Prevention and Healing the Natural Way

The AANHCP vital mission is all about holistic healing of horses through natural horse care (NHC) practices. We believe in integrating good science, consciousness, and nature to heal. Our healing model for horses living in domestication is the wild, free-roaming horse (Equus ferus caballus) of the U.S. Great Basin and similar adaptative environments that have been researched and confirmed. Our approach is non-chemical, non-pharmaceutical, and non-surgical. We believe the horse's body is capable of healing itself when NHC practices are implemented and practiced on a daily basis.

Here are two examples of many what we mean:

As with humans, the horse's body is host to many microbes, such as bacteria, that nature intended to be there living in balance with each other and with the "whole horse". Many feeds given to horses upset nature's delicate microbial balance, causing harmful bacteria to overwhelm and colonize the digestive system. The pH of that environment becomes more acidic and "good" bacteria perish. The muscosal lining of the hind gut erodes and harmful substances are then absorbed by the vascular system and migrate to other parts of the horse's body, including his feet. Within the foot's hoof producing mechanisms, this contamination sets off a massive proliferation of enzymes that destroy the hoof's attachments to the horse -- known as laminitis. Our approach to healing laminitic horses is to restore nature's delicate microbial balance by providing the horse with a natural diet based on our wild horse model.

Another example of natural healing concerns what is called Navicular Syndrome (NS), a breakdown of the horse's body above the hoof that results in what is known as clubfoot and lameness. Because NS can be traced to harmful riding and training practices, unnatural living conditions, and unnatural trimming and/or shoeing, it is necessary to make many positive changes in how the horse is managed to bring about healing and life without chronic pain. These are what we call the 4 Pillars of NHC: natural boarding, natural diet (NS horses are typically fed unnatural feeds too), natural horsemanship, and the natural trim.

Our website provides you with various avenues to the world of genuine NHC principles and practices.