Our Ethos

What we Do!
Whitethorn Herbals is the online shop of Whitethorn Equine Health supplying herbal supplies for horses and dogs. Through our online and onsite herbal courses, we teach dog and horse owners how they can use herbs, essential oils and other plant extracts to help their animals restore and maintain health. We are based in Sligo which is in the North West of Ireland.

Our Vision
Our vision is to create an awareness, understanding and practical experience of how animals, when given the opportunity, can self-medicate and self-dose according to what issues they may be suffering from. This includes physical and emotional issues which are unfortunately all too often ignored. Using the Zoopharmacognosy approach we can empower animals in our care to self-heal and also empower animal owners to support their animals in this journey. This approach also has a wonderful bonus of giving animals a voice and opening up doors of communication between animal and carer that hitherto would have been closed. Again this is hugely empowering for both animal and human.

Committed Intention can be a powerful force and we are only here on this planet for a very short time.
​We have the opportunity to either have a negative influence or a positive one - we choose to do the latter!
Join us!

Product Quality

When an animal is using its sense of smell to identify medicinal compounds within a plant extract  the chemical composition of the plant extract must be as pure and as true as possible to the original plant. In other words, it must not be mixed or diluted with fillers and ideally should be of a certified organic standard.
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Having worked with animals and plant extracts for over 12 years we understand the importance of using only  therapeutic grade – using anything less just doesn’t cut it and can be detrimental to your animals health. Aromatherapy oils are not suitable for this work.

Using sub-standard, non-therapeutic plant extracts at best will mean the animal will be unable to identify the medicinal compounds it seeks or at worst will make the animal ill.  The old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is never truer than in this instance.  It is reputed to take 30 Rose Heads to make one drop of Rose Otto essential oil – now that’s a lot of Roses and if it’s below the standard price then it's highly likely that it is adulterated. 

Sourcing

​We source our materials wherever possible from the growers themselves.  When this is not an option our preference is to purchase from certified organic suppliers as well as those certified as being within the Fair Trade scheme.
We purchase sustainable over non-sustainable products and pursue a reduced carbon footprint policy wherever we can at Whitethorn Farm (including a 1200 tree forest recently planted) – not because it’s ‘fashionable’, but because we strongly believe that we have a duty of care to planet earth and our children and our children's children, that will inherit her.