Hedgewitch Essentials

15/12/2024

Looking for something really special for your horse for Christmas? Our high quality plant oil formulations are all loved by horses. You'll smell the difference!
Favourites this Christmas are:
Horse Oil with Sweet Orange & Peppermint 🍊
Frog & Sole Saviour 🌱
Healthy Hooves oil (hoof lickin' good!) 🍃
Oue salon-grade mild, natural shampoos 🌿
Order by noon on Wednesday for delivery before Christmas.

13/12/2024

What an amazing mane! Made for Horse oil to work its plant magic 🥰

Mmmm those plaits smell lovely of orange and peppermint, she was even licking my hands 🤗

12/12/2024

Are you ready? There's still time 🫠

04/12/2024

When I formulated our Hedgewitch shampoos and washes, I wanted to create natural, gentle and very simple cleansing solutions with an inclusion rate of essential oils that would be beneficial, carrying the aroma signature of the undiluted oil. I used the very best quality ECOCERT human-grade plant-derived cleansers that are found in the top salon brands. The result? Easy rinsing, amazing smell, and tremendous shine 🌟. If you haven't tried them, you won't be disappoint. A perfect 🎄🎁

02/12/2024

Every plant oil we use in the Hedgewitch range has a purpose!
All three 'flavours' of Magic (Horse) Oils protect from mud, condition and detangle manes and tails, and provide a hostile environment for mites thanks to their common ingredient, fractionated coconut.
🥥FRACTIONATED COCONUT is a very light, non-greasy oil that's comparable in feel to the more traditional mineral or 'pig' oil but comes from sustainable coconut plantations rather than the petroleum industry. It acts as an emollient, softening hair and supporting the upper layer of the skin, helping to reduce transepidermal water loss so that the skin doesn't become dry and fragile (think how your hands become dry when doing horses in winter, their legs are the same).
All the Horse Oils have some ANTIBACTERIAL activity from the essential oils they contain, but they are tailored for specific uses.
🍃BAY LAUREL & LEMONGRASS provides the best topical protection against mud fever and rain scald. These essential oils have been selected for their specific antibacterial and antifungal properties.
🍊SWEET ORANGE & PEPPERMINT is a proven Hedgewitch combination of essential oils for itching. They are also disliked by mites and midges.
🪻LAVENDER is a firm favourite for all-round winter skin support.

28/11/2024

Our new 🌿 hair serum is a beautiful colour (even photographed in the dark 😉). No additives, just some quite interesting plant oils! If you applied to be a tester and are selected, we'll be in touch next month with a few more questions with a view to running the trial after Christmas. 🌲

27/11/2024

Sheared heels/central sulcus thrush
This is the story of Ted, and the pictures chronicle the improvement in his feet since the spring. Here's the backstory.
Ted is one of our own horses who we bought with bd thrush in all four feet, full of confidence that we could sort it in a jiffy. It was a classic case of you don't know what you don't know! I wanted to share it as heel shears are something that I'm often asked about, and even in a form much more minor than Ted's, they take time. As you can see from the photos, you can't sort out the thrush without addressing the hoof as well.
When Ted arrived, we were very happy to see his puny soft frogs harden up and improve with the application of Frog & Sole. But that dratted heel shear... It was one step forward and two steps back. If the weather was onside, they began to improve, only to go backwards as soon as it became wet. Frog & Sole was holding the thrush, and if we didn't apply daily, the difference was soon noticeable. The farrier was concerned at the lack of stability in the heel, so we tried bar shoes, we tried 3D pads with DMI and we took his shoes off—which was where we made the most gains.
Then last summer, Mike broke his arm and as we have no help with horses or the business, Ted packed his bag and went away on livery with plenty of Frog & Sole in his suitcase. But I put shoes back on him, thinking that he'd turned a corner. Wrong!
Fast forward 11 months, Ted became lame and the dreaded bar shoe was suggested again. Instead, he came home. His feet were worse than ever with shrunken frogs like flabby sponges, although some Frog & Sole hardened those off within days, it was obvious that doing the same thing and expecting a different result was plain stupidity (or insanity, according to Einstein!). So we called in an equine podiatrist to assess him and see whether we could help him.
Nearly six months into the hoof building process, with a 3-4 week trim interval, we're starting to see some building of the digital cushion, which was all but lost, and the shear has become shallower. The approach to trimming has been conservative as he was sore—when standing he'd adopt a wide stance, with his front feet forward of the vertical and his hind behind it, to alleviate heel pain. He now stands like a normal horse. We're now able to trim his heels a little less conservatively and bring his frog back into weight bearing.
Never underestimate the effects of pain and normalise grumpy behaviour. When he came home, he was incredibly stressed and angry, with other horses and life in general (understandably), cribbing (now stopped), and tight all over. Now he has returned to being the affable, cheeky chap he was before. We've also supported his feet at times during the past six months with hoof boots with sheepswool pads (I make my own from the stuff that comes in packaging). We've supported his liver with herbs and his gut for all the stress and pain he's been through. I think the world of my farrier and it was really uncomfortable to bring another person into the equation, but it was the right thing to do.
We're nowhere near the end destination yet, which will be a foot that's not in disfunction, but we're heading in the right direction. Frog & Sole is still an important part of the process, but it's not and never will be the cure in a situation like this. So that's my message: products are a management tool, and if you don't address the cause, you will always be just treating the symptoms. I should have advocated for Ted harder and sooner, and hopefully I will now be in a place where I can better help others going through the same thing with their horses's feet. 🌿 Helen Stowell

