The Herbal Horse - Comfrey
Comfrey is a weed herb that we use regularly with the horses, both fresh and dried. It is a highly beneficial herb and is easy and inexpensive to grow and harvest and create you own remedies. Comfrey has recently gotten some bad press including dire warnings that comfrey is not a safe herb. I believe herbalist Susan Weed addresses this:
"There are two species of comfrey: wild comfrey, Symphytum officinale, and cultivated comfrey, Symphytum uplandica x. (The "x" means it is a hybrid, a cross.)Wild comfrey (S. off.) is a small plant--up to a meter tall--with yellow flowers. Cultivated comfrey (S. uplandica x.) is a large plant--often surpassing two meters--with blue or purple flowers. Everyone I know grows uplandica and that is what is sold in stores. But gardeners and herbal sellers alike usually mislabel it, causing no end of confusion. To complicate the situation even more: the roots and the leaves of comfrey contain different constituents. Comfrey roots, like most perennial roots, contain poisons. Wild comfrey (officinale) leaves have some of the same poisons. But cultivated comfrey (uplandica) leaves don't.
Comfrey's main uses are to heal bone and soft tissue. In fact it's folk name is "knit bone." Comfrey is high in allantoin, a constituent that encourages cell regeneration which accounts for its ability to speed healing. The hepatic pyrrolizidine alkaloids found in comfrey are responsibile for the rare liver failure with excessive internal comfrey use. To be safe, use only the purple/blue flowering comfrey, and do not use the roots internally. Comfrey is also high in protein (typically 20% in cultivated comfrey) and vitamin B12.
Comfrey is easily grown from root propogation. In fact, so much so that you should be very thoughtful in where you plant comfrey as even the tiniest root piece will generate a new plant. And comfrey grows fast and big so you must keep up with it. But once you discover the benefits of comfrey, you will be harvesting it regularly. This plant has traditionally been a fodder plant for livestock, including horses. I don't grow comfrey where the horses have free access to it because I want to know how much each horse is ingesting. Because it is a hardy weed, it will be strong and ready for use before and after grass, and in the height of summer when much of the grass has died. It will tolerate most soil types but does need at least part sun. I like to grow it in one bed and along a path to the barn.
I regularly feed the horses fresh comfrey while it is growing. They will clean up a pile of leaves about once a week. If a horse needs the plant medicinally, I typically feed it daily. Ocassionaly a horse doesn't like the fuzzy texture of the fresh leaves and so I put the dried herb in their feed. I use comfrey externally for minor cuts, scrapes and internally for burns and soft tissue and bone issues. For cuts and scrapes, I put comfrey in a salve so that I have it all year round. I also dry plant material for feeding in the winter. Comfrey makes a wonderful warm or frozen poultice. It's easiest to make the poultice from fresh leaf and root. You can also reconstitute dried leaf for a poultice but it is far less satisfying without all the gooey mucilage from the fresh plant.
How much to grow? For feeding, I grow one plant for horse. Then I grow an extra plant per horse for making medicine and drying for winter use.
Whether you are looking to provide good nutrition, treat a cut, lameness or arthtritis, comfrey is your horse's ally.
HOW TO:
HARVEST - pull or clip leaves off plant before flowering. Feed fresh, or hang upside down by the stalk to dry (barns are great places to dry herbs). Store dried herb in a sealed container away from light and heat.
OIL - Fill a jar half way with dried comfrey leaf and add olive oil to just before top. Allow to steep for 2-4 weeks (sunlight is okay but don't use a stove as the intense heat may damage the herb). Oil will turn a beautiful dark green.
SALVE/CREAM - combine 1 cup of infused comfrey oil with 1 ounce of beeswax over low heat. Stir to mix. Pour into a glass container and allow to cool naturally. To make a cream, take melted salve mix off heat and whip in purified water. Spoon into storage container.
POULTICE - for external use - coursely chop or puree comfrey leaf and stem, add some root if desired. Mixture can be used as is or thickened with flour. Freeze to store in cotton or mulsin pouches inside platsic bag.
"There are two species of comfrey: wild comfrey, Symphytum officinale, and cultivated comfrey, Symphytum uplandica x. (The "x" means it is a hybrid, a cross.)Wild comfrey (S. off.) is a small plant--up to a meter tall--with yellow flowers. Cultivated comfrey (S. uplandica x.) is a large plant--often surpassing two meters--with blue or purple flowers. Everyone I know grows uplandica and that is what is sold in stores. But gardeners and herbal sellers alike usually mislabel it, causing no end of confusion. To complicate the situation even more: the roots and the leaves of comfrey contain different constituents. Comfrey roots, like most perennial roots, contain poisons. Wild comfrey (officinale) leaves have some of the same poisons. But cultivated comfrey (uplandica) leaves don't.
Comfrey's main uses are to heal bone and soft tissue. In fact it's folk name is "knit bone." Comfrey is high in allantoin, a constituent that encourages cell regeneration which accounts for its ability to speed healing. The hepatic pyrrolizidine alkaloids found in comfrey are responsibile for the rare liver failure with excessive internal comfrey use. To be safe, use only the purple/blue flowering comfrey, and do not use the roots internally. Comfrey is also high in protein (typically 20% in cultivated comfrey) and vitamin B12.
Comfrey is easily grown from root propogation. In fact, so much so that you should be very thoughtful in where you plant comfrey as even the tiniest root piece will generate a new plant. And comfrey grows fast and big so you must keep up with it. But once you discover the benefits of comfrey, you will be harvesting it regularly. This plant has traditionally been a fodder plant for livestock, including horses. I don't grow comfrey where the horses have free access to it because I want to know how much each horse is ingesting. Because it is a hardy weed, it will be strong and ready for use before and after grass, and in the height of summer when much of the grass has died. It will tolerate most soil types but does need at least part sun. I like to grow it in one bed and along a path to the barn.
I regularly feed the horses fresh comfrey while it is growing. They will clean up a pile of leaves about once a week. If a horse needs the plant medicinally, I typically feed it daily. Ocassionaly a horse doesn't like the fuzzy texture of the fresh leaves and so I put the dried herb in their feed. I use comfrey externally for minor cuts, scrapes and internally for burns and soft tissue and bone issues. For cuts and scrapes, I put comfrey in a salve so that I have it all year round. I also dry plant material for feeding in the winter. Comfrey makes a wonderful warm or frozen poultice. It's easiest to make the poultice from fresh leaf and root. You can also reconstitute dried leaf for a poultice but it is far less satisfying without all the gooey mucilage from the fresh plant.
How much to grow? For feeding, I grow one plant for horse. Then I grow an extra plant per horse for making medicine and drying for winter use.
Whether you are looking to provide good nutrition, treat a cut, lameness or arthtritis, comfrey is your horse's ally.
HOW TO:
HARVEST - pull or clip leaves off plant before flowering. Feed fresh, or hang upside down by the stalk to dry (barns are great places to dry herbs). Store dried herb in a sealed container away from light and heat.
OIL - Fill a jar half way with dried comfrey leaf and add olive oil to just before top. Allow to steep for 2-4 weeks (sunlight is okay but don't use a stove as the intense heat may damage the herb). Oil will turn a beautiful dark green.
SALVE/CREAM - combine 1 cup of infused comfrey oil with 1 ounce of beeswax over low heat. Stir to mix. Pour into a glass container and allow to cool naturally. To make a cream, take melted salve mix off heat and whip in purified water. Spoon into storage container.
POULTICE - for external use - coursely chop or puree comfrey leaf and stem, add some root if desired. Mixture can be used as is or thickened with flour. Freeze to store in cotton or mulsin pouches inside platsic bag.
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