# Apothekers Original ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 1982 | | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Lahnau | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Germany (in-house production) | | Distribution | Pharmacy | | Website | https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/ | Apothekers Original is a German line of topical salves and gels for muscle and joint complaints, made in Lahnau. Its products descend from a herbal leg gel that a pharmacist and competitive rider, Dr. Ulf Jacoby, developed for his own horses in 1982 [2]. Riders soon began rubbing the "Pferdesalbe" (German for "horse salve") on their own backs and knees, and the human line grew out of that habit. Today the range is sold mainly through pharmacies, and its flagship, the PferdeMedicSalbe, is marketed as a medical device rather than a cosmetic. The brand belongs to a small family business. Equimedis Dr. Jacoby GmbH & Co. KG handles the products for people, while its parent, leovet Dr. Jacoby GmbH & Co. KG, makes care products for horses. When the brand began depends on what is counted: the formula and the parent company date to 1982, but the "Apothekers Original" name first appears in 2004. ## Origin & founders Ulf Jacoby was born in 1939. He qualified as a pharmacist in 1966, earned his doctorate in 1969 and then held a senior research post in the pharmaceutical industry [10]. In 1974 he took over his parents' pharmacy in Lahnau and, at the same time, started keeping horses and riding in competitions. According to leovet's own history, his interest in research and demand from customers led him to found leovet in 1982, a firm specialising in horse-care products [9]. The brand's account of the same year centres on a single product. Jacoby, it says, created a gel to help his horses' legs recover after hard training, built on four plant-derived actives: arnica, rosemary, menthol and camphor [2]. The extracts were combined with conditioning ingredients and essential oils, and the gel was given the plain name "Pferdesalbe". The brand later described the original purpose in more romantic terms, saying the salve was meant to protect the sensitive tendons and muscles of racehorses. The jump from stable to medicine cabinet came quickly, in the company's telling. Riders and horse owners noticed the salve also eased their own joint pain, back tension and sore muscles, and began using it on themselves. Within a few years of launch, the brand says, horse salve had become a regular item in German household medicine cabinets. German Wikipedia's general article on horse salve independently credits Jacoby as the inventor of the original product. It adds that the firm he went on to found still makes it [8]. ## History & milestones Two dates compete for the brand's starting point, and they describe different things rather than contradicting each other. The brand site dates its story to 1982, when Jacoby developed the original gel [2]; leovet was founded the same year. The first documented use of the "Apothekers Original" name itself comes later: leovet's company timeline records that Apothekers Original Pferdesalbe Gold went on sale in German pharmacies in 2004 [9]. The formula therefore dates from 1982, while the brand name as such is attested from 2004. In 1984 Jacoby patented the salve. The company describes it as the only horse salve ever to have been patented, a claim it makes about itself [2]. That patent has since expired, and the brand acknowledges that many other salves and gels are now sold under the generic term "Pferdesalbe". Over the following decades Jacoby and a growing staff developed further products to the same standards. The company says these sold worldwide. One of them was Apothekers Original Pferdesalbe Gold, which the brand describes as exclusive to pharmacies. Its 2004 pharmacy launch is the earliest dated appearance of the Apothekers Original name. The next major change came in 2015 and 2016. In that period the company added a warming salve, the Pferdesalbe Sport and the Pferdesalbe Extra. It also reworked its classic horse salve into a medical device, produced to pharmacopoeia quality. The product was renamed Apothekers Original PferdeMedicSalbe to mark the switch from care product to medical product [2]. ## Ownership Apothekers Original is run as the human-care arm of a family-owned group based in Lahnau. Leovet Dr. Jacoby GmbH & Co. KG is the parent company and manages more than 60 care products for horses. Its subsidiary, Equimedis Dr. Jacoby GmbH & Co. KG, looks after the products for people [2]. The brand states that the PferdeMedicSalbe is still made and sold by the parent company of Apothekers Original, and that the two firms work together on new versions of the salve. The company's legal notice lists Christian Jacoby as managing director and gives the registered address in Lahnau [3]. No acquisitions or changes of ownership are documented. ## Philosophy & positioning The company names the development, manufacture and improvement of quality products for the health and care of both people and horses as its driving principle. Its tagline, "Natürlich fit und gesund – mit der ganzen Kraft der Natur", roughly translates as "naturally fit and healthy, with the full power of nature". The brand's positioning rests on the difference between a cosmetic and a medical device. In its own explanation, a cosmetic is mainly soothing, while a medical device can also relieve and help prevent complaints because it contains a higher total amount of active ingredients. Apothekers Original says that, unlike many horse salves, its PferdeMedicSalbe is a designated medical device, available without a prescription [7]. The