Acorns

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Durhamgirl

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So, have just moved to a new yard which is lovely except for one thing - oak trees in fields. I'm already worrying about next years acorn fall as my horse loves them. It seems there's no inclination to fence off the areas and yard owner and liveries are quite relaxed about acorns falling to the ground and the horses eating them although apparently there have been a couple with runny tummies. Grateful to hear your acorn experiences!
 
We have oak trees over our gelding paddocks - some of the horses will eat acorns. If its a mast year (i.e. lots of them) we'll go in and sweep them up at the same time as muck picking. Otherwise to be honest we don't worry too much. I've been on that yard over a decade and no-one has ever had problems from the acorns.
 
I have one paddock lined with oak trees, as fast as they fall they are picked up. We have a very healthy population of squirrels (reds, blacks and greys) and chipmunks, also our flock of wild turkeys pick them up as do the jays and woodpeckers. The horses never bother with them at all.

In the UK the only place I ever kept horses with oak trees was on a pig farm, the pigs were free range and gobbled them up like kids in a candy shop.

It is surprising how many acorns a chipmunk can store :D
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If you are concerned about your horse and the acorns, and no-one else seems inclined to do anything about it, then you will probably have to take it upon yourself to clear them. If the YO wants them for regrowth (unlikely) then give him/her a bagful. I would just throw them back in the hedge where the animals and birds could get at them for winter.
 
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Lost one to suspected acorn 2 years ago. Personally I don't risk it. Fence off and rake.

I have forest ponies and two years ago was a very bad year, the hunt were working overtime picking up fallen stock.

Enfys - chipmunks?
 
My horse is in a massive field surrounded by oaks, probably about 20 oak trees. Most of the horses don't bother with them but mine seemed to be eating them so I have moved him to another field for a few weeks until they are finished falling. He is very cross at being moved from the herd but I'd rather not risk him eating them. There are just too many oak trees in his normal field to fence off or rake up.
 
I have one big oak tree in my new field. At the moment they aren't on that part however after I rake all the acorns up is it safe for them to eat the leaves. I don't know that they will but it has very low branches so they could reach them. Seems a shame to fence the tree off completely as they can go under for shelter.
 
At my previous yard, there was a most beautiful, massive oak tree in one of the fields, which provided excellent shelter, but unfortunately my horse developed an almost ravenous appetite for the acorns. There was another oak tree in one of the gateways, and he also spent a lot of his turn-out time hoovering up the acorns in that area. I was very concerned about this, especially when I started noticing that his poohs was starting to get much firmer in consistency, but luckily nothing bad happened to him. I did move to a new yard (for completely unrelated reasons) at the start of last year autumn, and there are no oak trees in the turn-out fields, I'm glad to say. But just recently on hacking along, he sniffed out a few forlorn acorns on one of the tracks, and now he tries to put in a stop every time we pass that area so he can have some more! Such a shame horses shouldn't have loads of it. I have to say I'm very impressed with his sense of smell, to be able to forage on a loose rein and sniffing out a few acorns.
 
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