Shepherd's Purse; the midwife's friend.

We have the most fantastic crop of Shepherd's Purse this year. It was just crying out to be harvested.

For anyone acting as mare midwife a supply of tincture made from fresh rather than dry Shepherd's Purse is a must for the first aid kit. Shepherd's Purse; Latin name Capsella bursa-pastoris,
is a common pasture weed belonging to the cabbage family. It is not a commonly used herb because it really only has one specialist use..it stops bleeding, most particularly uterine bleeding, although it works on nose bleeds as well.

When we manufactured herbal extracts for human use we made a modest amount of fresh Shepherd's Purse extract every year for our midwife clients. Now we just make it for ourselves.

Our big black alpha mare is due to foal in a few days and she has had bleeding problems in the past so we need Shepherd's Purse extract on hand. A few years ago she had a fairly serious post partum haemorrhage. She was still bleeding in a steady stream 10 minutes after she finished foaling. We gave her 25 mL of Shepherd’s Purse every fifteen minutes. After two doses the bleeding had reduced significantly and was totally stopped after the third.

As far as I know there is no study to show this but traditionally it is thought best to use fresh plant extract made new every year. You may see some white mould on parts of it. Some herbalists believe it is better with the mould but we have found it just fine either way.

If you would like to know how to make it please contact me on jameshart500 at gmail.com It's really easy and worth the effort.

Visit to UK

Visit to UK

This is a quick note to confirm that I will be visiting the UK in February and March. Anna, our PR lady and Equus Health will be organizing talks and shop open days. Once I have a few dates confirmed I'll publish them here, so please keep an eye on this if you are interested.

I look forward to meeting as many people as possible.

Welcome

Welcome to the Equine Herbalist blog.

A little about us. I am James Hart. Vanessa, my wife and I are both professionally qualified human herbalists with a passion for horses. We have taken our human herbal knowledge and applied it to horses. As herbivores horses have all the right receptors to make good use of the broad spectrum of chemicals locked up in plants...and given the right herbs in sufficient dose they respond really well.

One of the disappointing things about our industry is the lack of disclosure. We have been singing this song for a while and will keep doing so. It is no exaggeration to say that very few companies selling over the counter herbal products for horses actually tell their customers what they are buying. In some instances the companies themselves do not know or refuse to disclose the information. There is no excuse for this.

Herbalists talk about extract strength by looking at the amount of herb extracted into a given volume of liquid. Have a look at http://www.equineherbals.com/manu-standards.html#extractstrength for more information.