Why have I linked together inflammation, laminitis, immune support, respiratory issues and allergies? Well if you think about it, you’ll realize that all of these involve the circulatory, endocrine and immune system – which in fact are interlinked and interdependent upon each other.
As soon as you assist the immune system, you will simultaneously balance/reduce inflammation. And the adrenal and thyroid glands directly affect/interface with the immune system, and so on.
Rather than just look at how a product or supplement is marketed, I look at the substance itself and examine it’s properties and action on the body as a whole.
So although this supplement blend is targeted towards horses with respiratory issues and allergies, if you look at the ingredients, you will see that it is also an ideal immune strengthening and anti-inflammatory supplement too.
Note too that the herbs and active ingredients in Respire are on a base of omega-3 flax and chia seed. The flax has been milled using Micronized Milling; which slices the seeds at a low temperature, thereby leaving the fat cells intact, so there is no risk of rancidity.
This is a great supplement to top-dress on High Point Daily Nutrients for Grass/Hay Fed Horses – especially during the season your horse is prone to immune-based issues or respiratory problems.
Jiaogulan is a Chinese herb from the gourd family of plants – it is sometimes called “Southern Ginseng”. Humans use it for diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and improving heart function. In horses, it’s known for its ability to reduce vascular (arteries, veins) inflammation, so it’s being used for conditions like laminitis and raising blood circulation within the hoof.
If you want to supplement individually, then these herbs and supplements are all especially effective:
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Turmeric
- Jiaogulan
- Spirulina
- MSM
- Omega-3 (e.g. flax seed or oil)
- Moringa
- Cat’s Claw
And let’s not forget magnesium to relax muscles and facilitate enzyme reactions, along with Vitamin D3 if your horse does not get full body exposure to sufficient sunlight.
If your horse is suffering from a hoof abscess, then be sure to check out my wild oregano/DMSO remedy. It has worked brilliantly on both Aude and Posa.
p.s. If you haven’t checked out our LTYH Shoppe yet to see all the supplements I’ve used with the Singing Horse herd, then take a look – and be sure to read the JINI SAYS tab for each product…
Jini Patel Thompson is a natural health writer and Lazer Tapping instructor. She began riding at age 2 in Kenya, and got her first horse at age 8 in Alberta, and so continues a life-long journey and love affair with these amazing creatures.
I feel good that I already feed most of these ingredients to the horses! I discovered and then fed JHerb a lot when Dreamer first foundered and Spirulina and Chlorella have been an absolute game changer for Banner and now Buck when it comes to hives and welts and bug bite reactions! I still feel Flax is just not right for Dream so I have stayed away from it for him but still feed it to the other three! I use Organic Chia for Dream and the other three also to add variety! As I have written many times I also now approach there nutritional needs with Whole Foods! I know many people donβt agree! They will also say horses would not eat those things in the wild! But when we domesticate animals and limit the land they roam we also take away the ability for them to forage what they need! I like the idea of there bodies getting nutrition from what Mother Nature created (Especially from our organic garden) not synthetic minerals made in a lab! Would be interested to hear your opinion on this?
βπΌππ΄
I totally agree with you Michelle. And the key point here is IF the horses can get what they need from a healthy garden. So along with being organic, you need to be creating the right soil biology (as detailed in Dirt to Soil) and also re-mineralizing the soil. Our current soil no longer contains the minerals that were present before humans started wreaking havoc.
When the wildies arrived, they had been free ranging on over 1,000 acres of crown land (govt) and First Nations land. They were all nutrient-deficient – especially in minerals. I made minerals available to them free-choice and they HOOVERED the same amount in 6 weeks that mine eat in 2 years. Then they didn’t touch the minerals much for over 18 months. And just recently the herd has increased their mineral intake (sweating, summer??) but nowhere near their initial correcting of their deficiencies.
So again, yes, we have something that is GREAT in theory, but the reality may be different. The other thing that has changed with the wildies is the health of their hooves, manes/tails and coat. HUGE improvements across the board. Sure, they were fine before and functioning fairly well – no detectable disease – but now they are thriving.
One last thing: Minerals are not synthetic because they are fairly cheap to extract/refine.
Vitamins can be synthetic (esp. watch out for Vitamin E) but the fact that they are synthetic is often indicated in the nomenclature. For example:
D-Alpha Tocopherol – Natural Vit. E
DL-Alpha Tocopherol – Synthetic Vit. E
L-glycine – Natural amino acid
D-glycine – Synthetic amino acid
Glycine – Synthetic amino acid
All other vitamins are extracted from the whole food, or source material. Some use chemical extraction/filtering processes, others use natural methods like water, fermentation, steam, etc. When I formulate health products, I only select natural-source and naturally-extracted nutrients – to do this, I get the manufacturing flow chart from the raw supplier to check through all the filtering/extraction processes.
Note: The supplements I carry in LTYH Shoppe are ALL natural ingredients – I do not carry or use artificial or synthetic supplements.
The other thing that people can do, if they want to stick with whole food nutrients, and cannot grow their own, or sufficient variety, is to purchase bulk organic herbs. I recommend Mountain Rose Herbs in the USA and Wendals Herbs in the UK (pre-mixed blends). As you know, my post on that is here:
https://listentoyourhorse.com/herbs-and-medicinal-plants-that-horses-will-eat/
Wow do I appreciate this response! I saw your LTYG post and was going to ask you about minerals not being synthetic! This is very good to know! So when you offered minerals free choice were you offering them separate or mixed together like Magnesium copper and zinc? Was it a blend? Did you just leave them out free choice or in a bucket?
I hear you in regards to soil! We are doing a lot to heal the soil and help it regenerate its vitality! We are using a method we saw on a homesteaders show! We partially buried very large logs that had partially burned in a big fire …we had in the area a few years ago! Then we covered with soil we bought from the nursery along with the ashes from our own burn pile and of course all the horse poop and compost we had! Then planted on top of these mounds! It is so cool to see the little eco system these mounds create with worms and hummingbirds & so on! We will continue to do our best to enrich the soil as our gardening explorations continue year after year!
Again thanks for all your info on minerals …still so deep down the nutritional rabbit hole and want to make sure I keep learning to help the horses and especially Dreamer with his IR …thrive and keep living there best life I can offer! βπΌππ΄
Oooh those mounds sound intriguing! And yes, as long as our animals keep pushing us to learn new things, we’ll keep researching and growing our toolbox π
I’ve been offering them Hoffman’s Minerals – which is a blend in powder form. You have to be careful though to just get the plain version as other versions have sweetener added that is not very apparent on the packaging.