Could it be acorns???

[mistymoo]

Hi

My horse came in last thursday with an awful allergic reaction. All over her, head body, legs etc. kept her in that night and it had completely gone so have put it down to something in the field. (she had a different allergic reation last year so luckily I have lots of piriton). Friday she was ok then saturday she had rash back but not as bad. Rash gone by sunday and not returned today.

In the mean time I have ridden (I do endurance) a 15 mile pleasure ride and horse was totally normal, full of energy etc. She has a bright shiny coat, is bright in herself but she has lost some appitite which is very unusual (normally very greedy) She will eat the long grass and her hard feed but hardly touches hay/haylage and tonight not eaten her carrots.

I have the dentist coming out on saturday to check but I am very concerned as there are 7 huge oak trees in the field and I am worried she might have signs of oak tree poisoning??????

HELP!!! x

 

[KarynK]

There is no easy answer with Acorns as there are different symptoms and tollerances with different horses, they also vary according to the age of the tree amount ingested and the greeness of the Acorns.

They turn Pig's onto the New Forest this time of year (pannage) for this very reason. As a child working on a stud farm, we lost a mare one year she spent a whole day in a young stand of oaks gorging herself, when we found her it was too late and the toxins claimed her life in the end, her symptoms were similar to tetanus.

You could try hiring a garden vac from somewhere or borrowing one to hoover up the acorns if you think they are causing problems.



Here is a useful link
http://www.provet.co.uk/lorgue/5a5a0e1.htm