January 3, 2019
https://oily.life/katscorneressentiallysimple/
These days, essential oils and Horses go hand-in-hand. Using essential oils with your Horses is a great way to support their health, naturally. If you’re interested in using essential oils with Horses, you’ve come to the right place! Here’s a quick and easy guide for using essential oils with Horses! I only use Young Living essential oils with my Horses. Want to know why? Read on…
Essential oils are used with Horses to aid their body’s natural ability to heal itself and to provide comfort and promote proper healing. It’s always important when using essential oils with Horses to first introduce the essential oil to your Horse BEFORE actually using it. Not all essential oils can be used with Horses.
When used properly, essential oils aid resistance to disease by increasing the horse’s vitality and allowing the elimination of accumulated toxins. Essential oils are used widely to support the immune, cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal systems; provide relief for lameness issues, fungal issues, wounds and abscesses, and intestinal parasites; supports emotional health and focus; as well as used as a natural and effective insect repellent and barn / tack disinfectant.
3 Cool Things About Essential Oils and Horses!
1. Essential Oils are Natural!
- Essential oils are natural aromatic compounds extracted from the oil sacks of plants via steam or cold-pressed distillation. They’re derived from all parts of the plant: the stems, leaves, flowers, roots, and rinds.
- They are 50 to 70 times stronger than herbs.
- Young Living sources its essential oils from plants grown within their indigenous regions all over the world.
2. Essential Oils are Effective!
- Essential oils protect plants from predators, bacteria, and viruses. Because of the way Horse’s metabolize, the natural compounds in essential oils provide them with the same benefits.
- Essential oils are effective against bacteria and viruses. Bacteria resides and multiplies on the outside of a cell while a virus resides and multiplies on the inside of a cell. Antibiotics cannot penetrate the cell membrane where a virus lives, because most antibiotics are water soluble. That’s why when you have a virus a doctor sends you home without antibiotics and tells you to get rest, drink plenty of water, and ride it out. On the other hand, essential oils, because they’re an oil, can penetrate the cell membrane and are very effective against both viruses living inside the cell and bacteria living on the outside of the cell.
- Young Living essential oils are pure and thus very strong. You only need a drop or two to be effective. For example, it only takes one drop of peppermint essential oil to make 28 cups of peppermint tea!
3. Essential Oils are Safe!
- Young Living essential oils are 100% natural and 100% pure. There are no impurities: contaminants, fillers, preservatives, or pesticides.
- Every batch of Young Living essential oils are rigorous, 3rd party tested and certified pure therapeutic grade oils. They are graded above organic and safe for everyone, including Horses!
- Every bottle of Young Living essential oil includes a lot number on the bottom.
3 Ways to Use Essential Oils with Horses
1. Aromatically
- Hold the bottle up to the horse’s nose.
- Put a drop or two into the palm of your hand and allow the horse to smell your hand (watch your fingers and do not force your hand into the horse’s muzzle. Allow the horse to smell or not to smell) <— SUPER IMPORTANT!
2. Topically
- Always apply essential oils diluted.
- Most common application sites: neck, base of tail, poll (behind ears), inner thigh, behind elbow (near girth), and bridge of nose.
- Do not get or put essential oils in the horse’s eyes, inner ears, nostrils, or genitals. If you accidentally do, do NOT flush with water. Water will drive the oil in deeper. Flush the area with any carrier oil you have around (olive, coconut, vegetable oils).
3. Internally
- In feed
- In Water bucket
- Licked from hand
- In a veggie cap
- Inside the lower lip in the corner of the mouth with a dropper (for colic)
- Mix essential oil with EVO or FCO (digestible) and mix in grain
Dosage Amounts / Precautions
- Use the same as you would for an adult human.
- Always avoid eyes, inner ears, nostrils, and genitals.
- Allow the horse to smell the essential oil(s) prior to applying them. Do not force a horse to smell it. Horses have a strong sense of smell, introduce the bottle to them unopened at first. Horses may choose to avoid certain oils, allow them to do so. They know what they need and that is an oil they do not need.
- Use an edible, vegetable base carrier oil such as extra virgin olive oil or fractionated coconut oil to feed or blend with your essential oils.
- When applying citrus oils they must be diluted and you must avoid direct sunlight for at least 12 hours.
How to Introduce Essential Oils to your Horses
- Merely hold out the bottle, with the cap on, for the horse to smell it.
- Take the cap off of the bottle and wrap your index finger and thumb around the neck of the bottle and allow the Horse to smell the essential oil, directly.
- Look for signs that the horse is accepting the oil: the ears will move forward, may raise its upper lip, licking and chewing, a deep sigh, will keep smelling it or return to smell it again.
- If he objects to the oil it will turn its head away and may even walk away. That is ok! The horse clearly does not need that oil, do not use it this time.
- Just as a horse knows instinctively which plants or grasses to graze on and which to avoid, the same is true of essentials oils. Listen and watch your horse’s response every time you introduce them to essential oils.
Young Living essential oils are proven natural, safe, and effective. Personally, I would never use anything else with my family, 2 legged or 4 legged. Essential oils are wonderfully supportive for your Horses!
To learn more about using Essential Oils with Horses, contact me https://oily.life/katscorneressentiallysimple
