Ragwort Poisoning Advice Please UPDATE

[charliesarmy]

Hi I put a post lower down about a friends horse being ill due to ragwort poisioning well unfortunatly in the night he was PTS due to toxins to the brain he went crazy in his stable and was PTS immediatly but really not a nice end...I think sometimes we can foget how lethal and devastating this plant can be so please people get the message out there...so sorry for rambling but absolutly gutted as I'm typing this...

 

[HelsB]

So sorry to hear your sad news

The devastation this weed causes is so awful, why aren't DEFRA using their powers to do more? The stuff is everywhere I drive!! There are horses grazing in fields FULL of it!

I am totally obsessive about it, my fields are sprayed for it, and I muck pick daily taking a bucket and knife round with me in case I see any of the little blighters trying to pop up!!!

(((Big))) Hugs to you and your friend

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

So sad for your friend and her horse ca. HelsB you're right but sadly there's been posts on this Forum and letters and articles in the press about how ragwort is really just a pretty weed and does no harm if you don't have horses and actually feeds the larvae of the cinnabar moth. The awful truth is a million miles from that fuzzy pink crap. Even if you chose to have a flower bed of pretty yellow ragwort plants coz you don't keep horses, the millions upon millions of seeds that they produce blow in the wind and land and germinate on grass verges, railway tracks, fields, pasture, you name it. And then it IS a danger. Are all the people who think it's so pretty and harmless going to stop their plants germinating? Or account for every single seed? Until everyone realises the terrible damage that this plant can do - it remains, as always, a notifiable weed - NO-ONE is safe. Maybe people could PM charliesarmy for graphic details of exactly how her friends horse suffered and died? Or if anyone wants to know the suffering and veterinary costs linked to my rescued mare's ragwort poisoning, let me know. No apologies for my passionate loathing of how this plant is TOLERATED by so many people who should (and DO) know better. I sometimes feel that the UK is sinking under a vast tide of can't-be-arsed.

 

[charliesarmy]

Thank you I couldnt have put it better myself...and yes if anybody does want to know PM me because it was awful how he went...

 

[Damnation]

Well I know that over here (the Isle of Man) if you are caught running a livery yard which has horses grazing on Ragwort you can be shut down. At the moment there is an amnesty, you tell the government you have ragwort they will come and get rid of it for free.
I don't know about the UK though.. Might be a bit expensive to introduce an amnestly like that.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Blimey Izzie - that's amazing! What an enlightened approach! Hands up anyone who can see the rest of Britain doing this?????

 

[Crazy_Caz]

Hi

My heart goes out to you at this time....

my family and I also lost a dear pony (that we had bred outselves) to this damn stuff.... we will never know exactly how he came it as we always always cleared our fields and were very vigilant.....

As you said you knew it was the right time to PTS as at that point there is no return as it was with our pony but it still breaks your heart to see horses grazing in fields with it and if there is anway we can prevent it happening to other horses and ponies we alway try...

 

[BackInBlack]

so sorry to hear about your friends horse - please pass on my condolences. agree wholeheartedly that something needs to be done about this dreaded ragwort. every time i see it on the grass verges it makes me feel sick.

 

[Damnation]

Box_Of_Frogs - I don't know if the amnesty has worked but at least its there. I refuse point blank to put my horse out on anything with ragwort on it. Thankfully my yard is very good and either sprays or ragworts fields on a regular basis.

 

[mle22]

So very, very sorry to hear about your friend's horse. x

 

[kellyeaton]

sorry to here this have pmed you. i gather he got mania in the end? hugs to you and your friend and R.I.P pony! the money that goes to a ragwort affect horse is an amazing amount i should know i had this with my poor pony but i would of paid millons to keep her!xx