Horse People ???

[afeatherfan]

Cherry Tree's also..

 

[valmom]

Swamp Maples are also extremely toxic- I lost a pony to them before I knew and cut them all down as far as I could get to. Apparently a handful of wilted leaves can kill a horse if they eat them. Sugar Maples and other maples are fine- just the Swamp Maples are toxic.

 

[patandchickens]

Is swamp maple another name for Red Maple? I know that red maple is indeed a known cause of many poisonings in horses - I personally know someone who lost a horse that way.

BTW, note that all these poisonous plants are only poisonous IF the horses take it in their big furry heads to eat 'em (and sometimes it has to be a certain time of year, plant must be wilted, etc). Consequently you will find loads of people who say 'oh, I have had such-and-such in my pasture for twenty years and nothing has ever happened to my horses'. The problem is, there is absolutely no way of knowing WHEN your horses may decide to go on a gourmet binge, and you'll only know AFTER it's too late. So things like walnut trees, cherries, red maple etc should probably be kept away from horse pastures. (Also yew, oleander, and some others).

(Walnut shavings are an exception, my understanding is that they will almost always cause laminitis if a horse is exposed. Hence, buy ONLY bedding-grade softwood shavings from a trustworthy source).

It's a little more of a judgement call on plants that do not kill the horse so quickly or cause such irreversible damage. I will admit I have buttercup and milkweed in my pastures. The horses have plenty of other things to eat. But I do keep an eye out for anything that could be a symptom of early poisoning, so as to catch it before too much damage is done. I do not think it is realistic in some locations to think you can keep a TOTALLY questionable-plant-free pasture.


Pat

 

[valmom]

Yes Swamp Maples are Red Maples. They go by both names around here. But when I say Red Maples, many people picture Japanese Maples with the red leaves- that's not them. These trees have green leaves like normal trees- in the spring they bud red, though.

 

[RockinCircleC]

This is a small list of plants/trees mostly in the Pacific Northwest:

http://www.horsesforcleanwater.com/tipsheets/WesternWaPoisonousPlants.pdf

A great book is:

Horse Owners Field Guide to Toxic Plants (Paperback)
by Sandra Burger (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Horse-Owners-...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202407355&sr=8-1

 

[smoothmule]

So sorry to hear of the loss of your mare and foal. There are a number of plants that are toxic to most livestock but most of the time, if a horse can avoid eating it they will. Walnut leaves, bark and hulls are very toxic but I've never heard of a horse eating the leaves unless there wasn't much else to eat. Acorns are also a very toxic thing, in large amounts.
We also live in SW Missouri and there are lot's of "noxious" plants everywhere but unless the horses are confined and run out of better things to eat, they won't eat the bad weeds....normally.

We have 40 acres and on one end ouf our place there are about 15 black walnut trees and loads of oak trees of different kinds that had loads of acorns. We also have hickory nut trees and osage orange (hedge apple) as well as black locust. I Hate black locust. The seeds are very poisonous and it's very thorny so we've nearly eradicated them but have to keep killing the seedlings that pop up every year.

We've never had a problem but we have plenty of pasture. The past few years have made it tough with less pasture and high hay prices. That leaves the livestock to browse and nibble things they would not have normally eaten.

 

[EggCentric]

Another way to tell a red maple is that the stem running from the leaf to the branch is red. On regular maples it's green.

 

[bigreyhorse]

I'm really sorry to hear about your mare and foal,
yeah just because they haven't eaten them for some years doesn't mean they eventually won't.
You might want to look into some other possibilities, you most likely would have noticed if either one foundered, it sounds like they were sudden deaths.

Do you have other horses? I'm sure you have already done this but get them out of the pasture until you find the source. (If you can)

Again, I'm sorry for your loss

bigrey

 

[Stella1964]

We have a black walnut tree on our property and NOTHING will grow around it or under it, not even weeds. It makes the soil so very toxic so keep it away from any of your animals. If you must cut it down, find someone who will give you a good price for the wood. It's very expensive and many people will pay dearly for the whole tree to use for furniture and cabinet making. It's one of the hardest hardwoods around.

 

[farmgirlie1031]

Black walnut is so toxic you can't have any of it in your shavings either. If you are not sure if the shavings have it in them don't even use them.