I have a free canister of this HEIRO product I’m wondering is the willow that it says it has in it for pain? It doesn’t state what kind of Willow
You got me curious as I feed this to my IR/Cushing gelding. After googling a lot, I believe the answer is willow bark, as there isn’t really a willow that isn’t bark in the herbal world. Heiro has made a difference for my horse’s foot health.
1 Like
Thank you I figure it is too.
I, too, have a PPID/IR horse. Can you talk about the differences you’ve seen and how long it took to see a difference? Thank you.
Willow is a source for the basic ingredient in aspirin so could have a mild pain killing effect.
Googled to make sure, I recall we had a thread mentioning Heiro before. They show ingredients but not a nutritional guarantee. The main ingredients are kelp and algae.
There are a lot of kelp supplements out there but all they really deliver is iodine. If the horse is on a good all around RB or VMS they should be OK for iodine.
Heiro is great. I first encountered it working at a dressage barn where several horses were on it as maintenance. Was frankly surprised it worked that well, being an OTC product. Told the pony trainer about it. No one listened to me until my daughter’s leased pony foundered. Before her first show back we sent her to VA Tech’s Marion au Pont Scott Equine Medical Center for the late Paul Goodness to shoe. HE recommended Heiro. The whole barn went out & bought it after that. 
Of course the willow bark & iodine have documented benefits. But in my crunchy granola hippie Ayurvedic opinion, the fenugreek, cinnamon, & ginger provide additional benefits that boost the overall effacy. Fenugreek is thought to lower blood sugar & possibly reduce the risk of diabetes in humans. The benefits of the antioxidants contained in ginger & cinnamon are well-documented. Plus, the former may aid in weight loss, the latter in decreasing muscle soreness.
1 Like
AIR willow, all of it, contains salicylic acid, the major component of aspirin. Native Americans made a tea from its leaves. There was a huge willow tree in my pasture til a storm dispatched it. Despite lots of grass, the older horses would trim the weeping willow branches as high as they could reach. It made it look as if we had professional gardeners!
1 Like
Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid which hydrolyzes to salicylic acid (and acetic acid). As others have said, salicylic acid is the active substance.
If you’ve ever noticed a smell of vinegar in old aspirin it’s because it’s been partially converted to acetic acid (and salicylic acid).
2 Likes
My boy had hind foot laminitis-- I know, really bizarre! Vet and farrier both recommended Heiro to help him with his recovery. What I’ve seen is the physical signs in his feet healed fairly rapidly, according to my farrier (who is a journeyman that works with vets regularly on laminitic horses) and he can hardly tell he had separation of the laminae. Horse is also on Prascend, so his body changes I cannot say are due to Heiro at all. However, I don’t soak his hay, and he’s able to go on pasture (muzzled during the spring and fall grass growth period) with no ill effect.
2 Likes
The biggest problem I have encountered with Heiro is weight gain. Because when I am scooping it out it smells like some luscious cinnamony thing. And next thing I know, I am in the house scarfing down a bucket sized bowl of cinnamon oatmeal with extra raisins, or making cinnamon rolls or coffee cake or snickerdoodles…
Works great for the horses though!
5 Likes
What does hind foot laminitis look like, if you don’t mind my asking so I can tuck this info away in my brain for future reference. Did he try to rock his weight forward off his hind legs?
Oddly, no. He presented as profoundly lame, like an abscess or fetlock injury. He has a bone spur in his left hind already, so we thought he’d aggravated it somehow. Vet did exam, nothing conclusive. Anyway, no improvement so we xrayed and that’s when vet and farrier together found separation of the laminae and a small abscess. He tested positive for Cushing and was mildly IR. We didn’t need to do much diet change as his buddy was already fed for cushings. Anyway, he had a slight rotation in one front—never presented as lame in front, oddly and no signs of laminitis in the fronts, only hinds.
1 Like
I have two horses one has DSLD she is 3/4. Peruvian Paso and the disease has been diagnosed by two diff. veterinarians. My other horse is a purebred Paso Fino. Fancy had DSLD so she is on Eqquiox once a day. She is on pasture 11 acres 24/7 and has round bales in the winter 24/7 not weedy pasture good pasture. So recently Uckele Tendon EQ became something of interest to me for her. BUT the issue is that if Jioagulan is combined with Eqquioxx the Jioagulan won’t work. I confirmed this with Uckele. This Jioagulan is supposed to really help with DSLD but I have to take Fancy off the Equioxx. I’m looking into Devils Claw but I happen to have Heiro for my IR Paso Garita (who wears a Flexible Filly muzzle on this mega pasture) The Heiro has willow in it so I’m going back and forth here as to using the Heiro for the willow instead of the Equioxx that way I can use the. Jioagulan for Fancy. I don’t think the Heiro is helping the Paso Garita but I would like opinions right at the moment for Fancy. Fancy is not severe DSLD yet she has some drop in her pasterns but they are not close to the ground in any way at this time. But this condition caused her to have stifles that now won’t lock. She lays down some and gets up okay on her own. She is in her 20’s. Jioagulan has shown some ability to really help but I am going back and forth because I would have to take her off Equioxx and rely on natural like willow that happens to be in Garita’s Heiro supplement while probably 2 weeks goes by so I can see if Jioagulan helped. Opinions thanks
Pictures of Fancy last year and this year her DSLD isn’t to bad but I know that and her stifles hurt.
