What is Herb Testing?
Herb testing, also known as Applied Zoophamacognosy, is an incredible journey into the world of natural healing, where custom blends are tailored to address your horse's unique needs. While the kit is no longer available for direct purchase, it can still be accessed through consultations. or if you are local, this service can be provided. This method requires commitment and patience, as healing the body naturally often takes time, reflecting the duration of the damage.
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, a horse just isn't healing the way we'd hoped. Maybe the energy is off, recovery is slow, or there is a persistent issue that doesn't quite add up. In these moments, it can feel like something is being missed and that's where Herb Testing can offer deeper insight.
Herb Testing is a holistic approach used to identify what a horse may be lacking to support their health, immune function, or healing process. Rather than treating the symptoms alone, it looks at the bigger picture - asking, what does the horse's body need to restore balance.
This kind of testing isn't about replacing vet care, but can compliment it. Often when traditional diagnostics fall short, (and they do more often than not), it can help uncover hidden deficiencies or energetic imbalances. This process simply allows your horse to self-select herbs intuitively. The science is called Zoopharmacognosy, which horses use to self-medicate with very accurate and strong instincts.
Some common signs that Herb Testing helps with is slow healing from an injury/surgery, chronic conditions with no clear diagnosis, behavioral and mood shifts, digestive upset, blood stagnation and lack of vitality.
Herb Testing often gives results that guide targeted supplementation with herbal support - whether that's calming herbs for stress, detox, support, lymphatic cleansing, inflammation in the body or minerals the horse may be lacking. It's a gentle, natural way to listen to what the horse's body is trying to tell us what it really needs.
Applied Zoopharmacognosy is also a great way to switch horses from a grain diet to a species appropriate diet.
So what and how does this method work? Applied Zoopharmacognosy is the practice of helping animals to heal themselves using natural things like plants and minerals found in nature. This approach is based on real science that animals self medicate and naturally know how to choose what they need to feel better. The goal of Applied Zoopharmacognosy is to give these animals the chance find and use these natural remedies and tell us what is going on deeper in the body.
So how is my method of herb testing done? By using a variety of herbs with multiple healing properties and allowing the horse to smell and give a response, which can be anything from licking and chewing, yawning or even wanting to walk away. The herbs that are chosen by the horse reflect dysfunction in the body. It can be something as simple as a gut issues or parasite overload to more deeper issues, like hormonal imbalances to cleansing the blood to cancer cells. Herb testing can also show us where pain could stem from, for example; inflammation in the body can be caused by a variety of reasons like a stagnant lymphatic flow, issues in the gut or bone changes or individual nutritional needs. Once testing is completed, a complex evaluation of the herbs chosen is done by me and then I formulate a custom blend, that will focus on specific needs. Herb testing should be done at least three times during a 6 - 8 month period in order to see the healing process and get closer to the root cause issue, that means that there should be at least 3 custom blends done within this time frame, which is very specific.
This process is not a band-aid, we do not just want to cover up symptoms, we want to heal the body as close to complete healing as we can. Remember, not all issues can be fixed, but your horse can show us the herbs needed in order for the body to function at it's best for your horse and this is all due to the brain and nervous systems amazing communications. The body is an amazing thing and can heal, but when outside factors block that healing the best thing to do, in my years of experience is to focus on a species appropriate diet so the body can function correctly and feed herbs that promote nutrition and healing.
If you are tired of seeing your horses go through many medications or diet changes and nothing is really changing for the better, this is an opportunity to really see what our horses needs. In many cases, medications can be removed or lessened depending on what is going on. I have been doing herb testing for almost 10 years and have had the honor of helping so many horses with so many different issues. I think two of the biggest issues I have seen are horses with metabolic issues and mare with major hormonal imbalances. Zoopharmacognosy is a real science and so is the applied part, I have taken my teachings and turned them into something more in depth as my learning went on and I became a Master Herbalist.