Holistic Horse. Inc
Horse Grazing
All those beautiful images of horses grazing on manicured lawns—so prominently featured in the multitude of advertisements for equine supplements—make it easy to forget that our best friends are actually foragers. Horses enjoy a wide variety of plant life, including bark, tree buds, and berries.
Historically, pastures included many types of vegetation, often sought after by equine nomads who would travel up to 20 miles in a day foraging for food. Today, most “improved” pastureland only has grass, which has a root system that only reaches down into only the first two inches of soil. Compare this fact to the many herbs that can have roots systems reaching as deep as 30 feet below the surface, bringing much-needed minerals to the surface as well as helping to aerate the soil. Each herb brings up different minerals based on the needs of each plant species, another reason to have a multitude of different herbs available for your horse’s nutritional health.
Replenishing your pasture with plants that traditionally are known for their high mineral content can be beneficial not only for your horse but also improving the soil for your forage. A synchronistic balance between the plants and the soil is achieved with an array of species. The beauty of a variety of plants is healing to the soul as well as the body. When your horse walks over the pasture, he experiences the aroma of each plant, which is healing in itself. The abundance of plant life is also supporting the birds and insects, including bees, in your pasture ecosystem.
Some plants to consider, based on your growing conditions, are chicory, fennel, chamomile, cleavers, couchgrass, plantain, red clover, yellow dock, wood betony, yarrow, lemon balm, peppermint, dandelion, garlic, Queen Anne’s lace, calendula, fenugreek, and wormwood. These plants can either be “broadcast” throughout your pasture or planted in a strip or along a fence. Hawthorn bushes, raspberry shrubs and the dog rose (source of rose hips) are nice planted along a fence.
When choosing your beneficial herbs consider your plant hardiness zone and the different moisture levels of your pasture. You may have some wetter, shadier areas or sunny dry areas and each herb has a preferred growing condition.
To improve growing conditions consider a kinder, more environmentally friendly way to fertilize your pasture, with natural soil amendments such as organic composted manure or kelp from a clean source. However kelp can be an issue with some metabolic horses so be aware of your individual situation.
Taking these steps will improve the health of your pastures and in turn the health and wellbeing of your equine friend.
Andrea Baldwin is a Clinical Herbalist with training in various herbal traditions, including Western, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic and Native American. As a lifelong horse advocate she believes that herbs and other holistic modalities, when used thoughtfully, offer the gentlest and most powerful way to bring balance to your horse. Andrea is the co-author of Equine Herbal and Energetics and founded Equibotanical to empower others to restore balance in mind and body through education of the traditional uses of our plant allies. www.equibotanical.com.