Madalyn Ward, DVM shares her answers to specific holistic horse care questions from clients. To see more questions and answers on real holistic horse care situations check out our Holistic Horsekeeping and Horse Harmony Facebook pages.
Q – What would you suggest for Cushing’s?
A – If it is an early case, you can use Cushing’s Plus. This product was designed to manage symptoms of Cushing’s by increasing blood flow and providing vital nutrition to the affected areas.
Q – I have a question about using the powdered algae/probiotic/enzyme blend. The bottle states that humans should take 1 tsp. but I thought you told me my horse should also receive 1 tsp. per day? Are we just starting out slowly then increasing at some point? Also, do I continue to give my horse a multivitamin like Transfer Factor or does the algae supplement cover everything she would require?
A – Horses do take the same amount of the algae blend product as people. Even big horses. This puzzled me until I started reading about the power of whole foods like blue green algae to heal our DNA. The body can use the algae and other whole foods in the blend to heal on the level of the DNA so very little is needed. The vitamins and minerals are also almost 100% assimilated. I am not sure about Transfer Factor, but many multivitamins are mainly synthetic in origin. The Essentials can replace formulated, synthetic products. If the Transfer Factors is whole food based, you can continue it along with the blend.
Q – Where I board I am required to use conventional worming products. Stool samples for all the horses were negative, but I am still required to worm. Why is this necessary if stools were negative? What wormer do you recommend for senior horses? Also, why do you recommend worming according to the moon phases?
A – There is no good reason to deworm a horse showing a negative fecal test. If you have to give a dewormer then I would choose Strongid paste. Worms may be more active in the lumen of the intestine around the full moon so it is easier to flush them out. I can’t prove this theory but I do tend to see more parasite eggs in samples done near the full moon.