Essential Oil plants

In the wild horses will roam across vast areas of land. If they become unwell they will seek out specific plants, herbs, essential oils, algae, clay and other natural remedies, not in their normal diet, to restore themselves back to good health.

ZOOPHARMACOGNOSY   (Zoo = Animal, Pharma = drug, Cognosy = knowing), commonly known as Self-Selection, is the term used for this innate ability animals have to recognize which medicinal plants they need.

When a medicinal plant is required by an animal for its therapeutic properties it will taste sweet and palatable. If the animal is healthy the same plant will taste bitter, deterring consumption, and therefore stopping the animal from eating it. This prevents over eating of nature’s pharmacy ensuring nature always has a supply of medicinal plants.

 Zoopharmacognosy is not new, in fact it is the oldest therapy in existence. At one time the only medicine available was what nature provided and many conventional drugs used today, for both animals and humans, are still based on medicinal plants.

A horse naturally self-selecting
A horse naturally self-selecting.
Elephant self medicating in the wild
An elephant self selecting in the wild.

Horses are not the only animals to seek out natures medicines.

In the wild scientists have observed gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys, elephants, birds, rhinoceros, and many more species, ingest, rub on the skin, roll in, and line their nests with plant species known to have medicinal healing properties, for the specific needs of the animal, whether anti-parasitic, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial etc.

So how does this relate to our own horses? 

Although to a large extent our own horses have become domesticated, they still have these innate abilities and needs. But unfortunately with paddocks being sprayed and managed as they are, our horses no longer have access to the medicinal plants they would in the wild.

Many of the conditions that are common in domesticated horses are rarely, if ever, seen In the wild. Good examples of conditions rarely seen in the wild are Laminitis and Sweetitch. This is because historically the horse in the wild would seek out the plants needed to correct the imbalance in the system before the condition started to show symptoms. There are many physiological changes happening in the system before symptoms are shown.

 

APPLIED ZOOPHARMACOGNOSY 

Animals have an innate ability to self-medicate, and in the wild would find the most appropriate medicinal plant compound to improve their well-being. By nature they are extremely sensitive and intuitive and would naturally select aromatic remedies to keep their well-being in balance, these remedies may include herbs, plants, barks, resins, clays etc This process of animals selecting their own medicinal remedies is called Applied Zoopharmacognosy.

Applied Zoopharmacognosy/Self-selection works with the principles of giving back to animals the medicinal non-food remedies that they would seek in the wild. At one time the land provided almost every pharmacological substance needed to self-medicate, now much of the land has been cultivated with remedies lost. This together with the fact that many animals are kept in captivity in urban areas or put to graze on fertilized fields is a very good reason to offer plant oils and extracts etc that they no longer have access to.

HOW REMEDIES ARE SELECTED

As Herbs, Essential Oils and Aromatics are pure natural herbal remedies, mother natures answer to pharmaceutical drugs, animals are instinctively able to recognise the medicinal properties of the Natural remedies being offered and select the ones appropriate to their needs: emotionally, psychologicaly and physically.

Murphy, a dog, self selecting
Murphy Self-Selecting
Self Selection: Phoenix showing a strong reaction
Phoenix Self-Selecting (please note for the purpose of the photo the bottle was held more open to show the remedy. However when offering a remedy the bottle should be covered by the hand with only the top left open).

TYPES OF REMEDIES USED

Mother Nature has provided a wonderful bounty of non-food remedies. Applied Zoopharmacognosy/Self-selection works with the principles of giving back to animals these remedies that would be similar in their chemical make-up to those that they would seek in the wild. These include:

• Essential oils

• Absolutes

• CO2 extracts

• Macerated oils

• Herbs

• Clays and muds

• Spirulina

• Seaweed/Kelp

• Grasses

To make things easier, we have put together packs of herbs and Essential oils specifically designed for Self-selection (Applied Zoopharmacognosy)

If you would like to take a look click on the links below:

HERB SELF-SELECTION PACKS

ESSENTIAL OIL SELF-SELECTION PACKS

FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER £70 UK MAINLAND (excl. Scottish highlands & offshore) For Highlands/islands please choose Flat rate shipping at Checkout, regardless of order quantity. Sadly due to rising costs we can no longer offer free postage to these areas, We have kept the postage as low as possible and hope our customers will understand. Dismiss