Horse News & Views - August 2006

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Ontario Association of Equine Practitioners

• Good fertility, clipping of pasture a few times a year, aeration of compacted soils and rotational grazing will prevent or solve most of the pasture problems seen on horse farms. When pastures are well managed, only a few noxious weeds will be present. These can be removed by digging them up or selective use of herbicides when the horses are not on the pasture for a few weeks.

  The acute toxins that kill horses in 24 - 36 hours include;

  • Botulism (Clostridia botulinum) - usually associated with feeding haylage;
  • Ionophore toxicity (Monensin, Rumensin) - associated with horses eating chicken or cattle feed, or mineral, containing or contaminated with ionophores;
  • Yew (taxine) toxicity - associated with horses eating clippings from this common ornamental shrub;
  • Poison-hemlock (Conium maculatum) - found in swampy areas;
  • Red maple (Acer rubrum) leaf poisoning - seen when horses eat wilted leaves in paddocks or leaves that are disposed of into manure piles adjacent to paddocks. Fallen leaves remain toxic for a few weeks or more.
    

Make every effort to ensure these toxins are not present on your horse farm!

• Anthrax is caused by spore-forming bacteria that can spread among animals through contaminated feed, soil or pasture during grazing. Particular environmental conditions, such as a flood or drought, can bring out and expose animals to the spores in the soil. Twenty-four cattle and one horse died of anthrax on farms in Manitoba. More than 200 animals died on 47 quarantined farms in Saskatchewan. Forty-two of these tested positive for anthrax.
  
  

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