🌿 When "Mare Herbs" Call to a Gelding: Rethinking Gender in Herbal Healing 🌿

Two stallions engage in playful interaction on a lush green hillside, surrounded by a backdrop of misty mountains and a vibrant blue sky.

I just finished evaluating an herb test for a gelding who, quite unexpectedly, chose several herbs traditionally labeled as “mare” herbs and just got me to having to write. He picked herbs like raspberry leaf, chaste tree berry, and passion flower.

Now, to some this might seem unusual. After all, aren’t those herbs meant to help with cycling, heat behavior, or female hormones?

That’s a common assumption—but the truth is, these herbs support systems, not sexes. That’s a common assumption—but the truth is, these herbs support systems, not sexes. Hormonal balance, stress regulation, liver detox, and emotional stability are important for every horse, regardless of whether they’re a mare, gelding, or stallion.

And this is just as important for our human males, too—because these same systems underlie health and emotional balance across species.

This evaluation was another reminder of how intuitive horses are when given the opportunity to choose what they need—and how much deeper we can go when we stop labeling herbs by gender. Hormonal balance, stress regulation, liver detox, and emotional stability are important for every horse, regardless of whether they’re a mare, gelding, or stallion.

💚 Let’s Break It Down: What These “Mare Herbs” Really Do

Vibrant raspberry leaves, known for their healing properties, offer more than just beauty in the garden

🍃 Raspberry Leaf: A Nervous System

and Hormonal Ally for Males, Too

While often recommended for "moody" mares, raspberry leaf may also:

• Tone the male reproductive system and support prostate health

• Offer antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits through its tannins, flavonoids, and ellagic acid

• Help soothe digestive upset, like bloating or diarrhea, thanks to its astringent nature

• Support testosterone balance and potentially help prevent andropause (male hormone decline with age)

• Assist the body in clearing synthetic estrogens absorbed through feed and environment

Clearly, this isn’t just a "mare" herb—this is whole-body wellness in leaf form.

Dried and fresh passion flower offers many benefits to mares, geldings, and stallions.

🌸 Passion Flower: Calming, Centering, and So Much More

This beautiful vine is one of my favorite herbs for emotional regulation, especially in horses who internalize stress or show nervous energy. In geldings and stallions, passion flower can:

• Calm anxiety by supporting GABA activity in the brain (a neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation)

• Promote better sleep, recovery, and nervous system reset

• Help reduce tension-related behaviors—especially in performance horses or those under pressure

• May even raise free testosterone in aging males, according to some studies—along with boosting perceived energy and libido

A close-up view of chaste berries, also known as Vitex, has proven to have many healing properties.

🌿 Chaste Tree Berry (Vitex): Supporting Hormonal Clarity for All

Though often associated with cycling mares, Vitex supports the pituitary gland, which regulates hormonal signals throughout the body. In geldings and stallions, this can lead to:

• Better emotional balance

• Stable energy

• Improved metabolic and hormonal transitions, especially during seasonal changes or times of stress

✨ The Bigger Truth: Herbs Don’t Discriminate

A close-up view of a custom herbal blend by Wholehearted Harmony, showcasing a mix of natural herbs and roots designed for hormonal balance.

Herbs don’t care about your horse’s sex—they work on what’s out of balance.

If your gelding or stallion seems to be:

• Acting out of character

• Showing mood swings or tension

• Reacting to changes in routine, season, or feed

• Holding onto tightness, ulcers, or stress

…it may not be a behavior problem. It could be a systemic imbalance that herbs can help re-balance—gently and naturally.

💬 Want to Go Deeper?

If you’ve got a gelding or stallion who’s showing some unexplained behaviors or emotional shifts, we can absolutely dig deeper.

👉 Book a consultation with me, and we’ll work together to create a custom blend or run a full herb test to get to the root cause, not just mask the symptoms.

Your horse deserves to feel whole—and sometimes the “unexpected” herbs are exactly what their body has been asking for.

📍 Explore more at Wholehearted Harmony

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