“Y'know, this stuff is kinda wasted on just ponies...”

September 16, 2021 7:38 AM

(Inspired by this tweet) Some people are "using" Ivermectin, a horse de-wormer, to try and protect against Covid. Some use Xylazine, a sedative for horses. Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic used in horse surgery (and also for badgers and people), is a popular recreational drug. Mane 'n tail shampoo was initially developed for equine use. So what other products, originally made for horses, are now used by people?
posted by Wordshore to Society & Culture (39 answers total)

Oh, if you know the right kind of people, most of the leather goods...
posted by jacquilynne at 7:42 AM on September 16, 2021 [40 favorites]

Blue Kote has been used by some humans to treat minor skin wounds and ringworm. To clarify, it is not recommended at all for humans, but people are people. I keep a spray bottle around for chicken injuries.
posted by Alison at 7:50 AM on September 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Black salve/icthamol?
posted by OrangeVelour at 7:51 AM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've heard of people taking dog Lyme disease vaccine because it's the same formulation as the proposed human one (that hasn't gone through trials)
posted by bbqturtle at 7:55 AM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Not horses, but Bag Balm was originally for treating dairy cow udders.
posted by jquinby at 7:58 AM on September 16, 2021 [17 favorites]

Invermectin has human uses too, but at smaller doses.

Taking medicines meant for animals is common enough that there was a Seinfeld episode about it.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:12 AM on September 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

Also human insulin for dogs that get diabetes works better than the animal formulation and is way cheaper. I've never met a diabetic horse, but I'm sure it's the same.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:14 AM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

DMSO is a liniment used for decades on horses, and by their trainers and riders on themselves. At least by those who can stand the rotten garlic taste that you get in your mouth after it's been absorbed into your system.
https://ker.com/equinews/update-dmso-use-horses/
posted by mmf at 8:21 AM on September 16, 2021 [9 favorites]

Heh... When I was a kid, my sisters and I had whooping cough - and they gave us some sort of horse-medicine. Unfortunately, I was a kid so I don't remember what it was - but, I do remember that I was horrified that the label said "For topical use only", and we were swallowing that crap. It helped, we lived, but... perhaps my vocabulary was too good for a 10-year old.
posted by rozcakj at 8:29 AM on September 16, 2021 [5 favorites]

Healthy Hoof is a fingernail cream that was supposedly originally developed for horses. Now it comes in little 1oz containers made by a spa company, so I don't think it's used for horses anymore, but the story is that it was discovered by horse groomers.
posted by ectabo at 8:32 AM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Ketamine used to be a horse tranquilizer. Then it moved into recreational human use. And now I know someone who is prescribed ketamine for their formerly untreatable depression, and says it is a miracle drug.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:39 AM on September 16, 2021 [8 favorites]

Horse ointment / Pferdbalsam, a herbal concoction for horses, is so popular for human use in Central-Eastern Europe that my usual online pharmacy stocks 29 kinds - mostly either warming or cooling. They're used by athletes and people with muscle aches. Ingredients usually include camphor, mint, rosemary, arnica and horse chestnut, though there are varieties with everything up to and including cannabis.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 8:44 AM on September 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

It's ivermectin again, but I and a lot of other rosacea sufferers use the horse version (topically) because it's so much more affordable than the human version.
posted by metasarah at 8:52 AM on September 16, 2021 [8 favorites]

Vets learn a lot about the kind of metabolic differences that let them extrapolate dosing between different animals. So if you have an exotic animal with an antibiotic resistant infection you may well have to use an antibiotic that has never been tried on that animal so you have to use your basic biology a lot. Is this a hind-gut fermenter? How is this medicine metabolised? What enzymes are involved and does this animal have unusual levels of them? Which scaling law should I use for dosing? (Could be lean body mass, total body mass, surface area).

There are lots of fun examples:

-The use of Remdesivir and one of its related compounds to treat FIP in cats. It actually works better there than it does for human Covid since antivirals intrinsically work better at treating chronic than acute infections.

-The equine vaccine for Hendra also protects against Nipah virus, in principle you might be able to use that same vaccine in people since the antigen is the same *but* I have no idea if you can use the same kinds of adjuvants in horses or people so don't go out and try this please. (I tried to look up the adjuvant but its proprietary)

Other "fun" fact: there are Equine Hendra vaccine antivaxers

Veterinary medicines are generally the same active ingredient as human medicine but the buffers and preservatives are often different and the QA process definitely.
posted by atrazine at 9:08 AM on September 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

Adequan, a treatment for arthritis in horses and dogs has also been tested in Europe for use on humans.

Some humans (I think bodybuilder types) use it off label.
posted by typetive at 9:10 AM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Not horses, but warfarin has been used as rat poison, but it’s also an anticoagulant used for people who’ve had heart valve replacements and such.
posted by ambulatorybird at 9:18 AM on September 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

saddles (SFW): https://www.ponyupdaddy.com/products/camouflage-pony-up-daddy-saddle

although I am sure nsfw versions exist
posted by alchemist at 9:27 AM on September 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

Conversation with a co-worker, from a few years ago (pre-pandemic):

She: "Do you have any hand lotion?"
Me: "Yeah, here you go" (hands her bottle)
She: (looking at bottle, dubiously) "Hoofmaker?"
Me: "Yeah, it was originally designed for horses, but it works great on people too. I use it all the time."
She: (even more dubiously) "Where did you get it?"
Me: "At a feed store."
She: "Why were you shopping for moisturizer in a feed store?"
Me: "Oh, I bought it for putting on my dog's paw pads."
She: "Uh, on second thoughts I think I don't really need any, kthxbye" (runs)

(The product in question was this.)
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:34 AM on September 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

Boldenone is an anabolic steroid that was used originally for horses but like most AAS, works just fine in humans too.
posted by some loser at 9:41 AM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Mane n Tail shampoo and conditioner got super popular for women in the 90s. Not sure if it's still all that desirable, but I recall seeing it for sale at Sally's Beauty recently so it cant have fallen off everyone's radar.
posted by ananci at 9:51 AM on September 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

'Oats, a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.’ — Samuel Johnson
posted by clew at 10:00 AM on September 16, 2021 [16 favorites]

Ketamine for depression - very good "CBC - The Doc Project"
posted by rozcakj at 10:01 AM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

At the risk of missing the point, we made a pastime out of throwing horseshoes.
posted by AgentRocket at 10:02 AM on September 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

At the risk of missing the point, we made a pastime out of throwing horseshoes.

