>>> do any of you have toxic plants? Janice
The worst we have are wild cherry trees - even small amounts of the wilted leaves of the cherry trees can be fatal. A neighbor lost a horse about 15-20 years ago. The hay on the delivery truck brushed under a wild cherry tree on the way in, and a horse ate them from that bale. It took a while to realize how they got them, but they finally saw them in the hay. We try to cut all cherry trees that are anywhere even vaguely close to the edge of our pasture fence, and we tolerate none inside the fence. They are really not nice trees at all - even the fruit doesn't bear well here, and the trees are nuisances, sprouting freely. We have native red maples here, but from what I've read, it takes a lot of the wilted leaves of maples to be deadly or even seriously toxic. I still don't have any in my pasture, and I STRONGLY discourage anyone from even letting their horse snack on even one of the un-wilted leaves along our trails. Better safe than sorry - but maples ARE lovely trees virtually year round. They are blooming now, they make great shade in the summer, and the fall color is spectacular. They are very nice trees - just not around horses. I've heard stories of oak leaves and wild garlic being poison, but I don't worry about them in reasonable quantities - on even in the case of wild garlic, unreasonable quantities. "Wild onions" as they are called here are rampant in every pasture I know of, and many horses here live to ripe old ages - albeit with garlic breath, but that's ok with me. I think we have a few more toxic weeds, but nothing too prevalent or too dangerous. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.518 / Virus Database: 269.21.7/1325 - Release Date: 3/11/2008 1:41 PM
