They usually include Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, and Herbs. Nutraceuticals are generally agreed to be any purified NHP in dosage form. Examples include whey protein isolate from whole milk, and glucosamine sulfate from bovine or shark cartilage. Herbs are simply botanicals that are consumed to treat an illness. Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods are generally consumed on an ongoing basis, and tend to be used as a preventive action against disease.
Herbs tend to be used more as a transitory treatment when horses have a specific illness or problem.
Their objective was to identify the foremost issues in equine health as perceived by the industry. The battery of questionnaires that was returned showed that a lack of information on alternative therapies was second only to respiratory disease as the number one horse health issue facing the industry today. Alternative therapies and nutraceuticals ranked in the top four topics upon which horse people would like more information. This study also highlighted the fact that, in the horse industry, herbal therapies are classified both as medicine and nutrition, and horsepeople were moving towards including natural health products in their husbandry practices with or without the approval of their veterinarians. Among all those surveyed, there was a unanimous interest in more research on the efficacy of alternative therapies, and their relationship to conventional treatment methods.