The Health Benefits of Apples and Cider Vinegar in Horse Diets

Every year in the Autumn, we have a National Apple Day in Britain. The National Trust plans various events celebrating a rich harvest of apples. For more information go to:www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Apples grow abundantly in the UK; sadly many go to waste because people can’t be bothered to pick them. Yet apples and their concentrated product, apple cider vinegar provides valuable minerals and acids essential to health.

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”

“To eat an apple on going to bed will make the doctor beg his bread”

These old sayings have an element of sound truth; apples are a veritable storehouse of valuable minerals, acids and enzymes. Apples contain all the great builders of the various tissues in the body;

Calcium - builder of bone, cardiac stimulant

Iron - oxygen carrier, builds red blood cells

Potassium - brain and nerve cells. Maintains water balance in tissues, removing excess.

Magnesium - muscle builder, enhances calcium uptake.

Sodium - ensures water is retained in the tissues, preventing dehydration.

Traces of silicia, copper, sulphur, phosphorous and fluorine.

Malic acid carries its own life giving oxygen about one third of its atoms are made up of oxygen. This oxygen is readily absorbed in the tissues.

Gallic acid is astringent and cleansing to the mucous membranes of the digestive tract acting as an antiseptic tonic.

These acids along with the natural apple sugars not only help to digest the apple but also help digest other foods. This explains their use with fatty meats such as pork and goose. Applesauce being a valuable infant and convalescence food readily utilised by the body, also neutralises stomach acid and deranged digestion.

Furthermore, these acids have the ability to act as de-solvents breaking down calcium deposits on joints, and in the kidney and bladder. In Normandy (France), where unsweetened cider is drunk, the occurrence of kidney and bladder stones is rare.

Pectin found in apples and other fruit of the Rosaceae family such as Hawthorn, Quince, Pear and Rose reduces cholesterol deposits in the arteries and assists in healthy bowel elimination.

All the medicinal virtues of apples are preserved in the concentrated apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar given regularly to your horse has the following benefits:

• Cleanses the digestive tract and balances the acid/alkaline ratio.
• Maintains the correct water balance in the tissues preventing oedema and de-hydration.
• Eases joint and muscle pain.
• Helps to dissolve calcium deposits in kidneys and bladder, and around joints.
• Oxygenates tissues.
• Used topically reduces swelling and disinfects skin wounds. Can relieve mild itching.

We use apple cider vinegar as the perfect base to extract our carefully researched herbs for equine health problems. Our holistic approach to equine health supplements combines the tonic properties of apple cider vinegar and the health remedying qualities of herbs suitable for each particular health problem.

For more information on our remedies visit: www.equineherbalist.co.uk

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