airway Disease' (IAD) are now b...

  This mixture of lung and respiratory system tonics is extracted into organic cider vinegar. The herbal ingredients are:- Garlic, Kelp, Coltsfoot, Elecampane, Fenugreek, Marshmallow, Mullein,...

The placenta in mares are normally expelled within 3 hours after birth. Some mares with retained afterbirth can become toxic and may even die without intervention. The cause of placental ret...

  You may need to consider the following factors for a horse with chronic bladder problems: 1. The volume of water he drinks and the additives we can use to improve the healing qualities of t...

Ringbone is just one of the conditions in horses which really results from poor confirmation, stress to the whole structure and imbalances of minerals - usually an over supply of calcium. Ongoing dege...

The horse's brain is a remarkably small structure and it is the sinuses that fill much of the head. The sinuses are air-filled chambers that are connected to the respiratory system. They are situated ...

Rosehips are the seed pod of the rose (also called rose haw or rose hep) and are in the same family as apples and crab apples! Rosehips are one of the very best sources of natural iron and vitamin ...

A horse's coat has three parts – medulla, cortex, cuticle. The coat of a horse is like our skin and hair - internal health shines through!Show horse owners are always looking for the perfec...

A sarcoid can be seen as an attempt by the immune system to package up and get rid of impurities within the blood or the waste products following a clash with an infection of some sort. Herbally, I w...

Colic in horses is one of the most feared of conditions because of the dramatic way colic can spiral downward into a life threatening condition so quickly. Obstructive colic is the worst and scar...

What is a sarcoid? A sarcoid is a growth on the skin which is thought to be caused by a virus. It grows most often on the inner thighs but may occur on any other part of the body. Sarcoids are th...

Colloidal Silver was used and proven to be effective against hundreds of disease-causing bacterium and viruses by the 1940s. Its action as a broad spectrum antibiotic has never been matched by the mod...

We all see the process of scarring every time our horse cuts or injures itself or is bitten or kicked by one of its companions. We also know that scarring tends to fade over time and even the most hor...

The herbs in this formulation have been traditionally used and prescribed for rehabilitation in horses which have suffered a major health breakdown, suffered poisoning, snake bite or have, for other r...

Sciatica is simply an inflammation of the nerves out of the spine which are travelling down through the pelvis and into the legs.The sciatic nerve runs down the horse's spine and through the sacroilia...

Degenerative Joint Disease, or osteoarthritis as it can also be known, is a leading cause of pain and lameness in horses. Without a cure, preventing its onset and progression is the best way to approa...

Loose manure (sometimes referred to as having the 'squirts'!) or passing water after manure can be distressing for horse owners. Continue to monitor your horse - it could be a one-off case or what is ...

The exact cause of Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis in horses is not completely understood but it is being diagnosed more often now (2). DSLS affects the connective tissue of the lo...

Septicaemia is now more likely to be called sepsis and is an overload of bacteria in the blood stream resulting from infection in another part of the body such as the abdomen, urinary tract or the ski...

Equine Cushing's disease or Cushings Syndrome, also referred to as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (or PPID), is caused by a tumour in the pituitary gland, which is responsible for the productio...

Many horses suffer from sinus infections and repeated antibiotics treatments are not resolving the infection. An effective treatment must include ingredients which genuinely rehabilitate and repair th...

A horses whole digestive system can become so traumatised that it can go into spasm at the drop of a hat or following any minor change and this is now becomes the problem, not the original impaction o...

Skin problems are mainly a reflection of internal conditions and therefore internal support treatments are necessary to completely resolve the problems. Often the initial reason for a chronic itc...

The keys to endurance are fitness and physical soundness, heart, adrenals, lung and circulation efficiency and kidney health. The herbs in the endurance mix when given to athletes, equine and other...

Through our work with "Queensland Itch" I have developed treatment approaches to provide relief and healing to all types of chronic skin irritations which often involve fungal infestation. Most "Itch"...

A bone spur can form on or near the edge of any joint surface. It can range in size from just tiny sharp corner tall the way up to a large boney growth (see diagrams). Most often this type of gro...

Slippery Elm bark is a herb of the Americas, Slippery Elm was originally an Indian medicine. An incredibly useful herb for its mucilage, nourishing and soothing properties, McDowells herbal use S...

Alternative medicine is very much do-it-yourself medicine much as was practiced by all those in charge of stock for the past several thousand years. It is only recently that we have been encouraged to...

This formulation recognises that there are many factors involved in low semen counts. The physical and immune system vitality and the nervous system vitality are equally as important as the hormonal v...

Equine Influenza, also referred to as equine flu, is highly contagious.  Equine flu can also spread via direct contact from horse to horse or indirectly for example, by handlers, equipment and f...

A stomach or gastric ulcer is an area where the membrane comprised of mucus producing cells has been eroded away and the acid has been able to attack the muscular wall beneath. This causes pain and in...

Over the last twenty five years, the understanding of equine ulcers has changed several times. We first have to look at these changes before we can go ahead and effectively treat ulcers in our horses....

Stringhalt is the same in all countries, but it’s the extreme weather in Australia that tends to promote the condition. Australian Stringhalt is a debilitating condition of pasture based horses char...

We have had many clients and their horses using our sarcoid program with very good results. The internal sarcoid mix contains the following herbs: Echinacea, Thuja, Equisetum, Elecampane, Mistletoe, ...

Swelling of the leg, or legs, in horses may be present in one or all four. Swollen legs have a variety of causes.  The symptoms of swollen legs shows evidence that the horse fighting some...

Eye infections, irritations and injuries are best treated by providing antiseptic and nourishing herbs directly to the eye itself, to support speedy healing.  Eye infections, irritations and inj...

