My friends horse died of ragworth poisoning

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martinka

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Hi Everybody,

sad news. My friend who bought her horse only 3 months ago had to have him put down yesterdays as he was too poorly, could not even get up.
She bought this 3 years old from a woman that claimed he has been neglected in past and she was looking for a home for him as she was unable to care for him. My friend only paid little money as he really did look thin, but he had the loveliest kind face and she fallen for him. The horse was in a field with another 12 at the time, the field was infested with ragwort and there was not much grass, but it did not seem to bother any of the people there when my friend pointed out to them that the plant is dangerous not only to horses but to other livestock and even humans.
Anyway, she gave the horse the absolutely best of everything hoping he would blossom into a lovely youngster, but he seemed to have been unable to put any weight on and in last few weeks went down rapidly. She had a vet to him number of times, but only when the blood test results came back, the vet diagnosed kidney failure due to a poisoning.
Unfortunately it was too late to do anything for him, my friend is gutted and very very upset. Her boy did not deserve to die.
I URGE ANYBODY WHO KNOWS OF ANY LAND OWNERS THAT ARE IGNORING THE RAGWORT PROBLEM, PLEASE REPORT THEM TO DEFRA.
UNLESS WE, CARING HORSE OWNERS, START BLOWING A WHISTLE ON THOSE WHO JUST WANT OUR MONEY AND DON'T WANT TO MAINTAIN APPROPRIATE STANDARDS FOR OUR ANIMALS, MORE OF OUR HORSES WILL BE IN DANGER OF DYING UNNECCESSARILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Iam so sorry to hear this ,please give your friend my sympathy x
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I am really sorry to hear of your friends loss. It is a sad time.

I recently lost my mare suddenly. Initially it was thought to be grass sickness and it was only then that I learnt of this horrendous disease. Again so many people do not even know the symptoms. I was shocked when I spent the time and read all about it, it really is the silent killer. After a painful wait of three weeks for the post mortem results it came back that she died of a mass traumatic infection caused by the clostridium bacterium. We will never know where she picked this up from!! I have a new horse now but I am absolutely paranoid when it comes down to cleaning and hygiene now!!

Give your friend a big hug from me xx
 
I am very sorry to hear of your friend's loss
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and I also agree that more should be done about the problem of ragwort. I think too many farmers and land owners fail to see the dangers of this weed. Only near to me there is a field full of it. It is in the same field in which two horses were recently an ilph/rspca case. Those horses have now been moved, one pts due to age and other problems and the other has been transfered to a sanctuary so far as I am aware.
The field adajacent to this has been sectioned off ( owned by the same man). This has stables too and has been rented to a lady with a cob. I saw the man remove the ragwort from this field but has left the ragwort in the other. Now this horse can reach over the wire and reach the ragwort on the other side and there is also the danger of the plant spreading to the clear field through reproduction.
Because the authorities knew of this ragwort I would have assumed that the landowner would have realised that it is in fact an offence to allow it to grow in fields/land in which there is grazing or is adjacent to land that is.
Obviously it disappoints me but what more can people do?
I think harsh fines and or prison are the only alternatives to getting the message through in my personal opinion. Only when people finally realise the true dangers of this weed can sad cases like the above become things of the past.
Caroline
 
I can't believe that people are allowed to keep horses in conditions like that!

I'm very sad for your freind and the poor horse, but at least his final days were spent in a loving home.

Has the previous owner been reported to DEFRA etc?
 
How tragic, we too lost a beautiful horse many years ago and have waged war on the stuff ever since.
I'm dithering about reporting someone to defra and your post has spurred me on, they shouldn't just ignore the stuff and this farmer has literally fields full of the stuff growing alongside the road..
 
Big Thank you to all of you. I just spoke to her. She is going to report the yard to DEFRA. She is now worried sick it may be too late for the other horses too.
DEFRA can and will MAKE DIFFERENCE, but they do need to know where to look.
Once again Thank you all on behalf of my friend. xx
 
i would also report it to the ILPH ilph.org who will be pleased to send one of their inspectors round to inspect the horses and fields.
 
Just a quick post with reference to mine a few days ago about ragwort in a field near to me. Thankfully yesterday I noticed it has all been removed but I will continue to keep an eye on it for the future.
 
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