shetland eaten ragwort what do i do?

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trixiepixie123

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so i was out digging ragwort in the field and turned my back on the bucket of ragwort, i must have only had my back turned for 5 minutes and thought all the ponies in the herd were out together out of the way but when i went back to the bucket there was one of the shetlands munching on the bucket of ragwort.
he couldnt have been there for long but he did eat some.
i imediatley put him on a field with loads of lush grass and water hoping it would flush it out of him.
he's not my pony he's my mums and my mums away on holiday with no way to contact her and my dad is refusing to even let me call the vets and i'm flat broke so cant without his permision.
so what can i do?
how serious is this?
he's only 3 yrs old, and very healthy in general.
is there anything a vet could do?
 
Don't panic!
Unless he's eaten a lot he is almost certainly going to be fine. And vow that in future you will make sure that you remove the ragwort so that the Shetlands can't get to it. If you are worried about him, ring the vet for reassurance.
IMO the greater problem is that he seems to have taste for the stuff, so you will need to be very careful that he doesn't eat any while it#s growing.
 
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I'm just wondering what the vet would actually be able to do once its been eaten? Ragwort works over time, so to have any ill effects surely he would have to be eating it over a few weeks/months for it to affect him? Id ring & ask the vets advice, but i honestly don't think there is much they would be able to do, the best thing is probably to ensure hes not in a situation in future to munch on anymore.
 
Same. It's not pleasant at all...and that was with a what seemed like a normal healthy horse one day, to an extremely ill, half blind thing the next day....vets found out after it was caused by eating some ragwort originally as a youngster, somehow.

Signs don't have to show right away, some can be months till it takes effect.

I'll repeat. Vet vet vet vet VET.

ETA - it doesn't have to be gradually over a period of time. 1-2kg is enough to be fatal. And I don't know how much of a difference it would have on the metabolism being such a small breed too.
 
trixiepixie123 said:
so i was out digging ragwort in the field and turned my back on the bucket of ragwort, i must have only had my back turned for 5 minutes and thought all the ponies in the herd were out together out of the way but when i went back to the bucket there was one of the shetlands munching on the bucket of ragwort.
he couldnt have been there for long but he did eat some.
i imediatley put him on a field with loads of lush grass and water hoping it would flush it out of him.
he's not my pony he's my mums and my mums away on holiday with no way to contact her and my dad is refusing to even let me call the vets and i'm flat broke so cant without his permision.
so what can i do?
how serious is this?
he's only 3 yrs old, and very healthy in general.
is there anything a vet could do?
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Can you post a photograph ( or a link ) of the plant? Maybe it isn't ragwort at all.
Ragwort has a very bitter taste.
 
Get advice from vet as some ponies aquire the taste for ragwort and also bracken. I think the effects are longterm, but the vet advice is good, don't beat yourself up about it.
 
EstherHegt said:
Can you post a photograph ( or a link ) of the plant? Maybe it isn't ragwort at all.
Ragwort has a very bitter taste.
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Ditto this. Are you sure it was ragwort? There is a plant growing in our fields that looks very similar but isn't ragwort. Look to see is the base of the stem is a purple colour (ragwort).
 
EstherHegt said:
Can you post a photograph ( or a link ) of the plant? Maybe it isn't ragwort at all.
Ragwort has a very bitter taste.
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Hmm I also find it odd that the pony decided to actually eat it. I've always been told horses will only go for ragwort it if there's nothing else available for them to eat (which I'm sure isn't the case here)

Perhaps he was just smelling the bucket whilst munching on grass in his mouth?
 
There is absolutely nothing a vet can do - I'd be very surprised if, having been grazing in a field with itgrowing in (!!!???!!!) that the pony would eat it just because you had pulled it. Unless they have been nibbling it anyway. In either case it's bad news.

Worse still, you put the pony on lush grass. I hope you haven't left it there as laminitis is a very serious risk.

I hope you called the vet and they picked up on this. If you can't afford a vet and are grazing them in fields with ragwort in, I seriously question you should be owning ponies.
 
One mouthfull means nothing, over a period of time eating the stuff it builds up toxins in the liver eventually causing liver failure. I agree with brighteyes, why wait so late to pull it up. Why do your paddocks have it in the first place?
 
