Mushroom Poisoning a warning

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paulineh

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Following on from my post about my friends Arab stallion that is in O'Gormans vet hospital.

What they thought was a classic case of Tetanus is now a case of toxic poisoning . After a search of the fields and talking to the Poison Control people they believe it is a Mushroom that has caused the problem.

They Stallion is very very slowly improving.

If you can I would walk your fields and get rid of any Mushrooms (burn them) My friends Stallion was caught early, if he had been seen in the dark he may not be here today.
 
Destroying angel is v v toxic & can look like a breakfast mushroom to some, also the yellow stainer (tho not as toxic) is also similar.
Am surprised a horse has been in contact enough to ingest toxins, as its not something I've heard of :(

Hope your friends horse comes out of this okay
 
I'm really sorry to hear about your friend's horse. However, to destroy every 'mushroom' is impossible - and unnecessary.

We have 10 different fungi types in our field which are edible for humans. There are about 4 other varieties which either are unpleasant to eat or, in large quantities, could possibly give mild poisoning. The 20+ horses I have had here over the years have all grazed happily among them, with no ill effects (though they do like to knock the puffballs over.

If you are really concerned, the best thing you could do would be to ask someone in your area with a good knowledge of fungi - a mycologist - to walk over your land occasionally and tell you what types he/she has found.

For what it's worth, these are some that we have on our land. Common Field Mushroom; St George's Mushroom, Meadow Blewitt, Giant Puffballs, Fairy Ring Champignons, Japanese Umbrellas, Jew's Ear, Parasol Mushrooms, and one with a name like Melanobia Grammaphobia (Sorry I'm not near my fungi book). All these are edible. Then there are the ones I don't eat, that grow on dung heaps, and various fungi that grow on the trees surrounding the field. My next door neighbour was very knowledgeable, and taught me what I know.

Destroying Angel is one of the famous 'killer' fungi, but your friend's stallion being poisoned by them was, I think, a 10,000-1 chance.

I do hope he improves.
 
My friend has grazed her land for the last 18 years and never had a problem.

There were 7 different types that they collected and have been sent to the Poison control lab. The vets have only ever know of one other case BUT it does happen. All her other horses are fine.
 
Sounds more like atypical myopathy. we had it at my old yard last year. they originially suspected mushrooms.
does your friends horse have any scyamores in his field or other seed producing trees?
 
i bought a mushroom book of the national trust£4.99, too lazy to go and identify whats in my field though! if anyone has a pic i can try and identify what it is.
 
Omg mushroom person! I've got tonnes I want to know if I can eat!

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That's an amanita muscaria. It takes about 3kg of them to actually kill a grown, healthy man, however, it can take a very deteriorating effect to your heart, can cause hallucinations and are quite poisonous. Do NOT eat them!
 
Surely, anyone with any countryside knowledge knows NOT eat any plant or berry that is red, red in nature is a warning- stay away,and definately do not eat red mushrooms!
 
All our field mushrooms are eaten before day break by the vast amount of rampaging badgers we have on the farm. I sincerely hope they eat enough to kill themselves. They are fussy though they eat the tops and leave the stalks.
 
There are loads of red things that grow that are perfectly safe to eat. There are also red mushrooms which are safe to eat so long as they are cooked correctly. Not quite as simple as just avoiding anything red!
 
I wouldn't be wanting to eat any of those mushrooms. Many poisonous mushrooms are very similar to edible ones, and unless you are one hundred percent sure of what they are, then don't take the chance. Take milkcaps for instance, some are deadly and some are not, but it's very hard to tell them apart. If you want to go mushrooming, then boletus mushrooms are a good start, they are not like any other mushroom genus, having pores rather than gills, and the poisonous ones are easy to spot, they are red!!

A friend of mine ate a Fly Agaric once, he was tripping for days!!

Hope the horse makes a full recovery, sounds like he's on the mend
 
I was always taught that if you can peel the skin off anything that looks like a "field" mushroom, its OK to eat. I personally don't know enough to go foraging for anything else; unfortunately a lot of TV chefs are giving people who don't know anything about what to check for, the idea that "foraging for fungii" in the countryside is a good idea.

It isn't, not if you don't have a clue WTF you're doing.
 
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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With that variety of fungi you could invite a local expert out to have a look. From the photos it's impossible to tell, but I wonder if the red one with lots of spots is possibly Fly Agaric, and the red rounded one could be The Sickener (russula emetica). Both these fungi are poisonous. Do take heed of the old adage "If you don't know, don't eat!"
 
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.
 
I am not trying to frighten people . Yes this may be an isolated case but how may horses are misdiagnosed. The Stallion had every classic signs of Tetanus. The only difference is he seems to be getting better not worse.

If people eat something that is not right they know it but a horse does not so they rely on us and the vets to help them. As humans if we wake up feeling ill then we get a doctor or go to A&E , if a horse in a field seemed fine at 7pm but was taken ill at 10pm would we know a about it or would it be too late.

This year there has been a glut of Mushrooms and some I have never seen before.

This post was to warn people that there are things out there that we do not know are poisonous and if we are unsure to get rid of it.

If my friend had not been so on the ball then she could have lost her boy

Booboos- there has been a recorded case of Mushroom poisoning in horses.
 
paulineh said:
Booboos- there has been a recorded case of Mushroom poisoning in horses.
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Could you give me the reference please? I have a horse with an undiagnosed muscular degenerative or possibly neurological disease possibly from poisoning and the specialist equine toxicologist was adamant horses don't eat mushrooms. It would be very helpful to look at other possibilities as we're struggling to find out what is wrong with him.
 
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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Do you mean they never eat them, even the edible ones? Because I know someone who said he actually feeds his horses mushrooms. :confused3:
 
weebarney said:
i bought a mushroom book of the national trust£4.99, too lazy to go and identify whats in my field though! if anyone has a pic i can try and identify what it is.
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As you're now the mushroom person!, what's the third one down in vieshot's pix? I had a ton of them in my garden. Tried to ID off internet. Can't remember name now that I thought they were, apparently safe, but was too scardey-cat to risk it.
 
madmav said:
As you're now the mushroom person!, what's the third one down in vieshot's pix? I had a ton of them in my garden. Tried to ID off internet. Can't remember name now that I thought they were, apparently safe, but was too scardey-cat to risk it.
Click to expand...
I got tired last night so only ended up doing the easiest ones, I'll have a look when i get home from work and see if i can find it. You would be suprised at how many varietries there are and they have a tendency to look the same!. Are they as slimy as they look in the picture or are they just wet from rain?
 
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