Holistic Horse Care: What Does it Mean?
Here’s what you need to know about holistic veterinary medicine and how vets can integrate it into everyday practice.
Posted by Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc | Apr 3, 2020 | Alternative Therapies, Article, Horse Care, Medications, Vet and Professional, Veterinary Practice, Vital Signs & Physical Exam, Welfare and Industry, Western Veterinary Therapies
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Learn how veterinarians can incorporate holistic medicine into practice
When an owner says, “I treat my horse naturally,” do you wonder what they mean? Do you picture someone rummaging through the cupboards, grinding a little of this and shaking in a little of that to create the perfect concoction to “treat” whatever ails their horse?
Maybe this was how owners handled health conditions a few hundred years ago, but veterinary medicine has advanced considerably. We now have access to antibiotics, vaccines, and even pharmaceuticals to treat teeny tiny growths in the pituitary gland, not to mention extensive diagnostic and treatment equipment. What more could you need?
Well, many horse owners seek approaches beyond what Western medicine techniques and technology have afforded—along with veterinarians offering these options, say our sources.
Here’s what you need to know about holistic veterinary medicine, how vets can integrate it into everyday practice, when they opt to stick with Western medicine, and how they marry the two.
What Is Holistic Medicine?
Holistic medicine—perhaps more aptly thought of as whole-istic medicine—refers to the practice of treating the entire patient rather than just the clinical signs of disease. The American Holistic Health Association defines it as: “The art and science of healing that addresses the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. The practice of holistic medicine integrates conventional and alternative therapies to prevent and treat disease and, most importantly, to promote optimal health.”
In essence, holistic medicine falls under the realm of what we now refer to as, “complementary, alternative, and integrative veterinary medicine,” or CAIVM. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) describes CAIVM as “a heterogeneous group of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic philosophies and practices that are not considered part of conventional (Western) medicine as practiced by most veterinarians.”
Examples of CAIVM include veterinary acupuncture, homeopathy, manual or manipulative therapy (e.g., chiropractic), nutraceutical therapy, and phytotherapy (herbal medicine).
The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA), describes holistic medicine as “… humane to the core. The techniques used in holistic medicine are gentle, minimally invasive, and incorporate patient well-being and stress reduction.”
“In treating an animal, a holistic veterinarian will determine the best combination of both conventional and alternative (or complementary) therapies for a given individual,” it continues. “This mixture of healing arts and skills is as natural as life itself. Therein lies the very essence of the word (w)holistic. It means taking in the whole picture of the patient—the environment, the disease pattern, the relationship of pet with owner—and developing a treatment protocol using a wide range of therapies for healing the patient. The holistic practitioner is interested not only in a medical history but also genetics, nutrition, environment, family relationships, stress levels, and other factors.”
Who Offers These Services?
The AVMA states that any “treatments” falling under the CAIVM umbrella must be implemented only when a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship (VCPR) exists and only by a professional with proper training.
Joyce Harman, DVM, owner of Harmany Equine Ltd., in Flint Hill, Virginia, is one veterinarian committed to the practice of CAIVM. She’s certified in acupuncture and chiropractic and has completed advanced training in veterinary homeopathy, nutrition, and herbal medicine.
“If you’re looking for a local practitioner, find one with extensive training in the modality you’re interested in,” she says.
For help finding a qualified holistic veterinary practitioner, the AHVMA provides a “Find a Vet” link (ahvma.org/find-a-holistic-veterinarian) to get you started.
When Should Vets Offer CAIVM?
In the case of CAIVM, both owners and veterinarians owe horses the utmost care to maximize quality of life. “The best medicine is whatever works on that day and is the least invasive,” says Harman. “A horse suffering colic due to a twisted loop of bowel obviously requires surgery. However, for many chronic problems in horses, the least invasive and most successful treatment is CAIVM.”
Regardless of how you ultimately choose to treat your horse, every patient should undergo a complete physical exam by a veterinarian first. Only then can the horse’s care team consider the best treatment option, be it using CAIVM, Western techniques, or any combination thereof.
For example, does your horse always seem to have cracked quarters of the hoof wall? Sure, you can take your barnmate’s advice and start supplementing with a hoof product containing biotin and methionine. That’s a natural, complementary therapy that can’t hurt, right? Not necessarily, our sources say, because there are other reasons for having chronically cracked quarters, such as poor conformation or even back pain altering how the horse bears weight.
In real life, inappropriate application of holistic care can delay the treatment of the underlying problem. If the hoof is cracking because of a functional issue that needs to be addressed, for example, no amount of biotin will fix it. Alternatively, if the foot appears balanced and the veterinarian notices no other issues, such as hoof capsule distortions, during a complete physical exam, then biotin supplementation might very well be indicated, as long as it’s a quality product.
What makes a good holistic veterinarian is realizing when to use what.
Dr. Ben Espy
“What makes a good holistic veterinarian is realizing when to use what,” says Ben Espy, DVM, Dipl. ACT, a Texas-based practitioner and veterinarian for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association who is also licensed to practice acupuncture.
While Espy has spent a great deal of time training in acupuncture, he acknowledges that he still identifies as a “primarily Western veterinarian.”
“When my Western medical approach isn’t producing the desired results, I reach into my ‘Eastern’ toolbox,” he says. “I warn owners that acupuncture may not work, but if I can stick needles in a horse and potentially make it better while doing no harm, why not? If I don’t, then my success rate will continue to be zero percent,”
Examples of when Espy trades in his Western syringes for acupuncture needles include patients with:
Kidney disease;
Back soreness;
Retained uterine fluid that fails to respond to medical therapy (making it difficult for broodmares to conceive);
Radial nerve, located in the forelimb, and facial nerve paralysis (often due to trauma to those nerves); and
Gastric ulcer pain causing persistent mild to moderate signs of colic, when non-steroidal drug administration could delay ulcer healing.
“I can’t promise my clients that acupuncture will be successful in all or even most of these cases or not, but to me, acupuncture makes sense,” Espy says.
Does Holistic Care Work?
Some modalities might have beneficial effects. Acupuncture, for instance, “releases endorphins when certain spots are stimulated on the horse’s body, much like a runner’s high, a horse that cribs, or a dog with a lick granuloma,” Espy says.
However, he admits that the scientific evidence supporting CAIVM use is sparse compared to that of Western modalities. Espy recalls one study involving mares that underwent cesarean sections but experienced circulatory disturbances resulting in kidney disease. Veterinarians initially treated those mares with intravenous fluids but didn’t observe any improvement in kidney function.
“When those mares underwent acupuncture, all the horses responded,” Espy says. “Ultimately, not all remained healthy, but acupuncture may benefit kidney function.”
Unfortunately, holistic (or any) research in the veterinary field poses many obstacles: the expense of conducting the experiments and analyzing the data, the cost of feeding and housing the animals, and the challenge of having enough horses in the study in the first place to make the results meaningful.
Take-Home Message
Natural, holistic, Eastern, alternative, integrative, complementary, modern … pick whatever term you like. At the end of the day, veterinarians and owners are selecting an increasingly broad array of tools to provide the best possible care to the horse. As long as a valid VCPR exists and the individual providing CAIVM care is veterinary-recommended and properly trained, our sources say we can embrace any modality that could help the patient without harm.