I have been very excited to implement Self Selection into my Whole approach to horses. I feel like my horses are getting what they need more than ever before and are balancing themselves. Some people have said it is a bit time consuming to do the offering process and I wanted to share another approach to Self Selection and Supplementation that may be more friendly.
Many horses I see are on supplements. Some are on many. What if you asked your horse what supplements he actually wanted and for how long? We tend to supplement indefinitely with good intentions. But what if our horse didn’t need as much as we were giving for so long? What if he needed much more than we were giving but for only a certain time until his system balanced. What if your blended ingredient supplement had 1-2 ingredients your horse really wanted but 5 that he didn’t need at all and may in fact be over loaded with?
In this approach to Self Selection Supplementation, you would see what your horse wants weekly/monthly and then add it to his food or in a bucket. For example, if I offer Barley Grass and my horse seems to want a lot of it (as they do) I would then give it to him in his food in a measurement of say 1/2 cup for a week. At the end of the week I would check again and offer only Barley grass in a container to see if my horse still wanted it. If he did, I would do the same process for a week and so on. You can also put a few drops of an Essential oil that your horse has selected in a bucket of water in addition to a regular bucket of drinking water. You could also re-check monthly instead of weekly. I would be on the look out for herbs being left in the bucket or the horse not wanting it mixed in anymore. In the case of essential oils, horses may inhale or drink. But you can offer the Essential Oils and Fixed Oils (Flax, Rice bran oil, Safflower, Sunflower, Hemp etc.) to see if they still select them the same way. You can do this with any number of Herbs, Seaweeds, Algaes. Essential Oils and Oils. Offer your animal the single item in a container or pan and see if they select it. The reason you want to offer it not mixed in their food first is so you know they are selecting the single item. There is no other herbs or flavorings to entice them to choose the item you are offering. They either want it or they don’t.
The nice thing is, this could even save you money! The object of Self Selection is to bring your animal back in balance so they eventually don’t need many Supplements or medicinal herbs if any at all. My horse Mercury and my mini Oliver seldom take much of anything anymore since I have been doing the Self Selection. In fact it was really only the first few months they wanted things and then they stopped accept for once in a while.
The only animals I have seen take things long term are ones that are dealing with more severe chronic health and dietary issues. Fiona Habershon is coming to do Self Selection workshops and private appointments in May. We are also doing a rare clinic together with half the day on Self Selection and Half on Introduction to Liberty on May 31st in NY Click here to see the Event calendar and Contact me if you would like to schedule an appointment for your animal while she is here in the US. Click here to Shop Self Selection products. What are your thoughts or experiences with Self Selection?