Neighbor's horse & pony die of acorns, pears

[Marty]

I had been complaining all week that my horses keep tearing down my temp fence I put up every year to keep them from eating the acorns that fall in the barn yard. No one around here ever takes me seriously and write me off as being paranoid.

My neighbor down the road lost his fox trotter horse and icelandic pony yestarday due to the acorns, and pears and not sure but I think apples too that had fallen in his pasture. He noticed them both down at the same time, bloated badly, hauled them to the hospital where after a 2 day struggle they didn't make it. The vets said this is attributed to the amount of pears and nuts they had been eating.

We have pear trees too and I don't let anyone feed them to the horses. I'm tearing my hair out daily over these stupid acorns. I'll be connecting it to the hot wire this weekend. I have one that is really huge that I am certain has gotten into them. Don't take chances. Keep them away from these stupid nuts.

 

[ljc]

I'm a fanatic about keeping my horses (big and little) away from acorns. Not only do I put up electric tape around Labor Day, I go in to the fenced off section and rake up the acorns just in case someone busts through the tape. Considering we have maybe eight large heritage oaks lining one whole side of the field, we're talking major acorns. But after a bout of mysterious colics one year (a mystery solved by some online research that mentioned acorns), I am taking no chances.

And I hear all the time about horses with no problems eating acorns. Good for them. I'm not taking a chance.

I'm very sorry about your neighbor's horses.

 

[Charlotte]

Thank goodness you have been proactive on the acorns Marty. We have lots of oaks in the pasture too and fight acorns most years. I do the same as ljc....rake the darn things every morning.

I've never had a problem from the few the horses do get, but a friend here had a rash of abortions one year that the vet attributed to acorns.

I love the trees, but not their seeds!

Charlotte

 

[candycar]

Yup. That's why I hate Fall. My drylot is bordered by oaks that I can't cut down 'cause they aren't mine. I've had the girls locked down in the small pen for 2 weeks now. If it's not too windy, in the morning I blow all the leaves off and pick up the acorns and let them out for a few hours. I have to wait 'till all the leaves are off the trees also. They love those oak leaves. My neighbors think I'm crazy! But as long as it keeps the vet away I don't care.

 

[bfogg]

Yup acorns grr.... for years I have told people about acorns and minis and for years people just say, "oh my horses eat them all the time"!

I have known many that have coliced and huge vet bills following. Many didn't make it.

For me, we cut down all the oak trees over the years. I know it is not something that everybody can do, but please keep them away from the horses if you can.

I know a very expensive mini that was lost to they figured one or 2 red maple leaves.Not that it matters what you paid for them they are priceless.

Hugs

Bonnie

 

[wildoak]

We value our big oaks so much, the thought of cutting one down is just sacrilege lol...not enough trees here as it is! We only have a few in our pastures though, and our horses have never obsessed on the acorns. I have seen horses colic on mesquite beans too...anything they like and can overindulge on. We used to have a peach tree overhanging the foaling pasture and had to try to beat the mares to the peaches every morning - it was a race, they would literally stand under the tree and grab peaches as they fell. I'm sorry for your neighbor, what a terrible loss. Will certainly make me watch ours more closely.

Jan

 

[AshleyNicole]

What I have done to get rid of the acorns including the leaves is have a small potbelly pig lol. As soon as one drops he is over there eating them. I don't even feed him he eats the acorns and anything the horses drop when eating and he is fat and happy.

 

[wingnut]

Marty, as always, thanks for this information, though it is a very sad story

We don't have trees to worry about but I didn't know this about acorns, so if we ever move in the future or if we decide to plants some trees, I'll know that oak trees are a absolutely out of the question!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I didn't know about this either as we don't have oak trees in my area. Thanks for the info! I've caught Turbo eating leaves off our maple tree this year and always yank them out of his mouth but thankfully it's not the really bad kind of maple. (I think it's a vine maple as opposed to a red maple?)

Leia

 

[HGFarm]

Yikes we dont have any of that stuff here and had no idea about all the dangers of that stuff.

We do have a lot of mesquite here, and horses will colic when they eat the beans while they are still green and on the tree- they are very stringy and hard to digest and they actually can get impacted. Dried beans are ok as they are crunchy. That's about the only thing we have here that would be a problem though.

So sorry about your neighbors horses- that is just awful and had to be extremely painful for them.

 

[Carolyn R]

Y'up, acorns, red maple, black walnuts (any part of the tree includding the nuts) cherry, the list goes on, fall is not my favorite time of year.