Clinical Application of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Equine Practice

Traditional CHM has been practiced for around 4000 years and has been growing in popularity in North America and elsewhere for the last few decades. CHM exists within a complex, self-referential ethnobotanical system of TCVM, which may provide a wealth of knowledge for the equine practitioner and clinical researcher alike. The Chinese herbal medicine Materia Medica contains vast information about indications and contraindications of herbal medicines, elucidated by practitioners over thousands of years.23,41 Although there is a growing body of evidence for the use of CHM, there is still a great need for high-quality, randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical studies in naturally occurring disease. Currently, herbal medicine is best indicated as an integrative or complementary modality, alongside conventional therapies for common equine diseases and injuries, although CHM may be safely used as a firstline of therapy in mild conditions, or as an additional modality for challenging, refractory cases.