Karen Perry Animal Therapy

01/11/2025

Ted, under the influence of Angelica root.

Dogs are complex creatures and their anxiety can manifest in different ways. It can be quite a journey to get to the root cause, to help them heal from within. Sometimes it can be pain related, others, past trauma that they have learnt to live with.

The herbs and essential oils act as a superb emotional support network, and allowing your dog to choose the plant medication themselves, makes a successful outcome so much more likely.

31/10/2025

This seems like a tremendous step in the right direction! Well done BRC! Leading the way! 👏👏

30/10/2025

I am looking forwards to the Natural Gut Health workshop on Saturday 8th November! I have lots to share with you, I have had fantastic conversations with companies who are just as passionate about this as I am, and have provided resources that I can share with you!

This workshop is now full, but I plan to run another one in the New Year. Do let me know if you would like to come.

I shall be in touch with all attendees shortly!
Picture of the gorgeous Demelza! 😍

28/10/2025

I have paraphrased this mighty article from the tremendous Carol Hughes, I find it so fascinating!

A horse grazing in a field surrounded by a hedge, or in a field containing trees, will have better and more balanced minerals from the grass than those without.

White willow, silver birch and poplar are , apparently, the best trees to have as they encourage a varied community of micro- organisms into the grass which will soread into the root systems across the whole field, providing the field contains a mixed variety of grasses.

Tree root systems are far reaching and can spread their good bacteria across the pasture to improve mineral levels as the horse grazes. Grass mixed with trees is likely to be healthier and have a reduced sugar content, as some of the sugar feeds the tree roots.

Cool, huh? More fabulous, gut healthy facts on my Natural Gut Health workshop!

27/10/2025

He is either very grateful for the treatment or asking for treats, not quite sure which….🤔

26/10/2025

Im cross tonight, and sad and sick of the whole horse industry. I try to protect my own mental health by avoiding upsetting images, staying off sites that I know will trigger me, trying to focus on the positive changes in the equestrian world. And there are a lot of positives.

But I have been bombarded by hideousness today, and I need to take a break to rebalance, find the peace and the calm again. The FEI backtracking on the blood rule is hopeless and so demoralising. So many overtight nosebands and harsh bits are still blatantly obvious- i have yet to see a trot up without a flash noseband. Is it fashion or ignorance? Do we not recognise that a horse with its mouth strapped shut will have tension from the hyoid, TMJ’s, jaws, cervicals, all the way through the body to the hind leg function?

I despair. Some weeks I see horses that have been used up and spat out by the industry at the age of 8. On their last chance because they have been so let down by people. Labelled “nappy bastards” because they are so stressed, so riddled with anxiety, the trust broken. It makes me so bloody sad.

I had a fabulous ride on Colin this morning. He is my daughters ride, I am his carer, but with her away at Uni, I have taken on the role of his reluctant jockey.

This is the horse who does not hack alone. I was warned off him pre purchase as he was dangerous, wouldn’t leave the yard, was probably labelled “the nappy bastard”. He had been continually let down by people when he needed to trust them the most. How can a horse ever learn, ever grow confident if their people only frighten or bully them?

Today, I rode him for an hour, on his own, through the village and back, on a loose rein with no noseband and a plastic bit. I’m no rider, I had already decided that if he was worried or stressed enough to not want to go, I would get off him and continue in hand.
But he never even questioned me once. And that made me the happiest person in the world. Because that is surely what it is all about? The connection. The trust. The bond. That is a better feeling than any amount of rosettes or glory. Just knowing that the horse beneath you ( or beside you) thinks that you are ok, that they will go along with you and share your space and agree with your decision making. A partnership.
Horse first. To me, that is all.

26/10/2025

Im struggling a bit today 😢

26/10/2025

This has been on my mind so much today, for so many reasons.

A horse with a dysregulated nervous system is a horse in dysfunction. They can’t perform, learn, or truly connect while in that state. The nervous system needs to be calm and balanced before any real progress can happen.

Simple things like a consistent routine and a healthy diet can certainly support a calmer, less anxious horse. But ultimately it’s our responsibility as owners to promote relaxation and help the horse’s nervous system settle.

It’s not helpful or fair to try to work a horse through tension. When a horse is tight or anxious, it’s our job to pause, step back, and give them the chance to release that tension. Only then can we do truly productive work - the kind that builds trust, softness and lasting understanding between horse and rider.

It’s also our job to stay open-minded and to look deeper for anything that might be contributing to the horse’s nervous system dysregulation — whether that’s pain, discomfort, poor saddle fit, emotional stress, or even subtle environmental factors. By being curious and willing to explore all possible causes we can support the horse more fully and help them return to balance both physically and emotionally.

