Hawthorn causing colic

[AWinter]

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0upkbCU96QjT4EqS2kunf7rNTukQ8goMkFExVGEQR9tij2UfaAojXdJVRoqSdsXE3l&id=100044159543084

I’m really head scratching about this one, my horses have access to hawthorn 24/7 and they delicately nibble at it. Is it not more likely that these horses were really hungry with no other food source? I am seeing so many horses at the moment out 24/7 on extremely short, poached grazing with no hay being supplemented. I wish the post offered more information about the horses.

I feel a bit irritated that the post is implying allowing horses access to hedgerow is the issue and encouraging people to fence them off.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Crikey, mine have always done a good job of pruning the hawthorn hedges, it’s all part of the diversity of grazing that we are encouraged to offer them.

Mine nibble steadily at them though all through the growing season, they pick out the soft growing shoots, so they don’t gorge themselves.

I suspect this is a more of lack of forage problem after the prolonged dry spell forcing horses to eat what they wouldn’t normally.

 

[BurntontheoutsideTurkey]

It is a bit annoying that they didn't just point out that horses are grazers not browsers and need hay if there's no grass.Hedgerow foraging is just useful (often very useful) nutrients on top but shouldn't ever be the sole food source.

 

[Lamehorses]

I always thought hedgerow browsing was a good thing.
I'm with you in suspecting gorging on it as they had inadequate amounts of grass / hay due to the unusual growing conditions.

 

[Goldenstar]

I think it likely these will be hungry horses eating quantities of stuff they normally would not because their fields are bare because of the weather .
If your paddocks are very bare give alternative forage and or straw chop and it’s old fashioned thing but I give horses bran mixed with straw and a few oats everyday when they get balancer and this is something I might do twice if I was managing them in very bare conditions.
I would say that you need to manage horses in bare paddocks with as vigorously as you need to manage horses in overly lush conditions.
I won’t worry about horses browsing hedges all of mine do.

 

[HaplessHorse]

My girls both occasionally pick at hedges and hawthorn. Saus will occasionally get grass mumps if she gorges herself on fresh shoots (even with adequate forage, she just seems to like hawthorn), but then I just move her off for a day and she’ll be fine.

 

[Sanversera]

Seems to me that the horse gobbled lots of hawthorn quickly. Any type of food would cause colic if the horse did this. Sounds like the horse was particularly hungry and lacked access to green feed until it found the hawthorn so basically made a pig of itself on it. I've kept horses in paddocks with hawthorn hedges and bushes for over fifty years.its never caused a problem.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I wouldn’t stop my horses browsing hedges due to this. Faran loves the tips of the hawthorn.

 

[tda]

My fields all have majority hawthorn hedge, they browse it from time to time, but never had any problems.

I suppose its like when a horse eats his straw bed when they have never done before and colics

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We are growing hawthorn hedging specifically because it's horse-friendly. We used to have a WelshD x who loved hedgerow foraging but never suffered ill effects from it.
We have next to no grass and are giving them almost as much hay as their winter rations now.

 

[Nancykitt]

Where we used to live, there were lots of hawthorns in the horses' field. They nibbled on them but never ate a huge amount.
I think that the issue here, as other people have said, is potentially more to do with lack of forage than the hawthorns themselves.

 

[Mrs. Glittery Jingle Balls]

Oh dear, here we go again. Never lost a horse in over 50 years due to eating hawthorn, most of the canny ones seek out the delicious new shoots in the springtime as a natural addition to make their diet more interesting and varied. Those referred to in the article that eat the old woody and thorny hawthorn at this time of year are very likely starving of nutrition, or pretty much any suitable food intake at all.

 

[Boulty]

I agree with you OP that it’s not the clearest post and should probably be worded better.

My interpretation is the same as yours - that the issue is not horses with access to other appropriate forage sources having a nibble of some hawthorn to supplement their diet but rather horses living in fields that have turned into dust bowls with little to no grass to graze with either no or insufficient hay provided in the turnout area gorging on hedges because it’s the only available food source.

 

[SEL]

I have one who eats wood (her stable door at one yard) so will happily stuff herself on some pretty large branches. But she also has access to hay, some grass (EMS) & obviously water. I suspect the colics either gorged or were dehydrated.

 

[Landcruiser]

A mare died of colic on a livery yard I was at about 15 years ago. Starvation paddock, very bare, no hay supplemented, was eating the hedges. It was very sad for the owner, and a salutary lesson for everyone there.

 

[Exasperated]

I think it likely these will be hungry horses eating quantities of stuff they normally would not because their fields are bare because of the weather .
If your paddocks are very bare give alternative forage and or straw chop and it’s old fashioned thing but I give horses bran mixed with straw and a few oats everyday when they get balancer and this is something I might do twice if I was managing them in very bare conditions.
I would say that you need to manage horses in bare paddocks with as vigorously as you need to manage horses in overly lush conditions.
I won’t worry about horses browsing hedges all of mine do.

It will be, and horses are a lot safer browsing whitethorn than blackthorn, any day.

 

[kerrieberry2]

sad for the horses affected but I'm sure theres more too it! my field is hedged 3/4 of the way around and the horses are always browsing them. they have next to no grass but have been supplemented with winter volumes of hay all year this year. I for one won't worry about this! i'd be in a constant state of panic if I worried about everything someone wrote on the internet!

 

[BlueFire710]

I agree with other replies - very likely more to do with eating large quantities due to inadequate forage. I’m seeing so many absolutely bare paddocks with no hay around here that horses must be very hungry indeed. If digestive systems are at all compromised (likely will be in those conditions) then adding an abundance of hawthorn into that mix would understandably prove too much to tolerate.

I was saddened this wasn’t explained in the post too, and instead implied the hedgerows themselves were the isssue. I have had horses browsing varied hedgerows to their mental and likely physical benefit for years.