Brighteyes she asked a simple question. No need to come down like a ton of bricks on her. I should imagen most of us on the forum have ragwort oneway or the other, as everyone knows the seeds can lie at rest for 20 years before they germinate. I'm still digging ragwort up from my field and I've owned it for 26 years and I've also sprayed it several times and I would resent a Holier than thou person like you telling whether I was fit to own a horse/pony or not:mad::mad:
 
they are not my ponies
the field they were grazing in doesn't have ragwort anymore that i can find i was digging ragwort in a field they are not currently supposed to be grazing.
and he wasn't supposed to be there.
i'll get on to calling the vet for advice if i can get my dad out of the way to make a call.
 
Ditto the don't panic comments.

As I understand it, they have to eat a fair amount. Most often happens through dried ragwort in hay.

Think Global Herbs do a liver detox product, don't think it's too expensive either.

I would also ring vets to see what they suggest. Hope all works out ok for you.
 
The vet will probably not charge you for advice, so it's perfectly safe to call him. Unless the pony/ies have developed a liking for ragwort or the ragwort you had in the bucket was somehow 'dried', my money is on it not being ragwort or the pony was nibbling whatever else was pulled along with the 'suspect' plants. As for putting a Shettie on rich grass to flush its system...that simply doesn't make sense on any level!

I am really not bothered what anyone else thinks - if 'one' cannot call the vet for financial reasons, 'one' shouldn't have animals, and that includes ponies. First thing to do ought to have been call the vet for advice. And leave your ponies in the care of someone who knows what they are doing? I think the OP is slightly more responsible than her mother in this instance for thinking to pull the 'ragwort' in the first place.
 
brighteyes said:
I think the OP is slightly more responsible than her mother in this instance for thinking to pull the 'ragwort' in the first place.
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I don't think anyone can make judgment about her mother because we don't know how long it was there for, it could have come up yesterday or days after her mother had gone away.

Anyway, I would call the vet, I always thought a small amount would kill them in 48hours?
 
A small amount of ragwort won't kill in 48 hours. As another member has already advised, the damage ragwort causes is cumulative - a horse or pony can eat just a few mouthfuls now and then over the years and the toxic effects build up in the liver until, at about 70% liver damage (and it's permanent with ragwort poisoning) you will start to see the tell tale symptoms such as weight loss, lethargy, jaundice, standing in corners with the head pressed against a wall, acute photosensitivity. This list is not exhaustive. There's absolutely nothing that the vets can do now. There's an outside possibility that if it was reported immediately then they could have performed a minor operation on the horse or pony, lightly sedated, and connect a drip to a vein in the neck so a mix of vits and mins would go directly to the liver and would "mop up" circulating toxins. As others have said, it's amazing that the pony would eat ragwort in the first place as it is bitter tasting, though dried (wilted?) the bitter taste is lost. The strange thing is that even if the ponies weren't supposed to be in that field, if you leave ragwort to flower in a neighbouring field, then every flower head releases zillions of seeds into the environment. It's highly likely that the pony was either nibbling at something pulled up WITH the ragwort or it wasn't ragwort in the first place.
 
suzysparkle said:
Not much you can do once they've eaten it. If it were me I'd be getting hold of some Milk Thistle (the herb) which is a powerfull liver tonic. Very often recommended by vets.
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second this, they sell it in health food shops and it supports liver function, I would probably use it for a few weeks to try and get rid of the toxins that later go on to do damage. I would doubt there is anything a vet can do and I also doubt you have anything to worry about Unless the pony has acquired a taste for ragwort and has been eating it for a while if it is in the field, If you think this could be the case then I would probably use milk thistle for a longer time, probably several months!
 
brighteyes said:
There is absolutely nothing a vet can do - I'd be very surprised if, having been grazing in a field with itgrowing in (!!!???!!!) that the pony would eat it just because you had pulled it. Unless they have been nibbling it anyway. In either case it's bad news.

Worse still, you put the pony on lush grass. I hope you haven't left it there as laminitis is a very serious risk.

I hope you called the vet and they picked up on this. If you can't afford a vet and are grazing them in fields with ragwort in, I seriously question you should be owning ponies.
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There is being blunt, then there is being down-right obnoxious, to which this post is.

The OP asked a question, not a full run-down of a critical analysis of how and where she is keeping her ponies.

There is no wonder some people won't ask questions on here, with responses such as yours.
 
Horses will eat wilted ragwort, it doesn't have to be dried. That's probably why the shettie ate some, I've had to chase my lot away from the barrow of ragwort in the past as well. Second what the others have said about liver detox or milk thistle.
 
To the posters slaying the girl because there was ragwort - the bl**dy stuff is germinating like mad right now - I'm pulling up small plants all the time as I poo pick but if you walked my paddock without beady eyes you wouldn't see it. She didn't say how big the stuff she was pulling is.
 
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