chaps89
Well-Known Member
Researching here says black tongue = mineral imbalance.
So off I trot to local feed merchant for all round vit & min supplement, which horse has now been on for 10 days.
He is turned out 24/7 on reasonable grazing, it isn't sprayed in any way, he has been there since January, gets fed handful of hi-fi lite & pony nuts to have his medicine (steroids, danilon & joint supplement) No creosote on the fence for him to be licking, plus it's all electrified anyway. On a regular worming programme & fields poo picked daily.
Never before in the 9 years I've had him has he had a black tongue! First noticed it about 3 or 4 weeks ago, took a closer look today, his tongues still black but so is all around his teeth (not his gums but the bits where they normally get a bit of discolouration/plaque anyway?) Teeth done late last August/early last September, never had any problems with them before. Have noticed when poo picking there has been a black oily residue on the grass below once dropping is scooped up sometimes, but he shares a field with another horse so no idea if that's him or her or if it's even related.
It sounds bonkers but all I can think is he's turned out with a black horse who has a skanky coat & skin condition so gets bathed in strong medicinal shampoo and I'm wondering if it's doing something to the pigments in her coat & it's coming off when they groom each other. But that sounds far fetched even to me!
Horse is fine in all other ways (for him!) Nothing else has changed. If it is mineral imbalance, once on a supplement how soon might you notice a difference? It is also definitley black, not dark brown and looks more like my tongue would look if I drank a slush puppy, just discoloured on top not all the way through but the black bits round the teeth looked really odd today!
No pics as altho he's good I don't want to go sticking my blackberry inside his mouth!
Any ideas?!
So off I trot to local feed merchant for all round vit & min supplement, which horse has now been on for 10 days.
He is turned out 24/7 on reasonable grazing, it isn't sprayed in any way, he has been there since January, gets fed handful of hi-fi lite & pony nuts to have his medicine (steroids, danilon & joint supplement) No creosote on the fence for him to be licking, plus it's all electrified anyway. On a regular worming programme & fields poo picked daily.
Never before in the 9 years I've had him has he had a black tongue! First noticed it about 3 or 4 weeks ago, took a closer look today, his tongues still black but so is all around his teeth (not his gums but the bits where they normally get a bit of discolouration/plaque anyway?) Teeth done late last August/early last September, never had any problems with them before. Have noticed when poo picking there has been a black oily residue on the grass below once dropping is scooped up sometimes, but he shares a field with another horse so no idea if that's him or her or if it's even related.
It sounds bonkers but all I can think is he's turned out with a black horse who has a skanky coat & skin condition so gets bathed in strong medicinal shampoo and I'm wondering if it's doing something to the pigments in her coat & it's coming off when they groom each other. But that sounds far fetched even to me!
Horse is fine in all other ways (for him!) Nothing else has changed. If it is mineral imbalance, once on a supplement how soon might you notice a difference? It is also definitley black, not dark brown and looks more like my tongue would look if I drank a slush puppy, just discoloured on top not all the way through but the black bits round the teeth looked really odd today!
No pics as altho he's good I don't want to go sticking my blackberry inside his mouth!
Any ideas?!
One or two small thistles in the field but not lots, plenty of dandelions in the bottom fields but not many in the fields he's been grazing for the last month or two.
