A hungry horse will eat just about anything you give him. But that doesn’t mean you should give him just anything! In fact, while there are many fruits, vegetables or leaves that are perfectly healthy for you to eat – the same can actually be very harmful for your horse. And these you MUST avoid!
So, here they are:
12 Plants that you shouldn’t feed horses
1. Lawn clippings – some plants as well as weeds can be poisonous. Also the sugar in the freshly cut clippings can actually cause laminitis.
2. Cruciferous vegetables are another total no-no! They will create gas and make your horse uncomfortable.
And now for the really poisonous plants:
3. Lily of the valley and rhubarb leaves – these are toxic for horses.
4. Alsike clover – They are very poisonous for horses. If your horse eats these, they’ll get sunburn-like sores in the mouth, diarrhea, colic and even ‘big liver syndrome’.
5. Bracken fern – these can affect the horse’s nervous system. However, some horses are known to like the taste – so you need to carefully keep your horse away from these.
6. Hemlock – this is known to be a poison, even for humans. Can lead to tremors, colic, diminished heart rate.
7. Tansy ragwort – can lead to liver failure.
8. Johnson grass –will cause inflammation of the urinary bladder.
9. Yew – can lead to sudden death
Besides these 9 plants, oleander, yellow star thistle and red maple foliage – these 3 plants are considered poisonous too, though the exact ways in which they can harm your horse are not yet known.
Horses are usually going to eat foliage that they can find in and around the place they are kept. They could also eat leaves while on the trail. But these leaves are a total no-no. These are all plants you shouldn’t feed horses! They can cause severe poisoning, cause a pregnant mare to abort and can even prove fatal for the horse.
Of course, you’d want to keep your horse away from these plants. It may not always be easy – and ingesting a stray leaf here or there should be fine – but keep your horse away from such foliage.
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