Medicinal Mushrooms and the Horse; A Veterinarian’s Perspective

Medicinal mushrooms have been utilized for centuries in alternative medical cultures and more recent research has substantiated their clinical benefits for horses and other species.  There are many different types of medicinal mushrooms and each has their unique benefits, while retaining a generic benefit across the board for enhancing the immune response.  Mushrooms were one of the first whole-food herbal substances that I investigated years ago in clinical practice in the horse and they are still one of my favorites for a variety of reasons.

Around the year of 2006, I began my exploration of alternative medicine and herbs.  This was instigated by own health crisis at the time and a need to explore options.  Medicinal mushrooms were the first herbal substances that I utilized and explored in myself and my equine patients.  At the time, I was contending with a high caseload of colitis cases in the horse, with many requiring hospitalization in our facility.  As par for the course with colitis cases, the horses had diarrhea, dehydration, a reduced appetite and varying degrees of septicemia or bacterial infection.

I was currently taking medicinal mushrooms myself, using a blend that is very similar to the one that we still offer and utilize.  Given the benefits that I had come to understand in viewing research on these incredible substances, I opted to use them in my equine patients in the hospital.  I believed that I had nothing to lose and these whole foods had much to offer.

What was amazing was that first, they were readily accepted by the horses in their feed, as most mushrooms have a naturally sweet taste and odor.  My patients consumed them readily and as the days past, not only had their appetite resumed, but their feces were no longer loose.  What was once loose and watery with a foul smell, was now semi-formed with a reduced odor.  The horses that were on the mushroom blend recovered more rapidly than I had experienced in the past with traditional therapies of antibiotics and intravenous fluids alone.  In fact, within 72 hours, most of those horses on the mushrooms were off their IV fluids and transitioned to oral medications.  The average patient was discharged about 3 days sooner than those not on the mushrooms.

What was happening in those horses on the mushroom blend?

Those were the days prior to my understanding of the digestive microbiome and the influence upon the horse and their health.  Thus, I had not been performing fecal cultures, but looking back, the clinical response with the fecal transformation was enough to tell me that the digestive microbiome was shifting for the positive.  What I didn’t understand at the time was how this positive shift impacted their health, their inflammatory status, and their immune response.  Just shifting that microbiome in their gut was enough to shift the entire body for the positive.

After this experience, I began to investigate further and upon speaking with researchers, it became evident that through the use of medicinal mushrooms, we were altering the gut microbiome and influencing overall health.  This is huge, and I mean huge, because in looking at recent research, it is plainly evident that almost every health ailment in the horse and in people, is likely linked back to in imbalance in the gut microbiome.  Shift it to the positive and you change the entire dynamics of the situation.  Something that my standard therapies of pharmaceutical medications was not able to achieve.

Given the overall response to medicinal mushrooms in the horse, I began to use them in almost every clinical situation that I encountered as a veterinarian and still do to this day.  I used them in wound therapy to aid healing.  I used them in various infectious situations from colitis to bronchitis and pneumonia, not to mention allergies and skin infections.  I also used them very successfully in cases of Lyme disease and EPM, when traditional therapies had failed us or the horses had relapsed.

Again, the responses were very favorable in every situation.  There seemed to be nothing that these medicinal mushrooms would not benefit.

Here is a run down of the clinical benefits, again with different species being stronger or more effective in certain categories:

• Immune stabilizing; either enhancing or decreasing the immune response
• Enhances the digestive microbiome, reducing growth of more harmful bacteria and encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria
• Encourages proper blood circulation and fluid exchange, reducing edema and fluid retention while improving blood flow to the entire body
• Modifies the inflammatory response, reducing inflammation, pain and swellings
• Enhances neurological function and nerve repair
• Impacts cognitive function, improving mentality and mood, altering anxiety and depression
• Impacts organ function and health from kidney to the liver and other organs
• Assists with natural detoxification of the body
• Impacts metabolism and insulin function
• Improves overall energy, performance, cellular health and repair

Given this extensive list of clinical benefits, it is wonder why we do not use them more often.  In fact, I do strongly encourage their clinical use in the horse, but for some reason many do to take advantage. There is not a situation that I do not recommend their usage on some level.  No matter if we are contending with an infection, metabolic problems, joint disease, tendon issues, hoof ailments…the list goes on, medicinal mushrooms can have a huge impact.

How do these mushrooms exert their clinical benefits in the horse?

• Inherent vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and fats to nourish the body
• Polysaccharides (special sugar molecules) which exert many clinical benefits from the gut microbiome to immune function and inflammation
• Beta-Glucans (special polysaccharides)- same benefits as above
• Triterpenes- special chemical substances found to be stimulating to the immune response and being anti-viral in property, not to mention other clinical benefits

There are a couple of mushroom blends that we offer and use in the horse with tremendous benefit:

• Cur-OST EQ Immune Full Spectrum – this is a blend of some full spectrum mushrooms that include all components but mainly concentrates or focuses on the polysaccharides with a general level of >20% to impact the gut microbiome, inflammation, the immune response, and other factors of health.  This is a blend of six medicinal mushrooms, including Cordyceps, Poria, Coriolus, Inonotus, Ganoderma, and Maitake.  This blend promotes synergy between the different species and enhances the effects.
• SV EQ Mushroom Boost – this is a new blend and utilizes the same mushroom species as the other with the exception of Poria and in its place, we use Hericium erinaceus or Lion’s mane. This blend is unique because newer technology allows for us to extract and take advantage of the beta-glucans and triterpenes.  These molecules are harder to extract and isolate in comparison to the traditional polysaccharide component.  By including the beta glucans and triterpenes with the concentrated polysaccharides, we enhance the benefits to the horse on many levels.  In my opinion, there is more of a drying effect and a slightly stronger bitter taste, which is beneficial to the metabolic equine patient.

From this veterinarian’s perspective, medicinal mushrooms should not be overlooked in the horse, no matter the situation.  They can have a profound impact if used properly and at the correct dose, which can vary depending on the situation.  I strongly encourage those horse owners with ongoing health issues to consider adding one of the above formulas to their regimen.

Author:  Tom Schell, D.V.M, CVCH, CHN