Hedgerow foraging

[suestowford]

Do you do this? Collect plants from hedges to feed your horse?
Sometimes my ponies will do this for themselves. They particularly like gorse, also a dried nettle. I have one who will go out of his way for a fresh juicy thistle. Cleavers too.
The one thing I don't pick is cow parsley as I am a bit woolly about the difference between CP and one of the poisonous plants and don't want to make a dreadful mistake.

 

[Goldenstar]

No ,but every paddock gives them access to hedge rows .

 

[The Xmas Furry]

No ,but every paddock gives them access to hedge rows .

Same here. Both mine are currently enjoying cleavers and the soft new shoots of hawthorn as well as plenty of other things growing in and along the hedging.

 

[millikins]

I thought you meant for humans I eat the nettles when they're young and fresh, I also pick the mushrooms when they come up late Summer. As for the ponies, I'll pick cleavers and cow parsley for anyone on box rest and allow the connie to have a pick on the way home from a hack.

 

[Rokele55]

When I was working on a point to point yard i was sent out to pick fresh gorse buds for the horses as it was considered very good for their blood. I think it was all the blood drops from my scratched fingers that supplemented theirs. They enjoyed it though. They also used to be hand grazed and loved the fresh nettles, until one day a particularly explosive character decided to roll in them

 

[Burnttoast]

I planted 400m of extra hedging for this purpose but it's still too baby for the fences to come down so my regular job is to walk round the fields with my boy reaching through the electric and picking stuff for him. I put in as many species as I could for variety. When we were on livery I had a nice field with a mix of herbs etc in it but no hedges so in the morning I used to take a detour down a lovely little lane with fantastic hedges, park and get out the secateurs - used to see how many species I could find for him. Think my record was 11 (including some ground flora). I still pick cow parsley for him from the verges as I don't have much on my land. There's always plenty of cleavers popping up in the veg beds now, and when I weed I just chuck it over the fence for them.

 

[Burnttoast]

On the subject of CP and the nasty lookalikes... my mum nearly gave me a heart attack by going foraging for CP, coming back with a mix of CP and hemlock (it was at that point when both were flowering) and putting them over the boy's door. When I went in I wondered for a second why he hadn't finished the CP, picked it up and Fortunately the boy isn't an idiot and had carefully picked round all the hemlock

 

[Bluewaves]

My horse loves this time of year for hedge snacks. We moved yards last year and it's interesting to see the difference in vegetation along the roads between the two locations.

The last place had loads of cleavers growing wild on the roadside which he loved. Hardly any where we are now even though there is enough of a variety to keep him happy. He was in heaven eating young hawthorn
shoots last night.

Still waiting for white cow parsley flowers to appear here too.

 

[SilverLinings]

Where I currently have the horses they are fenced off from the hedgerow at this time of year as there is a large ditch. Their winter field has hedges but nothing much to eat in them at that time of year. In the mornings at the moment- and since about the end of March- I go for a wander down the lane and pick as much as I can carry, mainly cow/hedge parsley and what people call cleavers (I was brought up to call it bedstraw, but I think that name was just local to where we lived) as that is what they seem to choose if allowed to pick for themselves. I will start doing it slightly less often now that the grass in the field is growing wildly as they are on restricted grazing. When I have been on a yard where they couldn't live out 24/7 I would pick a handful when they were going into the stable (during the daytime at this time of year) so they had something other than just haylage to enjoy.

 

[catkin]

We have a row of hàwthorns behind one fence that are very neatly trimmed up to pony mouth height ?.
Most other things they pick for themselves though I do cut nettles for them as they like them wilted.
Very envious of those of you with gorse - the ponies love it but I can't get it growing here,

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Luckily mine have all that in their fields-gorse, hawthorn, ash later in the year and all manner of grasses and plants. I think they probably miss browsing the beech hedge at the farm this year. Our cow parsely and cleavers have only just poked their leaves up so far.

 

[Celtic Fringe]

My little cob had a good forage along the short section of road between the yard and his field yesterday - he loved cow parsley, cleavers, dandelions, three types of grass, some wild damson and hazel shoots. He also enjoys a nibble on the hawthorne at the edge of his field. I've also been taking him lots of cleavers from the back of our garden.
My old cob also loved a good forage in the woodland behind the yard, but weirdly would not touch cleavers at all.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I have done. I also like collecting willow and bringing that home for them. They love that, especially if one is on box rest or stuck in for some reason.

 

[spotty_pony]

Mine have lots to forage at in their fields… but no cow parsley although there is some in the village - you’ve given me an idea now, I’ll be off to get some for him this week! ?

 

[Sprogladite01]

I do this, I'm very fortunate in that we have an established hawthorn hedge, where nettles grow out the bottom of the hedge, and a willow tree in our front garden and my two boys absolutely LOVE their hedge treats! We also have cow parsley growing along the side of our road about 100 feet up the road so we can go and get bits of that when we feel like leaving the property. My connie especially loves the hedgerow stuff - he will even leave his treat ball in favour of the hawthorn

 

[Chippers1]

Buzz loves Cleavers, i'm always picking some for him or he has a snack on the way down to the field. All their fields have hedges around some of the boundary so the horses can often be found picking at them.

 

[meleeka]

My fields all have hedgerows. They are on a track so it means they always have plenty to eat (along with hay of course).

 

[scruffyponies]

I have done. I also like collecting willow and bringing that home for them. They love that, especially if one is on box rest or stuck in for some reason.

Mine stripped every bit of bark off a fallen willow in under 24hrs once. Smaller twigs were eaten too. They love it.

 

[Nudibranch]

Mine have hawthorn and blackthorn in the hedges, and gorse and broom in the fields. But I do pick them cleavers and cow parsley as well.

 

[suestowford]

Mine do have hedges to pick over but they tend to clear out their favourites rather quickly.
We have just in the past few days got our first new beech leaves - I never have to trim the beech in the hedge thanks to the ponies

 

[Horseysheepy]

My horses can't get to the hedgerows as we electric fence them off it in case they push through it like the sheep seem to! I do pull cleavers and cow parsley out for them and they love it when I shear back the nettles, I leave them on the ground and they scoff them up once dried a bit and scuffle to the goodies that have grown underneath!
Rose hips are a good source of vitamin C , some horses go mad for them, and I love watching the horses delicately bite off the thistle flowers.

 

[twobearsarthur]

Ours like to do DIY collection.

 

[TinseLeneHorse]

I have done. I also like collecting willow and bringing that home for them. They love that, especially if one is on box rest or stuck in for some reason.

Willow contains salilyc acid which is a natural anti inflammatory ( it is an ingredient in aspirin I think). So your box rest horse was doing some self healing by eating it ?
We were just talking about this subject yesterday at the yard. A lady's horse had a field accident and was very shaken up and bruised. When she took him out to graze in hand he was going for all the dandelions. They have anti inflammatory properties too apparently. (They are also a diuretic)
It's a fascinating subject and I'd love to learn more about it.

 

[cauda equina]

It's interesting to see what they pick for themselves when given the choice
One of mine stripped his field bare of dandelions, the other didn't seem to eat them at all

 

[poiuytrewq]

Willow contains salilyc acid which is a natural anti inflammatory ( it is an ingredient in aspirin I think). So your box rest horse was doing some self healing by eating it ?
We were just talking about this subject yesterday at the yard. A lady's horse had a field accident and was very shaken up and bruised. When she took him out to graze in hand he was going for all the dandelions. They have anti inflammatory properties too apparently. (They are also a diuretic)
It's a fascinating subject and I'd love to learn more about it.

Yes that’s why I used to get it. My rabbits also love it. It’s really interesting isn’t it.