Detoxing Your Horse - DON'T
November 21st 2009 03:08
Please do not put your horse's body through the sort of stress a detox would inflict!.
When I first studying herbalism and other natural therapies over twenty years ago, the fashionable thing to do was to 'detox'. This had been a twist on the traditional physiomedical approach to cleanse the system and restore tone, and if done with the correct approach, then you do achieve and restore health.
However to 'detox' is a bastardisation of what is a sound principle. I am getting a little peeved lately as this practice is being promoted again, and locally to client's horses by people who are not trained, but just jumped on a thought which is a huge misrepresentation of a sound idea and then misleading to people who trust them.
These people have told clients that issues that may actually relate to a serious disease or syndrome is a sign their horse needs a 'detox'. Firstly, these people are diagnosing an issue and misrepresenting their ability to do so, and placing these horse's health in danger.
The Channel 9 program “Whats Good for You” and they ran tests on 'detox' diets with medical assistance on a recent program. I watched this with interest and finally I had something I had known for a long time to support an explanation to my poor misled clients. These practices encouraged by quacks, who present with some kind of credibility unfortunately, is indeed dangerous.
“The blood tests showed decreased liver function in all members of the detox group. Their livers were shocked by the strict diet and weren't functioning very well. The blood tests also showed an increase in triglycerides (the bad blood fats that predict our risk to heart disease) and a decrease in the protective cholesterol.
Conclusion:
Within our group of six people the liquid detox diet did not help the body eliminate toxins. In fact, the diet did them more harm than good! The body is fantastically designed to eliminate by-products without needing any assistance at all. If you have overindulged, Professor Samaras recommends a light healthy diet for one or two days to let your body recover. “
When I was studying a nutritional course in the early 1990s when this sort of diet was very popular, I put my own body through this idiocy many times. I finally stopped and reviewed my approach to health when a psychic friend looked at my energy field and asked what I had been doing to put my energy bodies into such a state of shock. This particular time, I had only been 'detoxing' for two days.
So if you care about your horse and if you really think your horse need's a little assistance with their health you can gently cleanse the system with gentle herbs but without the need of to be a lunatic with detoxing. You can then follow up with restoring tone and health to the tissue, but for goodness sake make sure you do it with the advice of a qualified herbalist or naturopath who understands the traditional philosophy of such an approach, and not some clever talking 'self professed expert' purporting to be knowledgeable and endangering your horse's wellbeing with 'bullshit”.
Rant over, but today was the last straw, some poor person with a horse with a serious endocrine issue contacting me because her trainer had said her horse needs a detox, but if she had followed this person's advice her horse could have become very ill. The liver is a major endocrine gland, so the last thing the owner wanted to be doing is putting it into shock.
So if anyone suggests your horse needs "detoxing" really question them. I have heard thickening of the horse's coat around the legs given as one reason ... for goodness sake .... no matter how convincing such an argument may sound, it is not worth hurting your horse with such fantasies.
When I first studying herbalism and other natural therapies over twenty years ago, the fashionable thing to do was to 'detox'. This had been a twist on the traditional physiomedical approach to cleanse the system and restore tone, and if done with the correct approach, then you do achieve and restore health.
However to 'detox' is a bastardisation of what is a sound principle. I am getting a little peeved lately as this practice is being promoted again, and locally to client's horses by people who are not trained, but just jumped on a thought which is a huge misrepresentation of a sound idea and then misleading to people who trust them.
These people have told clients that issues that may actually relate to a serious disease or syndrome is a sign their horse needs a 'detox'. Firstly, these people are diagnosing an issue and misrepresenting their ability to do so, and placing these horse's health in danger.
The Channel 9 program “Whats Good for You” and they ran tests on 'detox' diets with medical assistance on a recent program. I watched this with interest and finally I had something I had known for a long time to support an explanation to my poor misled clients. These practices encouraged by quacks, who present with some kind of credibility unfortunately, is indeed dangerous.
“The blood tests showed decreased liver function in all members of the detox group. Their livers were shocked by the strict diet and weren't functioning very well. The blood tests also showed an increase in triglycerides (the bad blood fats that predict our risk to heart disease) and a decrease in the protective cholesterol.
Conclusion:
Within our group of six people the liquid detox diet did not help the body eliminate toxins. In fact, the diet did them more harm than good! The body is fantastically designed to eliminate by-products without needing any assistance at all. If you have overindulged, Professor Samaras recommends a light healthy diet for one or two days to let your body recover. “
When I was studying a nutritional course in the early 1990s when this sort of diet was very popular, I put my own body through this idiocy many times. I finally stopped and reviewed my approach to health when a psychic friend looked at my energy field and asked what I had been doing to put my energy bodies into such a state of shock. This particular time, I had only been 'detoxing' for two days.
So if you care about your horse and if you really think your horse need's a little assistance with their health you can gently cleanse the system with gentle herbs but without the need of to be a lunatic with detoxing. You can then follow up with restoring tone and health to the tissue, but for goodness sake make sure you do it with the advice of a qualified herbalist or naturopath who understands the traditional philosophy of such an approach, and not some clever talking 'self professed expert' purporting to be knowledgeable and endangering your horse's wellbeing with 'bullshit”.
Rant over, but today was the last straw, some poor person with a horse with a serious endocrine issue contacting me because her trainer had said her horse needs a detox, but if she had followed this person's advice her horse could have become very ill. The liver is a major endocrine gland, so the last thing the owner wanted to be doing is putting it into shock.
So if anyone suggests your horse needs "detoxing" really question them. I have heard thickening of the horse's coat around the legs given as one reason ... for goodness sake .... no matter how convincing such an argument may sound, it is not worth hurting your horse with such fantasies.
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Comment by Chiefbjules
My question is always "Does your horse need a detox?" and "Have you consulted a trained herbalist?" The answer is usually "Oh, my mother/ brother/ neighbour/ trainer thought I should do this..."
I must admit it drives me insane to the point where one of the standard questions on my acutherapy assessment form is "What herbs is your horse on?" SOmething seen fairly regularly among the JENT people is over-herbed horses, and one of the things on my To Do list is to do a nutrrition course.