Spring signals the body’s sleeping yang energies to rise and shine! Horses often express the awakening yang in outbursts of exuberance, playful bucking and romping, aggression and mood shifts; mares resume cycling.

From the Chinese medicine perspective, spring is associated with the wood element, the liver and gall bladder meridians, tendons, ligaments, hoofs and the eyes. Its color is green, like the new shoots of spring, and its flavor is sour.

We can support our horse’s wood element, its organs and tissues, with herbs and acupressure. By following the wood element’s correspondences and affinities, we can provide our horses with springtime assistance.

HERBS
Not surprisingly, green foods, including high chlorophyll plants, nourish and support the liver. Spirulina (Spirulina platensis) is just one plant ideally suited to the task. A variety of blue-green micro algae, Spirulina is high in natural beta carotene, vitamins, minerals, protein, amino acids and essential fatty acids. It is hepatoprotective (liver protective). Spirulina is especially effective against free radical damage and useful in the prevention and treatment of respiratory allergies and sweet itch. Both conditions can follow the warming spring weather.

A short course of Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) and Globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus) can be utilized in a gentle spring liver tonic. Both herbs are trophorestorative, protecting and restoring liver function especially if there has been damage from toxins.

The liver likes the sour flavor, so a few tablespoons of vinegar is a great springtime addition to our horse’s feed bucket. I like to use rice vinegar, but apple cider vinegar is fine also.

EXERCISE
Spring workouts should include long warm ups and gentle stretching to encourage yang Qi energy to the tendons and ligaments, thus preventing injuries.

ACUPRESSURE
A spring tune-up acupressure treatment is based on the Balance method, an acupuncture treatment that utilizes a unilateral approach, treating only one side of the horse at a time and alternating sides every treatment.

Gloria Garland is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Chinese Herbalist and the author of the Equine Acupressure Therapeutics Workbook Series. Gloria provides acupuncture and herbal consultations for veterinarians and horse owners. Whole Horse HerbsTM, her line of herbal formulas, was developed to bring complementary herbal medicine to the equine community. She teaches hands-on classes, empowering horse owners with accurate, useful information and equine health care tools