Mushroom Poisoning a warning

I am envious of that selection of cool mushrooms! We've only got a couple of types. Sorry to hear about the horse, it sounds like he is on the mend though!

I don't see why horses wouldn't eat mushrooms, especially if not much else around, good source of protein etc.

It's not really that difficult identifying things, you just need to compare the characteristics in full rather than saying 'yeah that one looks like the picture' there are all kinds of differences to bare in mind.
 
mandwhy said:
It's not really that difficult identifying things, you just need to compare the characteristics in full rather than saying 'yeah that one looks like the picture' there are all kinds of differences to bare in mind.
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Dont know if thats aimed at me but i can only go by what i can see and i already stated you need to look at the whole mushroom for a definite id.
 
Found more

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FionaM12 said:
Do you mean they never eat them, even the edible ones? Because I know someone who said he actually feeds his horses mushrooms. :confused3:
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According to the equine toxicologist they simply do not eat mushrooms at all. I took that to mean ever, but perhaps she meant unless they are starving? I don't know, maybe she was talking rubbish, but she's supposed to be one of the top experts in equine nutrition and poisoning in the country.
 
We had a massive amount of mushrooms in the woods a few years back. There was a sea if red and white mushrooms, all diffrrent types and colors. They looked very pretty but some where highley toxic!
We get the field mushrooms in the field and the small brown toadstool type ones.
 
Booboos said:
Horses don't eat mushrooms so I suspect something else is going on here. Try to get a consultation with an equine toxicologist, poison control won't really know what applies to horses.
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I beg to differ. My WB loves field mushrooms and will actually stop in his tracks if he spots one to eat it! I have witnessed this on half a dozen occasions and I have plentiful grass and he gets adlib hay so it must be a taste thing to him. Probably like acorns - some horses acquire the taste for them..
 
YasandCrystal said:
I beg to differ. My WB loves field mushrooms and will actually stop in his tracks if he spots one to eat it! I have witnessed this on half a dozen occasions and I have plentiful grass and he gets adlib hay so it must be a taste thing to him. Probably like acorns - some horses acquire the taste for them..
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Thank you YasandCrystal. Like your horse my friends horses are not starving , there is plenty of grass and they are also fed twice a day. We believe that the Mushrooms are small and can be hidden in the grass. I am trying to get a picture of the ones they think are the problem ones.

It is very much like eating "Ragwort" . There can be a very small amount that is lying on the ground (a leaf that has been left behind when you pull it) or in some hay.
 
Years ago I had some magic mushrooms.
If you have nt ....really don't.
on the upside my dead best friend came to see me and I got to say goodbye.
On the downside I was ill for two days and depressed for a week.
Not one of my best adventures
 
weebarney said:
Dont know if thats aimed at me but i can only go by what i can see and i already stated you need to look at the whole mushroom for a definite id.
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No not at all! Well done for identifying the ones so far and keep em coming I am loving the pictures! Sometimes people make out like it is 50/50 whether you'll find a nice mushroom for dinner or whether you'll poison yourself ;-) obviously some of them are reeeaaally similar but that doesn't mean indistinguishable :-)
 
luckyoldme said:
Years ago I had some magic mushrooms.
If you have nt ....really don't.
on the upside my dead best friend came to see me and I got to say goodbye.
On the downside I was ill for two days and depressed for a week.
Not one of my best adventures
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Oh bless you! That is quite touching, your brain must have been looking for a way to help you grieve.
 
I think so, my mate died in a trucking accident in Canada, her body was never found and there was so many question marks around her death that I could nt bear to think about her. I was listening to one of our songs and at the end I held her hand as she walked away. Magic mushrooms are very very naughty, and I know people who have had terrible experiences with them. That will be my one and only time and despite the illness and depression its a memory I treasure. Having said that would never do it again....it could so easily have been a lot worse going by what other people have said!
 
A further update on the boy. The vets rang my friend this morning and said that the Stallion is Blind so they are giving him some steroids to see if it could be inflammation.

Please please let him have some good vibes. He is only 13 and up to Wednesday he was fit and healthy.
 
Day 4 of improvement. He is box walking and shouting to the other horses now. I went to see him this morning and he looks a different horse (I last saw him after the day he went in).

On the down side for me is that I'm going to have my 24year old New Forest mare PTS next week.
 
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The Stallion is home. We collected him yesterday. Took us 2hrs to load him (normally load straight away) He did not seem to want to go into a small space, we think it is due to the fact he was blind at some time and his spacial awareness was affected.

The vets say that will improve and as he lives out 27/7 365 days a year and they have large field shelters to go into that should not be a problem.
 
Booboos said:
Horses don't eat mushrooms so I suspect something else is going on here. Try to get a consultation with an equine toxicologist, poison control won't really know what applies to horses.
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Years ago we used to keep shires in a field which had loads of field mushrooms - thankfully the edible sort only - and they definitely used to eat them the swines, we had to pick them as soon as we saw them or they'd munch the lot.
 
Could a horse contract E Coli from eating mushrooms. I have just lost my beautiful 6 year old gelding from E Coli poisoning. He was fine in the morning, my friend went to ride him at lunch time and he was ill. Was in hospital for 22 days and operated on, massive inflammation in gut, started to get better once E Coli was diagnosed but too many adhesions and part of gut dying, he started to have small colic sessions again, camera was put inside and adhesions etc. were discovered. Im devastated as only had him 17 months.
 
Mike007 said:
Had a very polite argument the other day at the horsepital .Brought a horse in for colic , Aparently there has been a spate of colics associated with the warm wet weather. The vetnrys reconned it was the change in the grass, but my thoughts are that these are the classic conditions for fungal growth and !sporeing , Remember ! Many grasses also carry saporophyticic fungi inside their stems . A sudden rush of neuro toxins could easily disrupt the gtt (gut transfer time) and cause colic.
In Romania at this time of year there are no end of mushroom poisonings.The local gypsys (a sad bedraggled lot )suffer because even though they know the supposedly safe ones ,even the "safe" ones are poisonous in sufficient quantities. (and these people dont have much money for decent food)
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That's interesting. I have a few edible mushrooms in my field, and lots of inedible little grey and yellow toadstools that pop up from time to time. I also have a pony prone to gassy colic - he's had a bad time of it in the past week - I'm starting to wonder whether they've got anything to do with it. He had the usual gassy symptoms, plus slightly worrying sour smelling diarhhea for about 24 hours. Hmmm.
 
My ponies eat just about everything, but not mushrooms - at least not the ones you can see.

Poisoning of a horse by a mushroom is more likely to be ergot or one of the microscopic fungal infections of trees and plants which are not at all obvious. There is a school of thought that the active agent in sycamores connected with AM is a fungus.

Ergot grows on grass and grain, and doesn't look like a mushroom at all, so poisoning of livestock and humans (St Antony's Fire) was frequent before mechanised agriculture.
 
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