Echinacea – Use for Horses by Kate Fraser

Echinacea is probably one of the most commonly used medicinal herbs and the name will be familiar to most readers. A quick check via a common search engine on the internet gave me 1,460,000 results for its use with horses with the preparations being a mix of dried herb powdered and mixed with feed to pills and liquid products.

This plant is native to North America and has been used for centuries by the North American Indians to treat a very wide range of conditions – from snakebite to toothache.

The two main species found in medicinal products in New Zealand are Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea angustifolia.  Echinacea angustifolia is generally the preferred species to use medicinally however it is expensive and Echinacea purpurea is most commonly used and provides very similar active constituents.  One of the active constituents in both plants is a group of chemical compounds called alkylamides. If you have ever taken a good quality liquid Echinacea product and experienced the ‘tingling’ on your tongue – this is this group of chemicals and can quite simply define the quality of the product – i.e. the more the tingle or mouth buzz the higher the levels of Alkylamides and hence the better the therapeutic action of the product will be.

Clinically Echinacea is alterative or blood cleansing, an immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, local anesthetic and vulnerary – promotes the healing of wounds when applied locally. Most commonly Echinacea is recommended to improve the immune system or to increase immunity – usually to common colds and flu’s. Its action as a blood cleaner is one aspect of its immune effects however its main action on the immune system is to improve its ability to function i.e. immunomodulatory. More recent research has demonstrated that Echinacea does not actually stimulate the immune system but assists aspects of it to function better – much the same as tuning your car engine makes it go better and uses less fuel.

In my internet search I found it interesting that a good many web sites promoting the use of Echinacea noted that it best to use for only up to eight weeks as after that it’s effectiveness wears off! Unfortunately this advice is quite contrary to our use of it in Australasia where we find the opposite to be true. This erroneous view that long term use may have a negative effect appears to stem from a review of a study on its effects on macrophage activity (one aspect of the immune system) and the misinterpretation of the data. There is no supportive information on the negative effects of long term administration of Echinacea.

A recent trial using Echinacea angustifolia root extract over forty two days indicated its effectiveness at relatively moderate dose rates by increasing and enhancing several aspects of the immune systems activity.

The first use of Echinacea with horses appears to have been around the early eighteenth century where it was noted that it was beneficial for ‘saddle sores’. Today we use Echinacea both as a preventative and treatment for bacterial and viral infections- cough, colds and runny noses and to keep our horses well. Competitive environments and stables are often hot houses for contagious bugs and Echinacea is a great natural immune modulating herb to use on a daily basis in these instances. Like human athletes the performance horse immune system does get compromised with highly manufactured diets and intense training so at competitive levels this herb has a place in the feeding regime all season. Weaning foals too are susceptible to virus’s as they adapt to self regulation.

Echinacea is not recommended as a veterinary antibiotic substitute- but at first sign of symptoms Echinacea can be given in quite large doses for the first couple of days and more often than not stops symptoms developing further. This is the beauty of Echinacea.

Kate Fraser – Director of BetaVet

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