As long as you're closer to the point than your opponent, this still counts
posted by babelfish at 10:35 AM on September 16, 2021 [16 favorites]

Hey, put that horseshoe back--I hung it above the door for good luck.
posted by box at 10:51 AM on September 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

*For* horses may be questionable, but Saddle Soap certainly gets used for many leather things used only by humans. Similarly, Murphy Oil Soap was originally designed for tack but has long been popular for cleaning guns, especially old ones, and many other oily things.

(Going in the other direction, used motor oil and turpentine were popular for treating horse skin irritation 40 years ago. I don't know if that's still true. It's probably a bad idea.)
posted by eotvos at 10:57 AM on September 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

Liniment. Veterinary version human version. I had a neighbor who made specialty liniment for race horses in his garage; love the smell.
posted by theora55 at 10:59 AM on September 16, 2021 [6 favorites]

In addition to DSMO, people sometimes use Fura-Zone marketed for horses for human use--it's an antibacterial wound dressing marketed for horses that uses nitrofurazone, an ingredient that has been found to be carcinogenic and is no longer approved for human use. Also, "vet-wrap" self-adhering bandaging is a lot cheaper than buying the human equivalent.
On the other hand, a lot of human preparations get used on horses because sometimes they are more cost-effective or effective-effective than what's traditionally marketed for horses. For example, a lot of the topical wound care stuff for horses is either ineffective or downright detrimental to healing, and yet I'm not aware of anyone marketing a horse-sized triple antibiotic wound cream. That means I wind up buying a few tubes a year in the human pharmacy as my go-to treatment for minor cuts and scrapes on the horses.
posted by drlith at 11:04 AM on September 16, 2021 [5 favorites]

I've seen a curry comb used to carve styrofoam fairly often. (Does that count?)
posted by lauranesson at 11:53 AM on September 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

OMG theora55 - thanks!

Liniment was probably next to the bottle of... "Equine Cough Remedy", so perhaps I got them confused. You have just solved an "Ask MeFi", I have occasionally wanted to ask...
posted by rozcakj at 12:07 PM on September 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Beyond Mane 'n Tail shampoo and conditioner, topical products co-opted from show ponies: "brightening", "intensifying", "color enhancing" shampoos, no-rinse shampoos, treatments, leave-in conditioners, detanglers... more horse grooming/coat care
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:56 PM on September 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

Further to the use of horse liniment on humans, here's an old Cecil Adams column on Absorbine & Absorbine Jr.
posted by Johnny Assay at 2:29 PM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Allow us to transform your old horse blanket into a fully functional backpack! Or tote or purse.
Upcycled and re-purposed horse tack sampler. F'instance: rustic, metal, repurposed horse-bit toilet bath tissue holder, by Ollie's Fine Things
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:03 PM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Cows not horses, but there are several brands of cow udder moisturiser creams that have become popular for human use. (Moo Goo, Udderly Smooth, Bag Balm)
posted by slightlybewildered at 3:27 PM on September 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

I am delighted to be the bearer of bad news here:

Turns out, the sanitized dictionary explanation for the etymology of cocktail isn’t far off the mark, but Wondrich distills the (much grosser) story thusly: A perky, cocked (or raised-up) tail on a horse is a sign of vim and vigor, so unscrupulous horse traders in the 18th century would put ginger and/or pepper in a place the horses surely didn’t want it, in order to make them look a little more frisky.

As ginger and pepper were also common ingredients used to liven up alcoholic drinks (and by extension, their imbibers), the theory is that the term “cock-tail” was applied to those invigorating libations after the practice of unpleasantly surprising the poor horses with spicy suppositories.
posted by snerson at 4:02 PM on September 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

→ Black salve/icthamol?

This was originally used with humans in the late 19th century.

My dad probably still has the waxed cardboard ointment box of icthamol he got as a teen which was always threatened upon us as a cure for any skin ailment when we were kids.

As for ketamine, there's always the famous An unusual reaction to a strong painkiller... | Scotland's Superhospital.
posted by scruss at 6:14 PM on September 16, 2021 [2 favorites]

So, I’ve owned horses in my life and currently spend weekends at my friends barn on weekend. Some things we’ve used: horse fly spray specifically Pyranha which contains permethrin. It says not to use it on humans (due to cancer risk?) but you get desperate enough, you use it on yourself, various salves, absorbine liniment, I’ve gotten hungry enough that I’ve eaten horse cookies/treats, mane combs/other grooming tools. I don’t think these are traditionally and consistently marketed and used by people in general, but I’ve used em.
posted by Sassyfras at 12:23 PM on September 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

Not specifically for horses, but "Vet wrap," the self-adhesive elastic bandages, is cheaper, larger, and comes in more fun colors and patterns than human athletic tape. I would get mine at the tack store and all of my gym friends became converts.
posted by TwoStride at 4:39 PM on September 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: 'tis the season...
posted by Wordshore at 4:17 PM on September 20, 2021