Flora and Fauna Equine is very happy to have on staff a licensed Naturopathic Physician and lifelong equestrienne, Dr. Sally Boyd.  Dr. Boyd is the ‘mind behind the medicine’ and spent years researching, testing and developing ColicSTOP and our other natural medicines for horses. 

      To receive their training, board certification and license to practice medicine, Naturopathic Physicians attend one of the 5 accredited US Naturopathic Medical schools after receiving a Batchelor’s degree, with prerequisite classes similar to a ‘regular’ medical school, such as physics, organic chemistry and biology.  The Naturopathic Medical postgraduate program requires 4 to 5 years of full time training, after which a Naturopathic physician may continue with 1 or 2 years of residency training. (Note: there are no authentic Naturopathic Medicine mail order courses or ‘distance learning’ degrees, as one must learn medicine in a rigorous, ‘hands on’ manner.) Naturopathic Medical school courses are similar in length and content to an ‘allopathic’ (MD) degree program, especially in terms of medical diagnostics such as pathology, microbiology, cadaver anatomy and physiology.  Naturopaths also learn treatment protocols used by their fellow physicians, such as pharmacology and minor surgery, as well as therapeutics unique to Naturopathic medicine.
     Board exams for NDs involve 4 days of rigorous testing, and licensure requirements include successful graduation from one of the 5 accredited US schools (or from one of the 2 schools in Canada), and passing of all board exams.

     Bastyr University is a full time, residential medical school, requiring a minimum of XXXX on-site credit hours of classroom education, and XXXX hours of clinical medical training.  (By comparison, Yale Medical School requires XXXX hours of classroom education and XXXX hours of clinical education.)  With its exciting and rigorous medical program, along with other degree programs such as Clinical Nutrition, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Naturopathic Obstetrics, Bastyr has been called the premiere center for natural health education today. 
     Dr. Boyd is proud to have been able to learn medicine as a member of such a unique profession, and from such an excellent University. Dr. Boyd completed two years of primary care residency at the Emerald City Clinic, in Seattle, WA after graduation.  She moved to the Big Island of Hawaii in 2002 in order to practice rural medicine, work with horses and to live on her ‘off the grid’ eco-farm with her 14 horses.  Dr. Boyd also enjoys assisting others in holistic equine management, including hoof care and nutrition, using Naturopathic principles.     
      The essential difference between Naturopathic Doctors and Medical (and Veterinary) Doctors lies in their basic philosophy of medical practice, and in their resulting treatment strategies.  Naturopaths focus on natural and elemental treatment for disease, with emphasis on prevention and early detection of disease, wellness, teaching healthy behavior, treating the cause of the illness rather than suppressing the symptoms, and ‘doing no harm’ to the patient (using only nontoxic therapeutics).  Naturopathic Doctors typically treat and prevent disease with therapies such as nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathy, physical medicine, detoxification and counseling. 

     Dr Boyd passionately believes in these principles. This led her to choose to study Naturopathic medicine over Veterinary Medicine, as there were no Veterinary schools with this philosophy in existence at the time. While respecting the place and value of conventional veterinary medicine, she is able to improve disease outcomes and the quality of life of horses by synergistically applying what she has learned through Naturopathic medicine to horse care.  One of her goals is to create natural therapies for horses that are both gentle and very effective, such as ColicSTOP.
     As part of her education, Dr Boyd was especially interested in cross-cultural traditional and natural therapeutics, both for people and her special interest, horses. She was, therefore, able to develop her therapeutics from a group of powerful remedies used in many different cultures around the world, for both people and their animals. She realized that in our modern age and with our global transportation technology, we are now able to use and combine the most effective herbs and natural indigenous medicines from remote regions around the world. We can choose from the best and most powerful remedies when treating serious diseases, rather than just what is available locally.  This is a unique time in history! It was with this in mind that she developed ColicSTOP.  
     Dr. Boyd also breeds and trains horses, specifically Icelandics, Missouri Fox Trotters, and flat shod Walkers.  She is also a certified farrier, a graduate of NC School of Horseshoeing and Equine Lameness.  Dr. Boyd is a self described ‘geek’ who has enjoyed studying the physiology of the horse and especially the hoof, and has received additional training in Natural Balance trimming and therapeutic shoeing from Gene Ovenicek. 

Her years of working with horse’s hooves have given her additional insight into the delicate digestive system and the nutritional needs of horses, since ‘what you pour in the top, comes out the bottom!’  Indeed, it is obvious to the trained eye that digestive imbalances (which set the horse up for colic and founder) often show up in the hoof and in other body systems long before the crisis episode.
    Dr. Boyd is excited and encouraged by the success of ColicSTOP in treating acute colic.  She is also looking at effective prevention of colic and founder in horses, by developing a diagnostic tool based on signs (in the horse’s hooves, body condition and behavior) the horse owner can identify herself at home (or at the barn!).  This tool will allow you to evaluate risk factors for colic, founder and other diseases or imbalances in your own horses.  The purpose of the tool is to prevent crisis states by empowering horse owners with specific information on the state of their horse’s health. Natural therapeutics, management practices and feed recommendations can then be customized for the horse to prevent diseases (including colic) and optimize health.  Dr. Boyd is available for phone or in-person consults on holistic equine management, hoof care and nutrition at 808-443-6085.