Idtarod - How Amazon Herbs Were Used on Sled Dogs

 Herbs Used in World-Famous Alaskan Iditarod Sled Dog Race

This is a true story about how Amazon herbs changed the history of the world-famous Alaskan Iditarod sled dog race...

   Sixteen gung-ho dogs linked and ready to pull a sled, supplies, and a musher is a sight to be seen. The dogs radiate power and energy and have no other desire than to pull the sled to its final destination.

   Once on the trail, each dog has a clear-cut job. Some trade off being the leader, others act as guides to keep the sled traveling on the right trail, and the strongest dogs balance the sled around curves. They work in unison. And they depend on the true leader of the sled, the musher, to lead them to wherever it is that they are going as quickly and safely as possible.

Amazon John arriving at Iditarod race headquarters

   A musher's first concern is always the well-being of his or her dogs. That's why experienced musher, Jamie Nelson of Togo, Minnesota, was determined to run the world-famous Iditarod sled dog race in March of this year with a supply of herbs from the Amazon Rainforest.

   While training for Iditarod 2000, Jamie incorporated an herbal health plan of Recovazon, Illumination, Warrior and Sumacazon into the dogs' daily diet, and tested the effects of Recovazon when it was applied to their feet. What she discovered was something she had never seen in her 30 years of sled dog racing.

   Two months prior to the Iditarod, Jamie decided to run a short 260-mile race near Duluth, Minnesota, called the Grand Portage Passage, to get the dogs used to running on snow. At each checkpoint during the race she gave the dogs a generous serving of the herbal mixture, and Recovazon was applied to their feet. What she hoped is that by applying Recovazon topically, it would help reduce swelling and enhance the healing of old wounds and soft tissue cuts between the pads of the dogs' feet. Sure enough, at the end of the race the dogs had fewer cuts on their feet, less red, raw feet, and less muscle pulls and sprains. "This is the first race I've ever ran where the dogs had no slits inside their feet!" Jamie explained in amazement. But what happened in March when Jamie crossed the finish line at Iditarod 2000 was even more incredible.

Jamie Nelson with a couple of team members.

   Iditarod Trail. Every year Alaska's most famous sporting event, the Iditarod sled dog race, challenges some of the best dog teams and mushers in the world. The famous Iditarod Trail, which was completed in 1973 by a team of willful volunteers who were determined to keep Alaska's mushing heritage alive, extends more than 1,100 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.

   But the Iditarod Trail was not always a racing trail. During the harsh, cold winter of 1925, part of the trail was used to transport urgently needed medical supplies to the town of Nome where countless children had been exposed to an acute infectious disease called diphtheria. The quickest, surest way to deliver the 300,000 units of lifesaving antitoxin serum was with the help of dogs. So various mushers and their dog teams split up the 674-mile distance from Nenana to Nome in an attempt to deliver the serum. One week later the serum arrived safely in Nome and saved many lives.

   Iditarod 2000. On March 4, 2000, Jamie Nelson, an Amazon Herb Company customer, braved ~ for the third time in her life ~ the potentially life-threatening, yet thrilling, Iditarod sled dog race with a team of dogs ready to take on their first Iditarod. Competing against more than 80 experienced mushers, Jamie and the other Iditarod participants started the race with an enthusiastic team of 16 dogs per sled. The trail offered breathtaking views of the Alaskan countryside including the glorious northern lights, but also frigid temperatures, blinding windstorms, hairpin turns, and a rough trail that contributed to over 40 broken sleds by the end of the race.

Dogs had Amazon herbs applied to their paws
at each checkpoint.

   Dogs Stay Healthy. The Iditarod is truly a marathon event that becomes a test of physical and emotional strength for musher and dogs alike. Most teams travel over 100 miles in a day, and run 6 to 10 hours at a time. The grueling schedule invites fatigue, weakens the immune system, and increases the chance for injuries; in fact, three of Jamie's dogs, Speck, Fly and Pirate, developed shoulder injuries about half way through the race.

   Speck's injury was very serious; she was using only three legs when she came into the checkpoint. The veterinarian wanted Speck to sit out the remainder of the race so she could heal, but Jamie was determined to have all of them cross the finish line. Speck's shoulder was drenched in Recovazon and then massaged so the herbs could be absorbed through the skin directly where the injury persisted. Six hours later, Speck was walking  on all four legs and ready to leave the checkpoint with the other dogs. The veterinarian was nearly speechless, "What's going on here?" she said as she re-inspected Speck's leg. "I can feel crackling under the skin... as if the healing process is being accelerated." Jamie just smiled and hooked Speck up with the rest of the team.

   Fly and Pirate also had shoulder injuries, but not nearly as serious as Speck's injury. They, too, were rubbed down with Recovazon and easily bounced back to finish the second half of the race.

   Another test of the herbs occurred when Hitch, in swing position, developed kennel cough just before the race started. It didn't take long for the cough to spread to the other dogs in the team. "What a nightmare," Jamie thought. "This is the type of disaster that takes a team out of the race." But, once again, with the help of the dogs' herbal mixture of Illumination, Sumacazon, Warrior and Recovazon, the cough disappeared and the dogs completely recovered early in the race.

Amazon John making new friends in Alaska.

   The Big Mystery. Under the rules of the Iditarod every musher must fit his or her 16 dogs with special booties to protect against ice and hard packed snow injuries. But even with the boots, the dogs may experience sore, cracked and cut feet from sharp ice. As Jamie learned from her test runs prior to the  Iditarod, the key is to apply the herbs directly to the dogs' feet in order to keep them healthy. At each checkpoint, the dogs received their serving of herbs, and patiently allowed Recovazon to be applied to their feet as they rested.

   The race pushed on and as the days passed all but one musher had to run their teams with less than 16 dogs because of injuries or sore, cut feet. In fact the top five winners of the race came in with only 8 or 10 dogs. The big mystery during and after the race was focused around Jamie and her team: why didn't her dogs have the same injuries and paw problems everyone else was experiencing. Jamie knew from past experience that it was because of the Amazon herbs. In her 30 years of sled dog racing, she had only experienced these kinds of results when she used the Sumacazon, Warrior, Illumination and Recovazon.
On March 16, for the first time in more than 20 years, a musher crossed the Iditarod finish line with all 16 dogs it was Jamie's team.

   Congratulations, Jamie, to you and your team on your remarkable accomplishment.