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Happy Horse Herbal Blend

Posted by Marijke van de Water on 2024 Nov 18th

Happy Horse Herbal Blend

~ Natural vs Synthetic ~

One of the most common questions that we receive from our customers is whether we have a breakdown or an analysis available for the nutrients in our Happy Horse herbal blend.

The Happy Horse was formulated by our CEO, Marijke van de Water. She created this product to provide a wide spectrum of natural vitamins and minerals which are easily absorbed in a plant-based form. Because plants are part of our horse’s natural environment, and therefore already in their food chain, the nutrients in plants are easily chewed, digested, absorbed, and assimilated. Assimilation means that they incorporate the nutrients into the body’s tissues and organs after digestion.

This is in contrast to the ingredients in the synthetic blends which are synthesized artificially and manufactured in chemical laboratories. They are then sold as a nutrition or mineral supplement. Synthetic vitamins and minerals are more difficult for the body to absorb, and with so many ingredients in the product many of the minerals and nutrients compete for absorption. (Copper and zinc as well as magnesium and calcium are examples of competitive minerals.) That’s why so many horses are still deficient, no matter what they are being supplemented with. This is especially true if they have health problems. On the other hand, some of them are getting too much. It is hard to determine what each horse needs for a multiple vitamin and mineral mix because their requirements are highly individual and cannot be determined without a complete assessment of diet and feed, lifestyle, health history, gut health, exercise program, and stress levels. Therefore, supplements of any kind cannot guarantee that your horses are getting everything they need. Or don’t need for that matter.

But synthetic formulas can provide you with a guaranteed analysis. That’s because they are synthesized by people, not by nature, and so they can do an analysis in the chemistry labs during manufacturing. Herbs and herbal blends, on the other hand, do not come with a “nutritional analysis” in the same way that synthetic vitamin and mineral formulas do. Herbs and herbal blends are unique in that their composition is complex and variable, and also dependent upon species, geography, and growing conditions. Thus, a guaranteed nutritional analysis of herbal ingredients, other than basic information, is impossible.

The real benefit of plant medicine blends is that they work together in a synergistic form with health promoting properties. And all of the vitamins and minerals that they contain are formulated perfectly by Mother Nature; something that cannot be reproduced in the lab. Natural plant nutrients are easily digested and assimilated with superior rates of absorption. That’s why it’s so important, where possible, to provide horses with a variety of natural grazing areas so they can seek out many of the plants that give them the nutritional and health benefits that they need. This behaviour is known as Zoopharmacognosy or “animal medicine knowledge”.

For those horses without much selection, the Riva’s Remedies Happy Horse and Happy Horse Senior can help give them some healthy choices from nature. These blends are 100% plant-based and contain over sixty-five naturally occurring trace minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants which support the hair coat, hooves, skin, liver, immunity, and many other body systems. The plants and herbs are sourced from both the land and the sea with blueberry fibre, flax seeds, kelp, Irish moss, dulse, oat straw, and rosehips. The Senior blend adds beet root powder and sage.

We do not make any claims about the Happy Horse blends being a complete or balanced mineral mix, nor its ability to correct deficiencies. That’s not what plants are all about; they are offered to the horses to give them a plant-based source of easy to digest nutrition and phytonutrients that they might not otherwise have access to.

~ Mother Nature cannot be reproduced in the lab ~