25/10/2025

I have hosted lots of canine herbal consults the last few weeks. I love treating the dogs, they differ hugely from the horse consults, mostly because they are carnivores ( actually omnivores) which makes their choices way more complicated than horses, who are herbivores.
But their choices are firm and unequivocal, and their sense of smell massively amplified. I have had such success with behavioural issues, anxiety and stress being, as ever, the top request.
Behaviour issues are generally wrapped around emotional issues, sometimes past trauma, and the herbs and herb oils can provide a huge support in these cases, as we strip down the anxiety and try to find the underlying cause.
This is lovely Suki, who was one of my many cases this fortnight 🥰

25/10/2025

This is so true and so heartfelt. You all know I offer herbal consults for problems like this, and Hedgewitch are a fantastic company with quality products.

What Horses Know About Healing That We Forgot

I had a Thoroughbred ex-racehorse who couldn't settle in open fields.

Every day turnout followed the same pattern. Quiet for an hour, then frantic galloping until I brought him back to his stable. He'd spent most of his life confined, and freedom terrified him.

One day I' decided to try offeeing him some essential oils and pocketed rose and frankincense as I hurried out to the field. Before trying to catch him, I climbed on the fence, opened the bottles and held them out to him to sniff.

He took a few breaths of each. Then walked away and started grazing.

He came back twice more to smell them, then returned to the field, calm. From that day forward, the galloping stopped.

What I Didn't Expect

Horses can't tell you what's wrong with words. They show you through behavior.

That realisation changed how I watched them. Every action became communication. Every choice revealed something.

I started investigating alternative therapies for horses when I could sense something was "off" but they weren't sick. I discovered zoopharmacognosy. The term describes how animals self-medicate by selecting plants with therapeutic properties.

The effects fascinated me. But what really shifted my thinking was understanding how it worked.

The brain plays an enormous role in healing. Inhalation sends plant compounds directly to the central nervous system in about four seconds. My ex-racehorse didn't need to ingest anything. He just needed to breathe.

The Problem We Created

That horse's fear of open fields? Wild horses don't experience that.

Domestication creates stresses that didn't exist in nature. Lack of movement, social isolation, confined spaces. Many conditions common in domesticated horses are rarely seen in the wild.

We've built systems that cause problems, then removed horses' access to the plant chemistry they'd naturally seek to address those problems.

Horses are trying to solve issues we created using evolutionary tools we've taken away.

Traditional veterinary medicine focuses on treating symptoms through differential diagnosis. Horses address causes through self-selection. Both approaches have value.

The Gap That Matters

I'm a realist. I'd love every horse to have freedom to self-medicate, but that's not practical.

Most horse owners don't have access to zoopharmacognosy practitioners. Stocking a full range of therapeutic plant oils isn't feasible for everyone as it’s incredibly expensive to do.

That's why I created Hedgewitch - to bring carefully formulated products using plant oils horses consistently select. I then refined them with peer-reviewed science to determine proper concentrations and tested their effects.

But here's what concerns me about the broader market: quality and knowledge matters intensely with essential oils.

Impurities and pesticide residues can cause harm. Any product containing these compounds should be backed by expertise and transparent sourcing. These are both things that are lacking in the plant-based product market, with ingredients not declared, contraindications not understood and little clarity on oil sourcing and quality.

Buyer caution isn't optional, it’s a must.

What Still Amazes Me

After years of observation, the power of essential oils still surprises me.

A horse sniffing from a distance can experience profound reactions and deep processing. The simplicity masks the potency.

Modern veterinary medicine remains crucial. But plant-based therapeutic tools deserve recognition as complementary approaches, not alternatives.

The shift we need is holistic thinking.
Recognizing that horses possess knowledge we've overlooked. That observation can inform practice. That conventional expertise and natural therapies can work together.

My ex-racehorse taught me that. He knew what he needed before I did.

I just had to learn his language.

24/10/2025

*******Winter Workshop now Full********

I will run another one in late January/early February 2026. Date to follow shortly.
Many thanks.

23/10/2025

The beautiful and delicate Shepherd’s Purse (capsella bursa pastoris), with its love heart shaped seed pods and tiny white flower heads. You can find it in fields, gardens, it is abundant when you recognise it, I see lots on field margins while walking the dog.

Shepherd’s Purse is a relation of the mustard family and is best used fresh, as its herbal properties are much reduced when dried.

It is a tremendous wound healer, and excellent in first aid situations when stemming blood flow is important. ( even better alongside yarrow).

It can also help reduce blood pressure, particularly with hawthorn.

Shepherds Purse can help ease urinary irritation, as it can reduce the acidity of urine, and the astringent nature of this herb can reduce inflammation in the bladder, urethra and kidneys.

I especially like it for it’s ability to stimulate elimination of acidic waste, which can help with arthritic conditions.