Nettles, hawthorn and laminitis

PolarSkye

PolarSkye

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. . . how much to feed? I'm about to go up the yard with a bin bag to gather nettles, hawthorn leaves and some dandelion leaves . . . how much should I feed him on a daily basis to benefit him (he's 16.2, approx 500k)?

Also, I have a huge amount of lemon mint growing in my garden - I know mint is not only calmative but also useful for joint swelling - would it do him any harm to chop some of that into the nettles?

Thanks in advance.

P
 
Nettle herb 20-30grams daily this is in dried form, and hawthorn a handful daily again herb/dried form. I got the above information from this website, who sell herbs by the kilo (and no i don't work for them)
http://www.whitehillequine.co.uk/herbsforhorses

Hope your boy appreciates the work you have gone too, and that he enjoys them and is feeling better soon.
 
Joyous70 said:
Nettle herb 20-30grams daily this is in dried form, and hawthorn a handful daily again herb/dried form. I got the above information from this website, who sell herbs by the kilo (and no i don't work for them)
http://www.whitehillequine.co.uk/herbsforhorses

Hope your boy appreciates the work you have gone too, and that he enjoys them and is feeling better soon.
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Thank you :).

So, does fresh form contain more nutrients b/c it's fresh and therefore not degraded by drying/possible decay or less b/c those nutrients are more concentrated with water loss?

P
 
:o tbh im not sure, sorry. Maybe just give him what you think, im sure if he doesn't want them he wont eat them.
 
If you contacted Val at whitehillequine im sure she could give you more information of feeding fresh nettles and hawthorn. Shes a lovely lady.
 
Missmac said:
If you contacted Val at whitehillequine im sure she could give you more information of feeding fresh nettles and hawthorn. Shes a lovely lady.
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Thank you - will do!

My goodness, why was I ever relieved to get a diagnosis of lami over the other scary things . . . this is much harder work and just as frightening?

Still, on the plus side I get to spend even more time with my lovely boy and I'm learning loads :).

Get better GreyDonk . . . please.

P
 
Let the nettles wilt a bit before feeding - if they're fresh, they will still sting.

I don't know how much hawthorn ours eat in a day - they browse along the hedge for about 5 minutes at a time, and I would say they do it about 3 times a day (they could do it a lot more often, but I'm basing it on how often they spend at the hedge end of the field ;)). So, let's say, 15 mouthfuls a minute, up to about 75 mouthfuls of hawthorn leaves (gosh, that's actually quite a lot!).

Another good thing to feed is cleavers/goose grass - and for lami, if you can find some, meadowsweet. The meadowsweet is a natural painkiller and anti inflammatory - if the horse thinks they need it, they will eat it, otherwise they tend to leave it. On the other hand, mine will eat cleavers any time he gets the chance, and they're everywhere and easy to gather at this time of year. Good for the lymphatic system, so should help clear out the serum and such from damaged tissue.

I don't know how high it is in sugar, but ours are crazy for cow parsley at the moment as well, it would be a nice treat, maybe just a few flowers rather than all the stems and leaves.

ETA - the mint! Mine won't eat it. Just pick it and let the horse decide :)
 
Brightbay said:
Let the nettles wilt a bit before feeding - if they're fresh, they will still sting.

I don't know how much hawthorn ours eat in a day - they browse along the hedge for about 5 minutes at a time, and I would say they do it about 3 times a day (they could do it a lot more often, but I'm basing it on how often they spend at the hedge end of the field ;)). So, let's say, 15 mouthfuls a minute, up to about 75 mouthfuls of hawthorn leaves (gosh, that's actually quite a lot!).

Another good thing to feed is cleavers/goose grass - and for lami, if you can find some, meadowsweet. The meadowsweet is a natural painkiller and anti inflammatory - if the horse thinks they need it, they will eat it, otherwise they tend to leave it. On the other hand, mine will eat cleavers any time he gets the chance, and they're everywhere and easy to gather at this time of year. Good for the lymphatic system, so should help clear out the serum and such from damaged tissue.

I don't know how high it is in sugar, but ours are crazy for cow parsley at the moment as well, it would be a nice treat, maybe just a few flowers rather than all the stems and leaves.

ETA - the mint! Mine won't eat it. Just pick it and let the horse decide :)
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I'll have to look goose grass up . . . people keep mentioning it but I don't know what it looks like. Kal loves cow parsley, but I'll look that one up too to check it's not too full of sugars. Apparently elderflower is also an anti-inflammatory and there's some of that around so I might look that up too and then try if it's not too sugary.

Point taken on the nettles - don't want him to have a stung mouth as well as sore hooves :(.

P
 
Goose grass is also called sticky willy (well, it is in Scotland :D). It's the funny climbing weed that sticks to your clothes like velcro? Dogs (and horses) seem to get the little round sticky seeds stuck in their fur and they're a right pain to get out).

Elderflower ours do eat sometimes. At this time of year, they like young ash leaves too, but again I don't know how high in sugars they would be.
 
One of mine loves fresh nettles. I've never seen him pick at them himself but walking through the field with a bucket full the other night he stuck his head straight in and pinched half of them!
 
Oooh....I have all these thing growing in my paddock and have seen the horses eating all of it.....

I strim the nettles and leave them on the floor to dry out and the horses eat them after a day or too.

I knew nettles and hawthorn are good for circulation and joints etc....I didn't know about the goosegrass tho.....
 
Cleavers/goose grass - just pull up a load, cow parsley - a small bouquet:D and nettles - chop down and leave to wilt - they will only eat them when they are wilted enough so don't worry too much as he will work it out for himself.:)

Mine gets the equivalent of a tubtrug a day of them - even when she is in the field - just gives her a change from grass/hay and its green and tasty - nothing in large enough quantities to cause a problem.....:)

O and the mint just chuck it in - he will eat it if he wants:D
 
Cow parsley is a natural mossie repellent.
Horses love it when it's in season and go mad trying to grab some on hacks :D

I am picking some from the hedge and taking it down the field for my old boy at the moment, along with goose grass.

This is a good book for herb advice
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Hors...9816/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1338385635&sr=8-5

and this website
http://www.equinatural.co.uk/

But this is the cheapest place to buy any herbs and spices you want that aren't local to you
http://www.cotsherb.co.uk/
 
I'm sure you will but just in case, I would introduce slowly especially if you're using fresh wilted nettles or any fresh just until you know how the horse reacts. :) My OH cut the wood and a couple of days later gave them the whole lot in one go, I had been feeding small amounts. No adverse effects but I was a bit worried for my laminitic pony. :rolleyes:
 
So I picked a carrierbag full of nettles, hawthorn leaves, cow parsley, elder and goose grass (mostly goose grass and nettles) . . . and tried hand-feeding some of the herbs to see how he reacted - he liked the goose grass at first but went off it . . . I chopped up some of the more wilted nettles, cow parsley and elder flowers, along with a few hawthorn leaves - came to a decent-sized handful once chopped and added to his night-time Speedibeet with another handful of garlic . . . he polished the lot off!

Will continue picking and wilting the nettles . . . worst case I can soak them into a sort of smush with his SB.

He's still turning his nose up at his soaked hay, but he is eating some of it (just not scarfing it down like he does his regular hay). He's actually been a very settled boy today - but that's probably at least partly down to the Sedalin - well that and the fact that I was at the yard four different times so he had plenty of attention and company.

Will check his pulses tomorrow morning and see where we are/if there's any improvement.

P
 
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