Horses and holly hedges

[ElleSkywalker]

Am I right in thinking that holly = evergreen = poisonous to horses?

I have some thick tall holly hedges that need sorting and elsewhere in village have seen that trimmed properly that make ace hedges, thick and prickly and as evergreen effective all year, I will off course fence in front of them if as I suspect they are poisonous but they look to make really good thick hedges

Free holly to make Christmas wreaths for all

Elle

 

[Coblover63]

Gosh, no-one told my four this.... they munched a "doorway" through a large bush last winter and created a den for themselves!!!

 

[ElleSkywalker]

:eek3: No ill effects I take it? What type of holly was it? Mine is bog standard green with red berries. Very festive!

 

[leggs]

do you have a picture ? the berries worry me !

 

[Kati*89]

Ours quite often destroy the holly bush, no ill effects! Funny watching them try and take leaves off though!

 

[Moya_999]

Am I right in thinking that holly = evergreen = poisonous to horses?

I have some thick tall holly hedges that need sorting and elsewhere in village have seen that trimmed properly that make ace hedges, thick and prickly and as evergreen effective all year, I will off course fence in front of them if as I suspect they are poisonous but they look to make really good thick hedges


Free holly to make Christmas wreaths for all

Elle

We have holly at the top of one of the grazing fields - never been a problem

 

[Moya_999]

Ours quite often destroy the holly bush, no ill effects! Funny watching them try and take leaves off though!

lol also funny watching them take the tops of the thistles of without getting pricked lol

 

[ElleSkywalker]

do you have a picture ? the berries worry me !

No pics sorry. There are a few berries and they are just red, leaves are just plain green, not veriagated and spikey

 

[be positive]

Holly seems to be mildly toxic, like many things that grow in the fields, they don't tend to eat it but again they do sometimes get a taste for it.

An answer given on another site seems to cover it.
It does appear that Holly is moderately toxic to horses. Some of the symptoms would include digestive upset, or colic, more severely leading to tremors or seizures. The toxic parts of the plant include but are not limited to the berries. I would recommend not planting Holly trees where horses can gain access to them. Most horses will not eat trees if given a choice of other fresh hay or forage; however, some horses can acquire a taste for anything. Most toxic plants are unpalatable and give off a bitter taste and/or smell.

Answer provided by Carey Williams, Ph.D., Rutgers Cooperative

 

[ElleSkywalker]

^^^^ Thanks. So fenced off out of nibbling reach should be fine then

 

[be positive]

^^^^ Thanks. So fenced off out of nibbling reach should be fine then

Should be fine, still a good wind break but out of reach from nibbling ponies.

 

[rowan666]

If you contact local nurseries (the plant kind not the child care kind lol) they will probobly come and cut it back for you free in exchange for the bits they cut off to use for wreaths (they do where I work anyway)
But our lot ate our holly bush!