Leylandii

[Boughtabay]

Mr giant-bum has sat on the fence between their pasture and the leylandii hedge in our garden & they’ve both had a little nibble on the bark they could reach. I’m 99% sure the nibbling happened last night and they both appear totally fine this morning - they’d be dead by now if they were going to keel over right? Is a nibble enough to bring down 2 15.3+hh horses? Google just says “is toxic”! They have plenty of water and hay 24/7 so they’ll have had full bellies while “taste testing”

Leylandii is now of course, double layer fenced off (I wish I could rip the horrid stuff out but it’s not my hedge!)

offending nibbled bits: I’d say these branches are about 2 thumbs width

 

[SEL]

My friend's horses both got very, very sick when a felled leylandii was left in their field and they munched on it. The youngster had diarrhea quite quickly but her older mare who already had some health issues went neurological and they couldn't save her. Youngster was fine within 48 hours

So I think you'd be seeing upset stomachs by now if they'd had a lot - apparently that's what the vets say they normally see.

When people say horses know what they need and not to fence off trees I get cross! I've pulled laurel out of the mouth of one of mine and yanked another away from a yew hedge. They aren't that bright .....

 

[Boughtabay]

It’s the youngster who’s probably been munching - not because he’s after anything in particular, just because if it’s within reach it will go in his gob so I agree I definitely wouldn’t leave him to decide what’s good for him or not!!!

I’ll keep an eye out for runny poos but so far all normal, thanks

 

[PurBee]

Was it just the bark they ate or the green leaves too?

I wouldnt be so worried if it was just a bit of bark as the bark often doesnt contain the toxins the greenery/leaves are known for.

If theyve eaten leaves, and a fair amount, i’d give them speedibeet with a huge handfull of activated charcoal mixed in to draw toxins out of the gut - the sooner you do the charcoal feed after suspected poisoning the better the chance of it reducing toxin-absorption.

 

[Boughtabay]

No leaves touched thankfully! Just nibbling on bark and not much of that either - only the 3 little patches pictured.
I’ll be keeping an eye on them but this has put my mind at ease a bit - it’s been many hours now and they were both cheery at 11.30 am!

 

[PurBee]

No leaves touched thankfully! Just nibbling on bark and not much of that either - only the 3 little patches pictured.
I’ll be keeping an eye on them but this has put my mind at ease a bit - it’s been many hours now and they were both cheery at 11.30 am!

That is good news

Other old posts online from owners about their horses eating leylandii leaves, ate a fair amount, colic was the main symptom, all horses mostly survived except a shetland who ate far too much for body weight.

The real concerning tree that literally is very toxic with just a few mouthfuls is Yew tree.
The other toxic trees well-known have to have been eaten a fair amount before serious symptoms present.

When mine was a youngster he loved nibbling on tree bark/branches - it was as he was ‘teething’ with new adult teeth pushing through, so found the grinding on hard material relieving of likely intermittent toothache.

 

[Boughtabay]

That is good news

Other old posts online from owners about their horses eating leylandii leaves, ate a fair amount, colic was the main symptom, all horses mostly survived except a shetland who ate far too much for body weight.

The real concerning tree that literally is very toxic with just a few mouthfuls is Yew tree.
The other toxic trees well-known have to have been eaten a fair amount before serious symptoms present.

When mine was a youngster he loved nibbling on tree bark/branches - it was as he was ‘teething’ with new adult teeth pushing through, so found the grinding on hard material relieving of likely intermittent toothache.

thankyou all useful info! Yes I had hoped he’d have grown out of this by now - he’s riding 6 but he just loves grabbing things with his teeth not just bark (although he’s completely stripped a willow in the summer field) he took my wellies for a spin round the field and all sorts of other nonsense

 

[PurBee]

Oh yeah, they love love love willow bark! Welly rubber is novel!

 

[Nasicus]

When people say horses know what they need and not to fence off trees I get cross! I've pulled laurel out of the mouth of one of mine and yanked another away from a yew hedge. They aren't that bright .....

Eeeeyup. Someome dumped laurel branches in my field once, and I turned up to the youngster at the time merrily tucking in despite the copious amounts of good grass. £350, a stomach pumped full of paraffin and a bunch of toxicity meds later, I side eye anyone who insists horses won't eat anything bad for them.

 

[SEL]

Eeeeyup. Someome dumped laurel branches in my field once, and I turned up to the youngster at the time merrily tucking in despite the copious amounts of good grass. £350, a stomach pumped full of paraffin and a bunch of toxicity meds later, I side eye anyone who insists horses won't eat anything bad for them.

My big mare seems to have a rule that if it's green it's edible. I'm not sure her taste buds have time to send signals to the brain before she's devoured whatever she's found

OP my youngster is chewing on anything wood related too. Fence posts mainly but I threw an ash log in to try and spare the fencing. Yours sound like they got away with their fir tree munchies thankfully.

 

[Mudfukkle]

Mine have Leylandii on two sides of their field, they munch the bark and have eaten some of the leaves, but I've never had any issues at all. Perhaps I've just been lucky?

 

[Boughtabay]

My big mare seems to have a rule that if it's green it's edible. I'm not sure her taste buds have time to send signals to the brain before she's devoured whatever she's found

OP my youngster is chewing on anything wood related too. Fence posts mainly but I threw an ash log in to try and spare the fencing. Yours sound like they got away with their fir tree munchies thankfully.

yes he does have a go at fence posts too - but seemingly only the ones that make a satisfying “crunch” … in October he made a B line for the acorns too so I had to fence them off and sweep them out until they’d gone soft!

I have considered buying him a rope or something to carry about but I’m worried he’d swallow something like that … he’s clearly not very bright based on the reason I’ve started this thread

 

[paddy555]

Mine have Leylandii on two sides of their field, they munch the bark and have eaten some of the leaves, but I've never had any issues at all. Perhaps I've just been lucky?

we have leylandi and whilst they are fenced off they do manage to eat some of the leaves.. I also have never had any issues. I wouldn't let them eat it out of choice but I wouldn't panic if they did.

 

[Boughtabay]

we have leylandi and whilst they are fenced off they do manage to eat some of the leaves.. I also have never had any issues. I wouldn't let them eat it out of choice but I wouldn't panic if they did.

wont lie i did panic a bit as the top google result is “ALL PARTS ARE TOXIC” - but no poopy bums this evening and much excitement about the new fence around their exclusion zone so no harm done!