Kathryn Yateman 08/08/2016
Make horse liniment with essential oils!
Your Horse will Love You! And you will be steeling there liniment!
Using horse liniment is an easy and effective way to keep horse muscles from stiffening up and preventing soreness after training or showing, or just plan life!
You can purchase horse liniment or you can easily make your own with therapeutic grade essential oils, (I am only discussing Young Living essential oils here because I cannot vouch for any other companies purity) And a homemade liniment will be so much better for your horse.( I could write a whole other article about how essential oils penetrate going to cells, muscles, organs ) Most store bought liniments, like are other pet products contain many synthetic compounds that dull the coat and add to our animal’s toxicity.
Even the “natural” products use lower grade essential oils that are cut with synthetics to keep the cost down. Or contain up to 80% alcohol with little or no therapeutic benefit. While these products will help, you can do far better by making your own!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN LINIMENT!
Horse Liniment is easy to make, especially since most of the time we use it as a muscle wash anyway. All you need is a base carrier product and your oils!
WHAT IS A GOOD BASE FOR A LINIMENT?
The best base to use that is inexpensive and easy to use is Aloe Vera but you can use , alcohol, witch hazel or oil. Depending on the area size to be covered I love Ortho Ease and smaller areas Animal Scents! Because Animal Scents is a ointment it sticks, penetrates and stays in place. So it just depends on what your needs are at the time. But remember, it doesn’t make sense to add your therapeutic grade essential oils to a cheap base or medium that contains synthetic chemicals. It kind of defeats the purpose! I love aloe vera gel mixed with witch hazel.
If you keep the hair on your horses legs shaved most of the time you can use a base vegetable oil or you can apply a massage oil directly to the legs; but if you don’t, it may be better to use a different base.Again this is where Animal Scents ointment would be a waste of money!! No No No These guys have alot of square feet to cover!! Save the Animal scents for cuts ,abrasions and skin issues! Which I use personally on myself!
- For instance, witch hazel is excellent to use. It has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antifungal propertiy; however, most store bought witch hazel is mostly alcohol or water and actually contains a very small percentage of with hazel.
There are good sources though; and plan to pay about $30 to $100 per gallon. The best witch hazel is organic and steam distilled correctly and is about $100 per gallon! But that’s a whole gallon which you can easily make a few recipes to use on yourself! But I think you can get a really good quality organic witch hazel around $50.00 to $60.00 a gallon! A gallon people! When buying your Aloe Vera, dont buy the drinkable version. You want the whole leaf type. For this its o.k. to get it with a alcohol base! The alcohol has its use here. I mean seriously, how much money do you spend on that 16 oz. bottle of liniment….full of crap!
HOW TO MAKE A GEL BASED SPRAY LINIMENT!
There are two ways to make your liniment. The easy way is simply take a few drops of oil and add it to the gel and then place it directly on your horses legs. I am always changing things up slightly so this is what I usually do. AND YOU DONT WANT TO USE ALL OF YOUR BASE WHEN YOU ARE ONLY LOOKING FOR SPECIFIC RESULTS THAT DAY. For a spray based gel to cover larger areas, use aloe vera as the base then either add witch hazel to this and even your alcohol , carrier oil and then essential oils. Again make small batches and don’t plan on keeping it around to long. The type of need may change and you don’t want it being wasted or going bad.
You can also use a liquid base and place several oils in there and use it as a spray. My only concern with this is that once the oils are placed in a liquid they tend to degrade faster and secondly they shouldn’t be left in the heat. So make this a few times use.
I think small batches are best. You don’t have ‘any preservatives or chemicals in this for shelf life…and why would you want them? Make a small batch that will last a week or two; and keep it away from the sun and in a cooler spot.
WHAT ESSENTIAL OILS SHOULD BE USED FOR A LINIMENT OR HORSE WASH?
There are alot of great oils and a ton of combinations!! It just depends on how and what you need it for. Alot of pain and stiffness or just to loosen the muscles. Lots of options. Im listing a few here.
- Valor More for spinal But dont get me wrong awesome for muscle
- Vetiver
- Lavender
- Niaouli
- Copaiba
- Oregano
- Sage
- Margaram
- Cypress Swelling
- Panaway This is a blend of extremely effective and potent oils Can use any of them as a single here.
- Peppermint
- Wintergreen
- Dorado Azul Wow! Just Wow! This is for more of a pain issue
- Idaho Balsam Fir
- Lemongrass amazing for regenerating connective tissues and ligaments. Also helps with circulation which is what your looking for for a basic liniment!
BASIC LINIMENT RECIPES
½ to 1 cup of Epsom Salts
Bucket of Water
Place the oils in the Epsom salts so the oils disperse well. I like to use a bit of warm or hot water to dissolve the Epsom salt mixture in the water. You can use a surfactant as well; but again I try to keep things clean. Makes enough wash for at least two horses.
Remember warm water is best for sore and overworked muscles or to bring back circulation into an injured area. And cold water is best for any kind of inflammation.
SIMPLE HORSE WASH TO SOOTHE SORE MUSCLE RECIPE
1/4 to 1/2 cap of Ortho Ease
1/2 to 1 cup of Epsom Salts
Bucket of Water
Place the oils in the Epsom salts so the oils disperse well. Then dissolve the Epsom salt mixture in the bucket using some warm water. You may substitute Ortho Sport for Ortho Ease as well.
SORE HIP /MUSCLE RECIPE
20 drops of Wintergreen
10 drops of Peppermint
10 drops of Juniper or Dorado Azul depending on the soreness
5 drops of lemongrass
2 drops of lavender
1/2 to 1 cup of Epsom Salts
Bucket of Water
Place the oils in the Epsom salts so the oils disperse well. Then dissolve the Epsom salt mixture in the bucket using some warm water. Substitute the water and Epsom salts for Aloe Vera and you will have a nice liniment mixture..
My horse needs to Detox, has Muscle Spasms or is out of Alignment. Is there a Technique I can use with the Oils for my horse?
Yes, there is a technique called Raindrop Technique This was developed for humans but now is being applied to equines. Check video out here http://katscorneressentiallysimple.com top tab under Kat’s animals. If you have a horse that is energetically out of alignment, use Valor daily on the tailbone or down the spine to assist in energetically re-aligning the spine naturally. It works! On both of you!
****NOTE PLEASE GIVE YOUR HORSE AMPLE WATER AFTER ANY TREATMENT AND ESPECIALLY AFTER ANY DETOX TREATMENT. THEY MAY FEEL CRUMMY TRYING TO GET THOSE TOXINS OUT AND NEED THE EXTRA WATER TO FLUSH THEM OUT..****
If you have any testimonials or recipes I would love to post them! Knowledge is power!!
