Giving gorse to horses

Birker2020

Birker2020

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We have racehorses on our yard and the racehorse trainer pulls up gorse by the car load and feeds it to her seven racehorses. She asked me if my horse wanted some the other day so I had a small 'branch' off her. He went mad for it, think he was more interested in pulling the bark off it than the actual gorse itself but he seemed to enjoy it and ate his fill.

Was a little worried about giving him it as he gets colic quite easily but as its a natural plant I didn't think it was too big an issue. When I got home I googled giving gorse to horses and came across a thread somewhere about a horse just out of hospital for colic surgery and the vet recommended feeding the box rested horse gorse so I guess it is safe for colic prone horses! lol

Bit concerned that pulling up so much would cause an environmental problem as I understand little birds tend to hide from predators in it, but I think that where its come from there is plenty of it and I think it some parts of the country its considered a menace anyway and is dug up by the lorry load.

Does anyone else feed it? If so how much and in what way do you feed it?
 
We have some gorse in our grazing - the horses love the flowers and snack on them all the time.

As above, they also use it for shelter from the wind and rain, so a very useful bush!
 
I read somewhere that Princess Anne recommends gorse for sickly neddies. Think it was in a biography or something like that, I believe she said it was a tip passed on to her when she first started. Looks like it could be one of those 'horseman's tales' that actually has a grain of truth in it.
 
My mum used to say grandpa fed it to the driving horses on their day off, to promote good health and wind. Mother also fed it to my 1st pony , he had broken wind, but managed to stay enough to still be in the prince philip cup team at 19/20

Mine like to nibble the tips if they get the chance when out hacking :)
 
Moor ponies have been eating it since the year dot. It certainly won't do them any harm. Most grazing and browsing animals seem to really appreciate a few branches of it.
 
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