company also points to what it calls a "cold-warm" effect: menthol and camphor cool the skin first, and rosemary then brings a sense of warmth. Wikipedia describes the same two-step effect for horse salves in general. This distinction carries weight in Germany. Wikipedia notes that whether a horse salve counts as a medicine depends partly on its formula. In 2007 the Federal Administrative Court classified a horse salve with only a low concentration of camphor as a care product, not a drug [8]. That ruling concerned the category, not a named product from this brand. Alongside the medical framing, the company makes a set of formulation and production promises. It says its products are vegan, mineral-oil-free, microplastic-free and silicone-free, and rely on plant-based ingredients. It adds that it makes its products in-house in Germany, with short production routes it describes as free of child labour and unfair working conditions. No third-party certifications are documented. ## Products & innovation The range is built around the PferdeMedicSalbe, which the company presents as "the original". Its four plant-derived actives remain those of the 1982 gel: arnica, rosemary, menthol and camphor. The brand recommends it for joint and muscle complaints and for blunt injuries such as bruises and strains. It also says the product contains a higher total amount of active ingredients than many other horse salves [4]. Around the flagship sit several related products. Pferdesalbe Sport is aimed at athletes, and Pferdesalbe Extra is intended for tired legs. The Wärmesalbe is a warming balm designed to loosen tension. More recent additions include a Pferdesalbe bio Hanf made with hemp and a Magnesium Muskel Schaum, a muscle foam containing magnesium. The pharmacy-exclusive Pferdesalbe Gold, the line's first product under the Apothekers Original name, is also part of the brand's history. Several of these products carry a "new" label on the brand's website, though no launch dates are given. ## Current status Apothekers Original is active. Its products are sold through bricks-and-mortar and online pharmacies in Germany, and the company says they are also available in Swiss pharmacies [6]. The brand website lists six products, five of them labelled as new, and its footer carries a 2023 copyright notice from Equimedis Dr. Jacoby GmbH & Co. KG. No dated launches or announcements from the past year have been found, so the brand's current activity rests on its ongoing pharmacy distribution rather than on recent news. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1982 | Pharmacist and rider Dr. Ulf Jacoby develops a plant-based gel for his horses, named 'Pferdesalbe'. | https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/%C3%BCber-uns | | 1982 | Dr. Ulf Jacoby founds leovet (horse-care products, Lahnau), later the parent company of the Apothekers Original line. | https://www.leovet.de/historie | | 1984 | The Pferdesalbe is patented by Dr. Jacoby. | https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/%C3%BCber-uns | | 2004 | Apothekers Original Pferdesalbe Gold distributed in German pharmacies. | https://www.leovet.de/historie | | 2015 | 2015-2016: launch of Wärme Salbe, Pferdesalbe Sport and Pferdesalbe Extra; the classic Pferdesalbe is reworked into the medical device 'Apothekers Original PferdeMedicSalbe' (renamed accordingly). | https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/%C3%BCber-uns | | — | The original Pferdesalbe patent has expired (year not stated); many other products now use the term Pferdesalbe. | https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/f%C3%BCr-den-menschen | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Apothekers Original PferdeMedicSalbe** — Das Original - Apothekers Original PferdeMedicSalbe — https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/ - **Apothekers Original Pferdesalbe Gold** — darunter die apothekenexklusive „Apothekers Original Pferdesalbe Gold — https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/%C3%BCber-uns - **Apothekers Original Wärmesalbe** — Wärmt und löst - Apothekers Original Wärmesalbe — https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/ - **Apothekers Original Pferdesalbe Sport** — Speziell für Sportler - Apothekers Original Pferdesalbe Sport — https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/ - **Apothekers Original Magnesium Muskel Schaum** — Für lockere Muskeln - Apothekers Original Magnesium Muskel Schaum — https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/ ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} Arnika (arnica) · Rosmarin (rosemary) · Menthol · Kampfer (camphor) Source: https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/%C3%BCber-uns ## Proprietary technologies & patents {#belagg-tech} - Original Pferdesalbe formula patented by Dr. Jacoby in 1984 (brand says the only horse salve ever patented); the brand states the patent has since expired — https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/%C3%BCber-uns ## Sources 2. (T1) https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/%C3%BCber-uns 3. (T2) https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/impressum 4. (T2) https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/inhaltsstoffe 6. (T2) https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/h%C3%A4ndler 7. (T2) https://www.pferdemedicsalbe.de/wirkung-und-anwendung 8. (T3) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pferdesalbe 9. (T3) https://www.leovet.de/historie 10. (T3) https://pferdewiese.com/leovet-und-die-geschichte-des-dr-jacoby/ --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-05 Please cite with a link to the article URL.