Acorn leaf poisening

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brannyman

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Does anyone know if acorn leaves are harmful at this time of year, my 27 year old gelding struggles with eating grass because his teeth are poor and he was seen eating acorns shortly before he was treated for suspected acorn poisening, he didn't have full blown colic, he was bright but obviously uncomfortable with constipation. Fortunately we caught it in time and he has been put on a small paddock on his own until the acorns go. The problem I have now is that he is getting a bit stressed being separated from other horses and although the acorns seem to have gone the leaves are still there. Not sure whether I should take the chance and put him back out or risk him getting stressed on his own.
 
Yes, the leaves will still be toxic, not as much as in the spring but I wouldn't risk it.

'Oak leaves and acorns contain tannic acid which is poisonous to horses and though eating a small number of leaves or acorns is almost certainly harmless, they can also be addictive, and once a horse has acquired a taste for them they can actively search them out. Also some animals seem to be more suseptible to oak poisoning than others with individual animals having different levels of tolerance.'
 
There is only one pony that I could put with him and his owner doesn’t want him on the small paddock at this time of year, all the others would bully him, including my mare, it makes me wonder why he is missing them really. He can’t have hay because of his poor teeth and secondly because he is bottom of the pecking order he wouldn’t get much if he could eat it. He is such a lovely old boy, good job he has me because the odds are stacked against him these days.
 
Sorry, I have nothing constructive to add, other than 'I feel your pain'. I spent 2 hours last Sunday raking and sweeping up acorns and oak leaves and made very little impact on them.
Your boy sounds so sweet, bless him :)
 
There is no way i would risk, a friends friend has just lost a herd of horses through acorn poisoning, they too had thought they had cleared them all up.
 
From what you are all saying I think the obvious answer is not to take the chance, I have had him too long and gone through too much with him to put him at risk now. I can alleviate his boredom but I do know that there is no antedote for acorn poisoning and I was lucky this time, it would be foolish to take a chance. Next question though, does anyone know what time of year is safe to put him back out.
 
brannyman said:
Next question though, does anyone know what time of year is safe to put him back out.
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The best time is when there are no leaves or acorns falling and the ground has been cleared (lots of raking = very hot work :( ), just make sure that there is no access to the tree at any point during the year and remove again before next autumn x
 
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