Nambudiprad’s Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) could be what you’re looking for to alleviate your horse’s allergies.

You may have heard of NAET, but don’t know much about it or how it works. Short for Nambudiprad’s Allergy Elimination Technique, it’s an energetic method of identifying and treating allergies with the combined use of chiropractic and acupuncture. The chiropractic involved with NAET is not standard chiropractic and does not diagnose or fix subluxations – rather, it involves the energetic opening of spinal segments.

Learning, understanding and using NAET effectively takes time to cultivate. It’s considered by some as fringe, or even more unusual than other more accepted forms of holistic medicine (such as acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal therapy and homeopathy). Therefore, very few practitioners utilize it for animals. I have found it invaluable in treating the exponentially growing tidal wave of food and inhalant allergies.

An integrative approach to allergies

In horses, both food allergies and inhalant or contact allergies can cause hives and extreme pruritus or itching. We tend to think these symptoms are an insect bite reaction, for example from culicoides or oncocerca (no-see-ums) as well as mosquitoes and other biting insects. While this is indeed often part of the problem, and NAET certainly helps identify the culprits, the horse’s immune system has to be already in a compromised or weakened state in order to be so highly reactive. Food allergies can also give rise to non-seasonal or year-round hives.

Alterative and allergy-clearing herbs like burdock root, dandelion root, yellow dock root and nettle leaf, as well as bioflavinoid-rich foods and supplements (quercitin, bromelain, rutin, vitamin C) can help prevent the release of excess histamine. Regular medicated shampoo or those with essential oils can be very helpful in protecting against secondary bacterial or yeast infections as well as repelling insects.

I use NAET as part of a holistic program, and often achieve fast results with additional balancing herbal therapies. Horses are very responsive to this approach. Relief often occurs within a few months, and sometimes with just a few treatments, depending on the duration of symptoms and the age of the animal. The best time to address seasonal allergies to grasses or insects is in the winter, in order to be preventative. For example, if you have a horse with increasing symptoms during every summer’s rush of allergens, why not think ahead and prevent them a few months sooner?

Identifying the allergen

When using NAET, the allergen identification process is performed through muscle testing, but when working with animals (or human infants) a surrogate is used. The surrogate is most often the horse’s guardian. During the allergen identification process, the surrogate holds a small glass vial of an allergen sample that consists of water and the allergen’s energetic vibration, which is more or less like its signature. Muscle testing is performed while the surrogate holds the vial anywhere on the horse’s skin with one hand, and extends his or her free arm towards the practitioner. The surrogate is asked to keep the arm extended as the practitioner gently tries to push the arm down, and to exert the same upward force the practitioner is using. If the surrogate’s arm becomes weak under the gentle downward pressure, this indicates sensitivity to the allergen contained within that particular vial. This sequence is repeated with several different vials of individual allergens.
Typical allergens tested might include different types of hay, grass, grain or pellets, vitamins or herbs, bedding, and a vast array of insects.

The allergen clearing process

During the allergen treatment or clearing process, the glass vial containing the identified allergen is secured to make tight contact with the horse’s skin. The practitioner then uses a massage tool or activator along the spine of the animal, gently tapping the spinal nerve segments along each side of the spine.

Afterwards, acupuncture or acupressure is used to open the immune gates or immune points. Stimulating points like Spleen 6, Liver 3, Large Intestine 11, Large Intestine 4, and sometimes Heart 7 can eliminate allergens.

Dr. Nambudiprad chose these immune points because of their long-term use in Chinese medicine, and because she realized treatments would not hold unless the animal’s root core or immune system could be accessed in a reliable way. These points are all located on the legs, aside from LI 11, which is below the knee or hock joints. Most horses allow needling of these points, but if that isn’t an option, acupressure or gentle clockwise circles for 30 seconds per point can be just as long-lasting. Sometimes animals with skin inflammation have particularly reactive points at first, and will not allow needling. But after improvement, the skin is cooler to the touch and less inflamed, and the horse allows needling.