Old-time Equine Remedies

Horse health has come a long way, even since my childhood. This got me thinking about some of the old ways, versus the new. How some were good, commonsense practices while others, not so much.

 

Not all that long ago, horses were considered workers, essential to a family’s livelihood.

Their good health was necessary, much as how we would keep the car running well today. Now, we see that most horses are regarded as either pets, investments, athletes. The treatment of their illness and injuries has drastically changed.

 

Decades ago, as late as the 60s, early 70s, the term “Call the vet!” was used mainly as a last-ditch emergency measure. There was not as much prevention back then and if the horse looked fine, he was left alone. Often, the vet wasn’t brought in until it was too late, which kind of tarnished the reputation of this profession.

 

Several things that are treatable today were death knells, once upon a time: colic, heaves and broken legs pretty much signaled the end.

 

Most well-known preventative treatments were homemade remedies.

These were often herbals, passed down through the ages. While perhaps limited in their efficacy, most of these did no harm. Examples would be the willow bark fed for pain, or the goose grease salves, or poultices to fight infection.

 

By the time the industrial age had hit its stride early in the twentieth century, a lot of home remedies were worse than the disease. If the cause didn’t get you, the cure might. This is when we saw people painting used motor oil, tar or turpentine on cuts, or administering tobacco slurries to drench for worms.

 

As I recall, deworming as a regular preventative measure wasn’t done when I was young. It was fairly common for good horses to die early deaths from internal haemorrhages due to parasites. My own beautiful pony was but one of these.

 

When we consider the ease with which we deworm our own horses with oral paste today… it’s hard to imagine the cumbersome – and risky – business of ‘tubing’. This, where the old-time veterinarian forced liquid dewormers through the horses’ nasal passages by way of a long stomach tube.

 

Despite these changes and advancement to the day-to-day care of our horses, there are many things from the past that deserve a closer look. Some methods still stand up to the science of today.

 

A recent post on the Keystone Equine facebook page – @livingwellridingbetter – regarded my regular maintenance for the prevention of scratches. In over forty years, the application of a tiny daub of udder balm – a old-fashioned dairy staple to treat the chapped udders of milk cows – in each of the horses’ heels has meant that our family does not know this condition the old horsemen called ‘greasy heels’.

 

“There’s no science to this!” messaged one reader. “It’s not about salve, it’s about keeping the legs clean and dry!” said many others. No matter. This small measure has become a regular and enjoyable part of the care of my horses… it has stood the test of time and I, too, stand by it. In the end, I am grateful to the elderly cowboy mentor who long ago shared the tip.

 

This same treatment has proven beneficial to the horses with aural plaque, the crusty white bumps inside their ears. If these do not cause the horse to be ear shy and hard to bridle, they can be left well alone. If they do cause problems, a small smear of udder balm on the white spots will clear them up in short order.

 

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

At winter’s end, ‘poor doers’ were turned out on grass, particularly dandelion-rich pastures for a spring tonic. In fact, ‘turning them out’ was the time-honoured fix for so many ills: tiredness, sourness, lameness, lingering coughs and illness, among others.

 

Despite modern advances in chiropractics and massage for our equine athletes, I often wonder how many would truly thrive with a little old-fashioned turning away. Just love, grass and water, and nothing else. Even now, I consider the low-stress environment of horses – travelling to browse and find their shelter and fresh water – is key to their thriving.

 

Many of the older remedies relied heavily on the care aspect, as their medicinal kick was limited. Man and beast, tender, loving care is not to be denied when it comes to wellness….

 

The gentle massage of the udder balm for scratches, the warm bran mashes to ease fatigue and stomach ache.

 

The black oil seed and grooming with a rub rag to promote ‘bloom’ or shiny coat, as opposed to feed additives and Show Sheen.

 

The grass pastures maintained to give grazing to our horses, then the hay we made on them were a contrast with all the man-made feeds and additives of today. Much of our modern feeding regimes parallel our own reliance on processed groceries. Surely lasting health is found on the road to clean nutrition? Our home-grown hay bales were small squares, fed so the horses ate with their heads down.  The benefits to their muscular top-lines and dental health are now widely known.

 

Too much of a good thing?

Grazing, of course, has always come at a risk for many of our older and smaller equines. Much has been learned about grass founder in modern times and yet, so much everyday wisdom has been lost.

 

In our grandfather’s day, it was known to pen the at-risk horses – the ‘easy-keepers’ – off the grass at night. They would go out only for a few hours each day, so long as the grass was green. New science is backing up this knowledge, proving that the properties of grass changes according to the time of day.

 

The oldtimers also knew that if the crest was getting hard, the horse was in trouble. If he managed to founder to the point of having painful feet, time was of the essence. He was removed from all fresh feed immediately and would be fed mere handfuls of well-cured grass hay.

 

Three or four times daily, he would be made to move – first, at the stiff and painful walk – to the nearest running water, such as a creek. He would soak for fifteen minutes, no more or less, then made to trot home. Within days of such treatment, there would be no sign of founder, all of this, drug-free. It was brilliant, in light of today’s protocol for increasing blood flow and reducing inflammation of the feet. It is a method that we still swear by today. If there is no swift-flowing creek nearby, we will actually haul our horses to the nearest river to soak.

 

Tea for ten…

Another old-fashioned remedy that we still use today is the use of black tea for infections. This method dates back centuries, to the treatment of injured soldiers on the battlefields… and long before antibiotics. In fact, it is one we still rely on heavily when infected wire cuts or overreach injuries are resistant to the prescribed course of treatment.

 

How this works is that a clean bucket is used to hold ten or twelve Red Rose tea bags (or any other low-cost equivalent), along with hot tap water. This is allowed to steep until the brew is very dark and comfortably warm to the touch. The bucket is taken out to the horse and he is made to stand with the injury immersed for about ten or fifteen minutes.

 

We’ve found that even dodgy horses will choose to keep their foot in the pail, as it is so soothing. When they want to pull the foot out, it is either too hot, or they have held it in the tea long enough. How they know this is a mystery to me but they do….

 

We will do this morning and night and within a day, usually, the wound will be clean and the healing begins. An accumulation of ‘proud flesh’ is minimal and a daub of the above-mentioned udder balm is enough to prevent it.

 

If a wound is elsewhere on the horse’s body than his lower legs, we can achieve the same benefit by scooping the warm, wet tea bags from the water and holding them to the injury. Again, ten or fifteen minutes is what is needed.

 

Tender, loving care.

In the end, so much of our care and treatment of modern horses is scientifically advanced but without the ‘fuss factor’. Where we may want to revisit the past is in the care and attention that the older methods relied on.

 

When we come upon cases that are dragging on at increased cost and discomfort to the horse, our family still finds relief with many of the old ways. New or old-fashioned, our thinking is to ‘do no harm’. This, along with a healthy dose of tender, loving care, can so often work miracles.

 

Please share your memories of good ol’ homestyle horse remedies… along with the ones that are best forgotten.

For related reading, this was a popular recent Keystone post: https://www.facebook.com/livingwellridingbetter/videos/2068933939786829/. 

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