Lac Equinum: The Horse's Milk Remedy in Homeopathy

Lac equinum is the dynamic preparation of horse's milk, provided as a dilution and available across the potency range. Its picture is small but distinctive: a hurried, industrious temperament that cannot bear injustice; a mind that transposes letters and numbers when tired; hip pain that walks with the patient down the right leg; and sleep that breaks between 3 and 5 in the morning, worse under a full moon. Murphy places it under the Moon and cites Herrick's proving.

At a Glance

Source and Preparation

The mother substance is the milk of the mare, Lac equinum, preserved and prepared by succussion into dilutions. All potencies are on record. Because prescriptions of Lac equinum are made from 30C upward, no molecule of the original milk remains in the dose administered; what acts is the dynamic preparation, prescribed on the totality of the case. Nothing about horse's milk as a food or a nutritional adjunct applies to the remedy.

Herrick conducted the proving that supplies most of the modern picture, and Murphy has compiled his findings into the entries used here. The lac group — the other milk remedies to which it is compared — is Lac caninum, Lac felinum, Lac humanum, Lac vaccinum, Lac vaccinum coagulatum, Lac delphinum. Prescribers familiar with the lacs will read Lac equinum inside that family, not outside it.

The Essence of Lac Equinum

The self-expression is of a person harnessed and moving. Impatience is the leading mind symptom in Murphy's compilation, and it is the impatience of someone who has too much to do and too little tolerance for what stands in the way. Anger rises in traffic. Noise offends. Injustice cannot be borne, and the reaction to it is dictatorial, censorious, sometimes profane. Underneath the drive sits an anticipatory anxiety, curiously relieved by lemonade — a small idiosyncrasy of the proving that repertorizes well.

Then the mind slips. Letters and numbers transpose on the page. Duties feel neglected when they are not. Thoughts wander. Names go missing. A practitioner watching a Lac equinum patient at work sees the industry first, then the fuzz that overtakes it in the afternoon, and finally the dream at night of being restrained by a collar and pursued by figures they cannot outrun.

Clinical Portrait

Mind and Temperament

Impatient, hurried, restless. Sensitive to noise and easily offended. Complaining, quarrelsome, discontented. Cannot support injustice; indignation and frustration surface as cursing or dictatorial speech. Anger in traffic is a recurring marker. Anticipatory anxiety, better lemonade. Anxiety of conscience. Delusions of neglected duty; occasional insane delusions. A desire to escape, and a desire to travel. Forgetful. Memory weakness. Mistakes and transpositions of letters and numbers. Fuzzy sensation of mind, wandering thoughts.

Sleep and Dreams

Insomnia, sleepless after midnight. Waking between 12 and 1 a.m., at 2 a.m., at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. The characteristic hours are 3 to 5 a.m. Sleeplessness from the full moon. Waking as from a fright, unrefreshing sleep. Dreams are vivid and varied: dreams of unsuccessful efforts, of fights, police, being pursued, of animals, of being restrained by collars, of difficult journeys and of foreigners. Amorous dreams, of being naked.

Female

Sexual passion diminished or increased. Menses early. Pains during the menses. Ovary pain alternating sides, appearing after the menses, with a tingling voluptuous sensation in the left ovary. Anxiety and weakness follow the menstrual flow.

Limbs and Back

Right-sidedness is marked. Hip pain on the right, on walking, on rising from a seat, extending to the knee. Sides may alternate. Pain in the right shoulder. Sore knee on rising and on ascending stairs. Stiffness of the knees on rising in the morning. Cramps in hands and legs. Cold feet. Numbness of the right hand. Restlessness of hands and feet. Tension of muscles. Blotches. Backache in the lumbar region, worse rising from a seat; pimples on the back.

Airway, Digestion, Skin

Dry cough, dyspnea, wheezing respiration, difficulty taking a deep breath — the breath seems to stop at the epigastric area. Belching, burning stomach pain, nausea. Abdominal distension and flatulence after eating. Constipation with incomplete evacuation and urging that yields little; sometimes loose stools with mucus and flatus. Increased appetite, desire for lemonade, aversion to chocolate. Acne, pimples, herpetic eruptions, itching, urticaria, circinate eruptions, blackish or bluish discoloration of the skin. Discolored toenails. Profuse sweating. Bleeding gums. Dry eyes. Constriction of the throat. Tachycardia. Vertigo on waking.

Modalities

Worse: alcohol; motion (pulse becomes frequent); warm bathing; warm weather; rising from a seat; ascending stairs; walking (right hip); after the menses; full moon.

Better: evening or twilight; cold air (coryza in the open air); lemonade (for the anticipatory anxiety).

An intolerance of clothes is noted — the patient feels harnessed and wants to be free of what presses on the body, echoing the mind's restraint by collars in dreams.

Relationships

Compare within the lac group: Lac caninum, Lac felinum, Lac humanum, Lac vaccinum, Lac vaccinum coagulatum, Lac delphinum. The differential runs on the mental register — Lac equinum's hurried indignation and transposition of letters against Lac caninum's abasement, Lac vaccinum's estrangement, Lac humanum's dispersion.

Clinical Uses

Murphy's clinical index lists Lac equinum for acne, anxiety, asthma, backache, constipation, convulsions in children (on waking, followed by paralysis, during fever, tonic and clonic, right-sided), cough, dyspnea, fatigue, flatulence, herpes, hip pain, insomnia, itching, memory weakness, ovary pain, pimples, restlessness, urticaria, and weakness. Prescribers working within the lac group will encounter Lac equinum when the mental signature — hurried indignation, anticipatory anxiety relieved by lemonade, transposition of letters, and waking between 3 and 5 — is present alongside physical findings in the skin, digestion, or right hip.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lac equinum given as horse's milk? No. The remedy is a dynamic preparation of horse's milk in dilution. Classical prescribing is at 30C and above, where no milk substance remains in the dose.

What are its keynote hours of sleep disturbance? Waking between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., often as from a fright, with unrefreshing sleep. Sleeplessness worsened at the full moon is on record.

What differentiates it from the other lacs? The hurried, indignant, dictatorial mind; the transposition of letters and numbers; the anticipatory anxiety relieved by lemonade; and right-sided hip pain extending to the knee.

Which potencies are used? All potencies are on record. Selection follows the case, not the substance.

References

• Murphy, Robin. Nature's Materia Medica. Entry: Lac equinum (Lac-eq.), citing Herrick.
• Herrick. Proving of Lac equinum, as compiled in Murphy.
• Hahnemann, S. Organon of the Medical Art, §§ 1–29 on the self-governing principle and the totality of symptoms.
• Boericke, W. Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. On the lac group and the reading of dynamic preparations.