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| Cathedral Lake and peak |
The Chinese adage says “Luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.” This is one of my favorite Chinese sayings.
For me that means having a plan - being prepared. I have long kept a small
Chinese herbal first aid kit in my purse, car and horse trailer “just in case”
and have had many opportunities to use it. Folks comment when I pull it out -
Wow! It is lucky - you have that! No, not really, I’m simply prepared. If I win
the lottery - that’s lucky!!!!
As luck would have it I did have the opportunity to use my herbal
first aid kit this summer, several times, during a fantastic horse camping week
in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park.
Tuolumne Meadows sits at 8600 feet elevation and offers breathtaking views
of granite domes, waterfalls, lakes and clouds. It is an incredible place to
ride but camping and travel in the high country can have its challenges. Trails
can be steep and rocky and our horses experienced the inevitable bumps, cuts
and bruised soles. One mare sustained rope burns on her legs when a bear visited
camp in the early morning. She became cast between two trees and tangled in the
high line.
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Roco receives a topical
application
of Yunnan Bai Yao
powder to stop bleeding
on the trail
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My Whole Horse herbal first aid kit certainly came in handy and like the Boy Scout motto
I was prepared. Poultices were made for
the bruised soles, and rope burns and Yunnan bai yao was applied to bleeding
cuts and liniment soothed sore muscles.
Traditional uses of formulas like the ones in
my first aid kit go back to the wars and conflicts of ancient China. They
evolved out of triage on the battlefield.
Battlefield medicine consisted of plasters, pills, powders, liniments
and salves for stopping hemorrhaging, bleeding, preventing infections and
healing wounds. These time-tested
formulas and now directly benefit modern horses and riders.
Chinese first aid formulas can help you solve
some simple problems on your own, help you buy some time while you get to a
veterinarian or save a life if you can’t get to the help you need.