24/11/2024

We support charity horses where we can help. Recently, we sent some Frog & Sole Saviour to this amazing charity whose horses help people where talking therapy hasn't

🐴 A Big Thank You to Hedgewitch Essentials🌿

We’re so grateful to Hedgewitch Essentials for kindly sending Louise our founder and Clips owner two bottles of their Frog & Sole Saviour to help with Clips’ feet.

As a key member of our team at Devon Healing Horsemanship, Clips works hard supporting our participants—but deep central sulcuses in his frogs can leave his feet prone to thrush, despite regular cleaning. Having products like this to support his care means the world to us! 💛

We’re already impressed—Frog & Sole Saviour smells amazing, and Clips, who usually isn’t a fan of having his back frogs treated, has been perfectly happy with this. No fuss, no resistance, just a calm and cooperative Clips! 🐴✨

While it’s early days to see the long-term results, we’re hopeful this gentle, natural formula will help keep his feet healthy and comfortable so he can continue his amazing work helping people with their confidence, calmness, and focus.

Thank you, Hedgewitch Essentials, for your generosity and for helping care for the horses who are such a vital part of our charity. 🌟

23/11/2024

Horses love our 🌿products—this is our number one point of difference and is because we include quality oils at therapeutic levels.
We really value your experiences and love to see your results. Thank you Susie Ridd for sharing this and those incredible feathers. Love Fells 🥰🌿

21/11/2024

I really don't feel ready for winter. We've had an incredible dry spell before the snow and ice, but when it melts and with wet and windy weather coming at the weekend, it'll be mud from here on in. Anyone else struggling already? Or have I just got older and more jaded! Our very songful stable Robin is a big plus. Taking bags of hay to the fields is a big minus.

20/11/2024

More stream than mist? Here's what you need to do:
✅️ make sure nozzle is open about a quarter turn from closed position
✅️ use a sharp, firm pull on the trigger (more snappy than for the fly spray)
If still having trouble:
✅️ flush nozzle under tap or in wash in soapy water
✅️ check and clean filter on the end of the feeder tube

19/11/2024

Why our Fridays won't turn black
Every company goes through a process of weighing up costs and profit margins when it sets a pricing strategy. We set out to provide high-quality products using ethically sourced ingredients at a fair price from day one. The point at which we set our prices provides us with enough margin to grow and stay in business but not enough to provide huge discounts. Companies that do this have a different balance between cost, product quality, and price to arrive at their profits. We will never sacrifice the quality that's in every bottle, which is reflected in the cost of our ingredients. That's why our Fridays will never be black unless we put our prices up for the rest of the year!
But our aim is to always give back, especially to those who have supported us on the Hedgewitch journey, and we want to do more than our current e-commerce system allows. Early next year, that will change with the arrival of a new website and a much smoother shopping experience with a generous rewards scheme. I will keep you posted!

