Horses and burrs

ester

ester

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I’m curious as this has come up a few times lately on Facebook groups, would you consider a trad hairy cob with burrs in mane/tail feathers a welfare issue that should be attended?
 
The ones I’ve seen have been in paddocks that’s look like they would reinstate their burr laden status in about 24 hours. In general I’m surprised how uphauled people seem to be about it with otherwise very healthy looking horses who happen to be hairy.
 
Depends on how many and for how long.

A horse having a few isn’t an issue but when the mane and tail are not visible due to the burrs and nobody is removing them or removing the source of them then I’d say yes that’s when it starts to become a welfare issue.
 
ester said:
Ok so in what way a welfare issue exactly? The hair being pulled?
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I have seen a pony with a very thick long mane absolutely full of burrs, and it was pulling on the skin and causing the pony to rub, it must have been very uncomfortable so in that instance I suppose it could be a welfare issue.
 
I reported some neglected horses once and part of my concern was their manes and tails were so heavily knotted with burrs they were sore under their manes and their tails looked like one big lump, they had no water, were up to their knees in mud and had a lovely selection of ragwort to choose from but the attending officer did nothing, my contribution was to remove the headcollar that was left on a youngster, it was far too small so he had serious rubs on his nose and jaw and had been left by the inspector, I 'accidentally' undid it over the fence and 'lost' it in the nearby ditch.

A normal amount of burrs would not concern me, mine get them pulled out as and when because I don't want to deal with it if they get really tangled.
 
It's quite shocking how quickly the burrs can take hold. I had a pair of Shetlands who were moved onto a 2 acre field with a few low shrubs. Two, maybe three burr plants growing. Next morning their manes were so solid you could barely see the hair. They had to be hogged. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I'd assume they'd been like that for weeks.
 
There was one burr bush in Rufty's field and he always lay down in it. I had to cut his forelock off as no way could I remove the burrs. Luckily I managed to get them out of his tail. They were removed daily but he still looked a mess. After a few days I removed said bush
 
See the beastie in my avatar? The reason his forelock is up in the air like that is because it was matted into a 'unicorn' horn of burrs when this photo was taken. NOT a welfare issue.
 
Nudibranch said:
It's quite shocking how quickly the burrs can take hold. I had a pair of Shetlands who were moved onto a 2 acre field with a few low shrubs. Two, maybe three burr plants growing. Next morning their manes were so solid you could barely see the hair. They had to be hogged. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I'd assume they'd been like that for weeks.
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This. Arch adores burdock and comes in adorned with 'jewellery' every dayin burr season. He will eat the burrs as I take them off if he can get at them. This is one of his lesser-adorned days - I have a video where he is absolutely covered, but it's too big to load here.

IMG_4912 (1).jpg

I worry about his eyes and end up going round the field with loppers and taking out the stalks. Inevitably ends up with me being covered too and being followed by a very interested horse!
 
scruffy his forelock gets chopped of in your profile pic.

Thanks for your comments all it really helps, I don't think they really grow at 'home' ie somerset as I don't remember it ever being an issue there much, whereas cambs and essex I've seen a collection of welfare posts about them where hogging would seem the only resolution, but you wouldn't really want to do that with tails.

Todays ones are pretty covered but the field is large, not muddy, plenty of grass but enough brown scrub that you could imagine it might only take a few days for them to look like that.
 
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