| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |

This is the first of a series of articles regarding Chinese herbal formulas and how they work. We will talk about the history and the application of Traditional Chinese herbal formulas in relation to horses. Also, once the readers have a basic understanding, we will explain in very short terms how certain diseases or injuries specifically related to horses can be understood and treated in accordance to the systemic approach of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). 

According to the old tradition, Chinese medicine started in the period of the three emperors. It is called in Chinese the San Di Si Dai (period of the three emperors ). Chinese history has to be taken into account to understand how the Yao Wu (Chinese term which relates to all forms of medicine of China, plants, animals, metals, etc.) works. 

Recorded Chinese history began 4697 years ago. It was at this time that the "Yellow Emperor" was crowned - his name was Huang DI His work influenced the Chinese culture in a most important fashion. Evidently, before Huang DI, there were already some countless experiences left by the ancestors. The birth of the true Chinese civilization and culture started with Huang DI This "Yellow Emperor" influenced not only the daily life of Chinese people but also the Chinese system of medicine. The Nei Jing (the first Chinese medical book) used the name Huang DI to make the first interlocutor. The Nei Jing was also called the Huang DI Nei Jing.and also the Chinese musical system, also taught how to invent a system of weights and measurements. In addition, he was the emperor who created the Chinese military tactics, how to fight, place an army, etc. 

Before Huang DI, there was the period of Shen Nong Shi, who showed the men of that period (5200 years ago) how to manufacture agricultural tools to plough the land and to plough the land according to the seasons. Shen Nong Shi studied a lot of Yao-Wu. He knew that each plant had its own virtue and its own taste and that it could treat a certain number of diseases.  

We know that all animals possess some self-healing faculties. When animals develop a disease, the body reacts automatically to fight that disease. If the factors of self-healing are not able to heal, the animal needs to absorb external substances to heal itself. To do so, the animal follows certain instincts we can observe. For example, the cat that we have at home is a carnivorous animal. Animals are distinguished as those which eat meat and those which eat vegetation.  

Horses, cows, and deer eat only vegetation. Animals which eat vegetation possess the same physical structure as the ones which eat meat. It is only a question of habit (over millenniums). Both meat and vegetation nourish the body. The cat is an animal which has the habit of eating meat, fish, and small animals such as mice. When the cat catches a disease, it knows from instinct to look for plants which grow outside. It knows how to choose the plants that work to treat its illness. If the cat does not become sick, it does not look for plants to eat. If the body develops an illness, the plants can help the body to fight the illness. It is a natural thing.  

Shen Nong Shi found this behaviour natural. By observation he could notice that the absorption of certain plants with their own taste could ameliorate certain illnesses. For example, if one is suffering from tropical heat, fever and perspiration result. A lot of body liquids are spent. If we find some juicy, refreshing, and sweet-tasting fruits, we surely desire to eat them. However, if we have an illness that is making us weak or cold, we then have a cold mouth and an abundant saliva. If we are given juicy fruit such as the watermelon, we feel right away that the watermelon gives a cold taste, even no taste, and we do not desire to eat it. It is an instinctive refusal.  

Shen Nong DI tasted and tried each plant, each herb, and each vegetable to know their tastes and to know which sensation was perceived when he ate them. He became the first scientist, by noting his results, on the research of Cao Yao (medicinal plants). Shen Nong DI was the first to utilize the Cao-Yao to treat different diseases of the body.  

After the era of Shen Nong DI, a book was written concerning the accumulated information on plants around 200 years before the Christian era. It is called the "Shen Nong Ben Cao Hing". In this book, there are 365 medical plants which were utilized at that time. These medicinal products, the "Yao", are distinguished in quality: superior, average, or inferior. Some can be utilized only when necessary because they contain some poison. They are the inferior Yao. Of course, after the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, many other books have been written concerning plants. For example, a man called Tao Hong Jing added a few hundred other Yao. The number went up to 730. That is around 400 years after Christís birth. Another book was written to explain methods to prepare the Yao such as frying and grilling. Some Yao not only contain poison, but their nature is very strong. Methods were created to moderate their potency. For the Yao that were weak, methods also were developed to strengthen them.  

The dynasty of the emperor Tang Gai Zong, between 618-907, ordained 22 doctors to correct the books on medicinal plants. Another 114 new Yao were added to a total of 844. A book was published entitled "Tang Ben Cao". It contains accumulated experiences from many centuries.  

Another book was written 900 years later by Li Shi Zhen, who traveled everywhere to find medicinal herbs and to study their growth. He also consulted all the books from all the periods to make the 1892 "Yao". The book called the "Ben Cao Gang Mu" is a complete book on the Yao-Wu and is considered the most complete book on medicinal plants. 

This are the basics of history of Chinese medicine.  

Application of Chinese Herbal Formulas

Of course making a tea is for human mammal consumption. For horse mammal consumption one may want to start the chemical reaction between the Yao inside the formula by mixing it with hot boiling water and let it seep for few minutes until it is mixed with the grains, sweet feed or with molasses or anything the horse like to eat in general. The reason is that it will be faster for the "Spleen" to digest and to metabolize the medicinal ingredients throughout the body. It is not needed to do so. Simply putting and mixing the formula with the grains will be as effective but it may take a little bit longer to see the effects. Horses are herbivorous and can assimilate almost every molecule of the formula as it is mixed with their feed specially knowing that it takes in general 48 to 54 hours for their time of digestion. 

Before we talk about horses and Chinese medicine in-depth, it is important for the reader to understand that China was taken over by communists in the middle of this century. Before 1949, China boasted 800,000 traditionally trained practitioners for a population of 450 million. In the early years of communist rule, the number of practitioners fell to 500,000. During the cultural revolution, traditional medicine was considered as one of the "Four Reactionary Practices" because its theoretical foundations were the principles of Yin and Yang and of the Wu Xing (five movements ) and also Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. It was thus "expurgated", which is why, when the gang of four fell, there were only 200,000 traditional practitioners left. In 1983, their total strength stood at 310,000 and in 1985, at 320,000. This is particularly alarming when compared with the situation of 1949, in view of the fact that the population of China in 1985 stood higher than one billion. In addition, only one-third of these practitioners had attained the level of Yi Shi (five years of study) and the rest were only at the level of Yi Si (two years). 

Arno Leblic is a certified acupuncturist (NACA/EUCM) and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He has committed himself to a life-time study of TCM at the European University of Chinese Medicine, Vancouver, BC, branch. Mr. Leblic is a specialist in the application of TCM on the equine athlete in North America. He provides a variety of services to horse owners, trainers, breeders, and veterinarians. They include personal and telephone consultations, as well as seminars. 

The knowledge provided here comes from discourses by Prof. Leung Kok Yuen which have been translated by the European University of Chinese Medicine. We thank Prof. Leung Kok Yuen for sharing his wisdom and experience, and in maintaining Traditional Chinese Medicine at its purest form.