Holistic Horse Wellness Center
Where can you send your horse for therapy and expect the best outcome?
Holistic Horse Therapy of Coldwater, Tennessee, formerly of Citra and Deland, Florida welcomes horses for rehabilitation. Resident Certified Equine Acu-pressurist and Equine Physical Therapist, Julie B. Montgomery personally supervises the nutrition and therapy provided for the clients. Nutrition is exceptionally important for horses. Ever since we confined them, we have become responsible for finding and providing all of those herbs, minerals and forages that they used to roam miles a day in search of. Horses in our care benefit from specifically targeted supplements and diets. The diets and supplement regimes are tailored for each equine client by using nutritional reflexology.
Lameness and other performance issues are often resolved with a minimum of energy balancing in relation to specific points of stress including psoas, hips, withers, ribs or cervical areas. We have rehabilitated racehorses to return to the track, hunter jumpers and other types of horses.
How would your experience with your horse be different if you and your horse were both in balance?
Owners and riders can take advantage of Holistic Therapy services for humans while they are here to deliver or visit their horses in rehab. Massage is available in addition to Raindrop therapy, energy balancing, nutritional reflexology and B.E.S.T. Technique®. In fact, the best results occur when both horse and rider are re-balanced and re-vitalized. The benefits of B.E.S.T. (Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique) include increased immune response, balance between
Horses at the Rehab center will be treated with the same modalities Julie uses while treating horses on out-calls, but she is able to treat with more regularity and at a greater savings at the center. Julie uses B.E.S.T., essential oils, herbs, and homeopathics, as well as nutritional therapy.
"It is amazing how many ailments all but disappear with a little bit of good sound nutritional advice," she states.
The Rehab Center has been successful in healing horses with cancer, impaction problems, anhydrosis, sore backs, girthiness, indiscriminate lamenesses, and other ailments, in cases where the horses were unable to find treatment elsewhere.
Phone: 931-425-6833
Our Nutritional Philosophy
Why do horses need all this stuff?
Most of the nutritional recommendations that we make are result of our philosophy of natural horse care.
1) Many of the problems seen in modern horses are the result of changes imposed on their biology as the result of our confinement of them, to stalls and limited pasture ranges. Horses in nature can roam from pasture to pasture, obtaining their nutritional needs from selected herbal vegetation, mineral deposits etc. Horses in pasture are usually limited to a monoculture grass pasture with little botanical diversity. Horses in the wild will select specific plants for their physiological needs.
2) Modern feed grains and even grass and hay have become progressively more depleted of essential mineral vitamins and enzymes due to modern methods of agriculture. Supplementation has become more and more of a necessity to restore essential minerals to the equine diet. Genetically modified grains are creeping into our grain supplies as well.
3) Environmental quality has deteriorated over the last 100 years affecting the immune and endocrine systems of horses as well as humans. Water is more polluted, chemicals are found in the air, forages and water that depress immune function. As in humans today, thyroid dysfunction is common in animals and may be largely environmental in nature. Rebalancing the thyroid function may require supplementation. Improving immune function may require helping the liver to process chemicals from the environment.
4) Many problems in equine nutrition are resulting from the past assumption that what's good for cattle is good for horses. There are many differences in physiology and anatomy that say otherwise. Salt blocks and alfalfa may be great for cattle but the equine system is not designed to handle them.
5) Initial supplement recommendations are designed to get the equine system back in balance followed by a complete diet to maintain good nutrition. The basic complete diet usually consists of a mixture of corn, oats and barley that is suitable to the particular horse. Each of the three grains can be adjusted in accordance with the activity levels and basic constitution of a horse. Added to the C.O.B. diet is a complete supplement usually Dynamite Regular® and grass hay with access to the Free Choice Minerals® (Izmine, 1:1, 2:1 and NTM). That's really pretty simple. The initial balancing out can last for a while though and may require additional supplements. The clean feed may also result in a little bit of de-tox where the horse may look worse for a while until his liver and kidneys are unburdened by the toxic load he may be carrying.
6) Chemical free, natural ingredients are what we look for in feed and supplements. As far as we know Dynamite® has the only urea-free, antibiotic-free, meat and bone meal-free, insecticide-free, and unnatural preservative-free feed mill in the United States.
