So what does all this mean for horses? It means that if your horse is locked up in a stable for prolonged periods and does not like this it can get stressed and this damages its health. It means that horses that loose their companions and are then left by themselves get ill eventually. It means that if a horse is constantly worried about a heavy competition schedule and non-stop traveling it is likely to get ill relatively easily.

How do we prevent the longer type of stress causing damage to our horses? The key is of course good management and an understanding of how a horses mind works. For many people this is not natural and it is worth reading up on how horses behave in the wild and in domestication and trying to fit in more with what a horse is happy with. For example most people are well aware that horses like to be fed at regular times during the day and get stressed out if regimes are upset. If a horse never knows when its feed is coming it is a constant state of anxiety.

When a horse has been stressed for prolonged periods of time sometimes extra help is needed. Bad experiences can affect a horse strongly for the rest of his or her life - just like a person. In the same way a period of one month’s stress because of an inability to get on with another horse in the same field may take several weeks to get over after normality has returned and this is where herbs can fit in nicely.

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