Tendon and bone injuries are curable. There are a large number of simple and inexpensive ways in which herbs can be used to both aid in the maturity of bones in young competition horses, and to r...

Kelp is a great supplement that can be used by all horses and is one of the highest sources of minerals and vitamins. It is especially high in natural iodine plus all the cell salts. It is also k...

Ligament Damage, Tendonitis and Shin Soreness are best treated by using this specially prepared external cream in conjunction with the Tendon and Bone Treatment, which is given internally. The Tendon...

Laminitis is a painful condition of the feet. The actual word laminitis means 'inflammation (itis) of the sensitive laminae (lamin)'. These laminae are the membranes that hold the bone of the foot (pe...

In history, hemp has been used to make ropes and equipment for horses but only now are we seeing an increase in the use of hemp as a food and bedding material for the equine industry. Hemp seeds ...

    McDowells Products I recommend this program to protect your animal against contracting one of these 'super bugs' while undergoing surgery, intravenous treatment or otherwise staying...

Wind sucking is the aspiration of air; the horse arches its neck and gulps in air. Some horses do this while holding onto a stable object with their teeth; others do it unaided. It results in a grunti...

Greasy Heel has to be seen as a situation where the horses body is trying to clear up a general toxicity, and since the circulation is often compromised in the lower limb due to general inflammation i...

Inflammation and pain are both part of the natural healing process. Inflammation and swelling bring fluids to cushion a damaged area and aid in the healing process, while pain will stop us causing fur...

Some head-shaking behaviour in horses is normal. Trigeminal-mediated head-shaking is a little-understood neuropathic facial condition of the horse. The condition may affect around 1% of the equine pop...

We take our animals to shows, events, studs, trainers or new properties all the time. We spend enormous amounts of energy and money preparing them for their sport and bringing them to a peak for the b...

Lameness, stiffness and soreness problems in horses are most often the result of structural problems which involve injury, calcification, decalcification, scar tissue and ligament damage of one sort o...

A bone sequestrum is a piece of bone that has detached from the healthy bone. It can occur at any age through injury or trauma. It occurs on areas not protected by muscle or fat; the cannonbone, splin...

For some horses, travelling can be a stressful, even traumatic, event.  Prolonged panic can affect the adrenals, thyroid and kidneys. This can impair the immune system due to the trauma of tra...

Simply speaking, cancer occurs when one of the most fundamental tasks of the human body, the immune system, is not functioning. Whenever a cell is replaced, and there are millions every week replac...

Because of their reactive natures as flight animals and the confined conditions in which we often keep them, horses are inclined to injure themselves. This applies to the times when they are at libert...

Vitiligo refers to a skin depigmentation from an unknown cause while the terms leukoderma and leukotrichia are used to decribe pigmentation loss in skin and hair, respectively... The good news is t...

These days, a large number of performance horses are highly strung to the point where it impedes their performance, and, in some cases, makes the animal dangerous. Many riders and trainers have resort...

Warts are (usually) small and harmless skin tumors that are cause by the papilloma virus. Interestingly, sarcoids are caused by a cross species infection with the bovine papilloma virus...

Of all the topics I write about nothing can be more important than looking at the environment that you keep your horse. Having grown up in rural NSW I am lucky enough to have been able to have had a ...

The three most common type of skin tumours in horses are sarcoids, squamous-cell carcinoma and melanomas. Robust immune systems routinely eliminate infective and metabolic waste as part of a...

An hoof abscess can cause a horse owner panic when the horse is suddenly suffering from severe lameness with no visible injury. A hoof abscess is pus in the hoof that can be dealt with quickly and cle...

Loose manure (sometimes referred to as having the 'squirts'!) or passing water after manure can be distressing for horse owners. Continue to monitor your horse - it could be a one-off case or what is ...

This preparation was originally formulated to treat inflammatory processes of the hoof area including Founder, Pedal Osteitis, Navicular Disease and Sesamoiditis in the fetlock area.  This oil-b...

Insulin resistance is the reduction in the horse’s ability to respond appropriately to the hormone insulin. Insulin is a hormone which plays a key role in the regulation of blood glucose levels....

Every horse owner or rider has owned or heard stories about 'moody mares'. Mares can be seen as unpredictable, aggressive and more challenging than geldings, which can be caused by cycling hormon...

The sugar beet plant is commercially grown for sugar production. The root contains a high concentration of sucrose but after processing you are left with a feed that is high in soluble fibre and is 95...

The condition of a horse's hair and coat is a telling sign of his general level of health; a dull coat is indicative that a horse is not in it's best physical or mental condition. In itself, the dull ...

A capped hock appears as swelling at the point of the horse's hock. A 'windgall' is a term used to describe fluid swellings behind the fetlock in horses and ponies... Windgalls themselves are reall...

Steps to follow for the first aid of open wounds. Syringe the open wound with Colloidal Silver twice daily especially if it's very open and messy. If the wound is still a little messy then the Whe...

To get your horse to perform at its best day after day, especially in extreme temperatures, can be difficult. Recovery after exertions is equally as important... After experiencing the benefits of ...

Joint ill (also known as septic or infective arthritis) is a term for infection of the joint. It usually occurs in foals less than one month old, although it may occur in horses of any age... ...

Horses seem to regularly injure themselves and each other! Owners often joke about how a horse will find the only exposed nail or tin in the whole paddock... The Skin Healing Cream is designed...

Lice can infest horses causing skin irritation, severe scratching and loss of condition. Incidence peaks in late winter and spring, recurring annually once lice become established in a stable or paddo...

Have a question? Contact McDowell's Herbal Treatments

Treatments

McDowell's staff Herbalists can not diagnose your disease or illness. What they can do is offer a herbal program to assist with healing, after you have had advice from your doctor or specialist. If you have unexplained pain or symptoms, seek medical advice.

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