Common Feeding Mistakes
1) Corn Oil or other Oil Supplements
Corn oil was marketed to the equine industry for shiny coats. Horses don't have a gall bladder so excess oils are excreted through the skin, making the coat glisten. Other oils are marketed for horses for Omega 3's. Be careful with any oil supplementation. We know of only one fish-eating horse - the Icelandic. Rancidity is a common problem in oils that are on the market. The best way we know of providing Omega 3's is Dynamite's OxEMega®. The source of Omega3's in OxEmega® is chia seeds.
2) High Ratio of Alfalfa in the Diet
Protein levels are too high in alfalfa for its use as a primary forage. It is found in small amounts in supplements due to its high concentration of vitamins and minerals. Kidney scratches may result from feeding too much alfalfa. There is a high ratio of calcium in alfalfa which can cause "tying up". Too much calcium will also block absorption of other minerals like magnesium, zinc and copper. Grass hay is high in silica which is necessary for bone and connective tissue. Alfalfa is low in fiber that is necessary for equine digestion.
3) Beet Pulp
Mountains of unusable waste from the beet industry were marketed to the equine feed industry for weight gain. The gains in weight appear to be mostly water weight, it is lost quickly when the horse discontinues it. Water is retained when the body attempts to dilute a toxic substance. Toxicity in beet pulp derives from the pre and post emergent herbicides used during growing, the defoliants used prior to harvest and the solvents used to "wash" the beets at the processing plant. Most toxins in vegetables are stored in the pulp instead of the juice. As in humans our bodies put the toxins away somewhere like fatty tissue to keep them out of the circulation.
For those familiar with muscle testing, test anything that you wish to feed to your horse
4) Preservatives
Many feeds including Equine Senior feeds are preserved with Ethoxyquin, a rubber preservative or BHA, BHT or formaldehyde. Preservatives may create undue stress on the liver. The Dynamite Feed mill uses only natural preservatives vitamin E and C.
5) Rice Bran
Another agricultural waste product from one of the most heavily pesticided crops foisted off on the horse feed industry.
6) Unbalanced Mineral Supplementation
Feed companies learned to add copper in their feeds to boost color in the horses coat. A little copper in cases of deficiency is great and will improve coat quality. However, boosting one mineral alone will suppress other minerals essential for other aspects of equine physiology.
7) Minerals In Non Available forms
Minerals in ionic form are not easily assimilated by horses. Salt blocks are hard on a horse's tongue (look at the difference between a cow and a horse tongue) and contain urea which a horse cannot process. Look for minerals that are more bio-available such as amino-acid chelated. Some ionic minerals are useful along with the bio-available version, but here again, balance is important between the various minerals. Of the inorganic minerals, oxides are least available, sulfates better and carbonates are most available.
8) Sweet Feed
Adding a little organic blackstrap molasses to encourage a horse with a poor appetite may be OK. The addition of a processed molasses product to a bagged feed increases the requirements for preservatives. Just as with kids, too much sugar can create behavior problems in horses.
9) Feeding Grain "Products"
Wouldn't you rather see whole corn, oats, or barley on the feed label instead of "grain products", grain by-products, or roughage products?
10) High Protein Diets
Horses should not be fed over 12% protein at any time in their lives. Excess protein can cause lots of problems and can result in systemic acidosis. Thyroid problems, colic, arthritis and joint problems in young horses can be a result of diets too high in protein.
Other Horse Care Issues
1) Excessive Worming
We use Herbal Tonic® as our primary wormer twice per year in Spring and Fall unless otherwise indicated by fecal count or muscle testing. If necessary to use a commercial wormer we start with the least toxic, Panacur. Under almost any circumstances we avoid Quest and Ivermectin. Daily wormers equals daily poison, think about it. That's a heavy load for the liver with no break.
2) Multi-Valent Vaccinations
If you do want to give vaccinations, one at a time is best. We don't give them at all when a horse is under immune stress already. Be aware of side effects and weigh the cost/benefit equation. Herpes has been associated with the Rhino shot. West Nile disease has been associated with the West Nile vaccination. Holistic veterinarians offering nosodes as an alternative to vaccination may be found in your area if you look for them.
3) Things Only a Vet Should Do
There are obviously more, but these you might be tempted to do: Palpating a mare, arterial drug injections and tubing a colic horse.
Holistic Therapy Services is located at 39 Stevens Hollow Road, Phone (931) 425-6833.
Holistic Horse Therapy and Rehabilitation Center offers a wide variety of treatments, depending on the situation, including:
Nutritional and Herbal Consultation available
Veterinary Homeopathic Consultation available
We have had tremendous success treating horses with impaction problems, anhydrosis, sore backs, girthiness, indiscriminate lameness.
Phone: 931-425-6833