18/11/2024

I love this name for Horse Oil from a customer. I'm now thinking of renaming it Magic Oil. What do you think? Thank you to everyone that leaves a review or posts a comment about their experience using our products. This authentic feedback is our lifeblood, and we just want more people's horses to feel the love 🌿🥰

13/11/2024

A planet-friendly alternative to silicone.
Bad hair day? Most tail products contain silicone. There's a problem with that. Silicone is bad for the environment because it isn't biodegradable within a human lifetime. That's worth repeating, in a human lifetime. Once applied, over time it transfers from your horse's tail (or mane) into your horse's surroundings - and stays there. While it may eventually break down into smaller pieces, it doesn't fully decompose, posing long-term environmental risks. That's why many human brands of hair products are now silicone-free. The horsecare market is behind the curve. The good news is that Hedgewitch has a sustanable, biodegradable 100% plant-based alternative - Horse Oil. For a fabulous finish after washing, just spritz a little (not a lot) into the tail and brush through. It leaves tails softer than silicone, shinier, and they stay tangle-free and easy to brush out for weeks. Even tangled, dirty tails can be brought back to being manageable in the same way, minimising hair breakage as you work through small sections of hair. You'll be amazed how well they come up. Horse Oil is versatile, it's planet-friendly, a little goes a long way, and it works incredibly well. 🌿

12/11/2024

Why is transparency so important?
We're horse owners and one of the (many) reasons we started Hedgewitch some eight years ago was a lack of transparency in product labelling. It's fair to say that more companies are now declaring their ingredients but there are other who refuse to tell you what's inside the bottle. I understand it, there is a fear of being copied which has happened to us. We pride ourselves on formulations that are well researched, tested and proven to be of benefit. But Hedgewitch isn't just about our products. We always aim to be honest and act with integrity - we'll never recommend a product if we don't feel it could help and we'll also give holistic advice, where appropriate, giving recommendations for other companies, people, products or resources that could be of help. We do that because we believe in looking at the whole horse - foot care, nutrition, environment etc - all of these matter as much as product selection.
And going back to ingredients, we believe you have every right to know what you're applying and getting on your own skin. We're passionate about appropriate use of essential oils and not labelling products containing them is, in our view, irresponsible. What if you or your horse have allergies? What if your child decides to drink from an unlabelled bottle and you can't tell anyone what's in it? What if you're pregnant and need to be careful around certain oils? The horsecare industry needs to get better at this.
Am I concerned about being copied. Yes and no. There is more to our products than a list of ingredients. We painstakingly source for quality and sustainability, we include ingredients at concentrations that are effective, we know where the synergies are between ingredients, we know which ones we need to be exceedingly careful with when it comes to inclusion rates.
We also have the knowledge to support you in their use. But please don't ask me for the concentrations of the oils in our products, as someone did this morning, because that is my intellectual property. The transparency we offer is something we've done from the day we started and we will continue to do so as share our plant magic with you 🌿.

11/11/2024

We need your input!
We're specialists in plant oils and their therapeutic properties so now is a great time to ask us to formulate something new for horses, dogs (coming soon!) and last but never least, you. The next few months are when the alchemy happens developing new plant-based products. In the pipeline are balms and salves but please, please, let us know what you really really want.

10/11/2024

Behind this rather ordinary looking door, a special kind of alchemy happens to bring you the plant magic inside our bottles! This weekend we've been making Lavender Horse Oil which will be available again tomorrow (Monday).

07/11/2024

We're often being asked for a product to help with hair loss and because it's not something we've ever tested, I never recommend anything from our range. After some in-depth research, I've come up with a plant oil serum containing oils with research to back up their hair growth promoting properties. I don't know whether it will actually work so that's where you come in!
If you have a horse with hair loss and can never get it to grow back properly, we'd love you to apply to join our Horse Circle of testers. We've done this in the past and not received feedback and we fully appreciate that this can be a burdensome task. It's important to us so once comprehensive feedback according to our instructions is received, good or bad (we need honesty as our reputation depends on it), we'll be rewarding our circle members with free products. The link to apply is in the comments. NOTE: If the typeform closes to responses, please just comment 'interested' below and I'll send you details
Watch out for upcoming opportunities to test other new products!