The Case for Using Liquid Herbal Supplements for your Horses

Historically in the equine market most of the herbal products on offer have been blends of dried herbs but there is now an increasing recognition that liquid extracts are superior in many ways.

There is still a big volume of herbal products that are dried single herbs or more usually a mixture of herbs. A few plants are appropriate to use in the dry form ..we will look at these in another article, but most are best used as a liquid extract. These are widely used by herbal practitioners and have a number of advantages of over dry herbs.

Liquid extracts can be made in different ways and with a variety of liquids. The best method of extraction is by percolation. It is more difficult than the more common method of maceration but produces a far better product. The essence of making a liquid extract is to make sure that all the range of chemicals in the plant are extracted into the liquid that will eventually be given to the horse. Plants contain a huge range of chemicals but in most there are a limited number of principal actives. It is around these that we plan our extraction method.

Although other liquids, such as vinegar or glycerine have been tried alcohol (ethanol or ethyl alcohol) is still considered the best. Not only is alcohol a good solvent for the herbal active components it is also an excellent preservative. Alcohol has been used to make herbal preparations for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Old texts describe steeping herbs in wine for long periods and then using the resultant liquid. With our increased knowledge of plant constituents herbalists now choose the appropriate alcohol:water mix to optimise the effectiveness of the extract.

Liquids have significant advantages over dried herbs in a number of areas;

Liquid extracts require minimal processing to take them from the dried herb stage to the liquid and therefore accurately reflect the chemical characteristics of the original plant material.

Liquids give much greater dose flexibility and accuracy.

Liquids are easy to absorb and well suited to immature or poor digestive processes.

Being extracted into ethanol means that the actives are taken into the blood stream very fast and therefore begin to give the desired effect quickly. I have felt Devil’s Claw act on myself in 15 minutes and you can see the peak effect of Valerian on a horse in about 30 minutes.

Because they are extracted in alcohol, liquids have a long shelf life. Dry plant material can deteriorate quickly when stored inappropriately. Valerian root for example loses half of its efficacy in just six months at room temperature.