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Keeping our horses safe and healthy: the prevention of plant toxicity through good pasture management This is the largest database of its kind.
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The promotion of good pasture health has far-reaching impacts, including reducing the presence of toxic plants and w**ds. Just as our own diets create disease and disorder within our bodies, the diets of equines do the same for theirs. Yet far too often, equines (horses of all sizes and breeds, donkeys, mules, and ponies) graze in less-than-healthy pastures. The consequences of toxic plants and w**ds in pastures are many, and can be very severe. For instance: one mouthful of some ornamental shrubs can kill a horse within hours...eating a certain prickly w**d can create a deadly addiction...the wilted leaves of some shade and fruit trees can kill your horse...some toxins persist for years even when dried in hay…many invasive and noxious w**ds are highly toxic in amounts as little as eight ounces...and it can take months or years of ingesting some toxic plants and w**ds before symptoms even appear, at which time it may be too late for treatment. During years of graduate research and since, I have compiled a database of hundreds of plants that cause toxicity in equines. The effects of many can be fatal, sometimes very swiftly. Even if toxic events do not result in death, most result in high financial cost. Good vet care is expensive; tests and treatments can be outrageously high priced, and there’s no guarantee of success. Euthanasia and burials are pricey...and then there are emotional costs. The anguish when your horse is ill or hurting...or the pain of losing it...is excruciating. Knowing that it was preventable through awareness on your part is heartbreaking. Being proactive is a must. We cannot adopt a wait-and-see attitude where the issues of equine and pasture health are concerned. It is possible to greatly reduce, if not nearly eliminate, plant toxicity through proper pasture management and diligence. Good pasture management techniques also significantly increase forage production and reduce feed/hay costs, decrease the presence of w**ds and unwanted plants, improve soil condition, help keep the watershed healthy, benefit wildlife and your neighbors, and create a sustainable system. The purpose of this page and these materials is to educate and inform about good equine pasture management, plant toxicity, toxic invasive w**ds, and grazing issues. Equines have been our champions for centuries; now it is up to us to be theirs. Thank you, for their sake, for your interest and support.