# Is it OK to feed a horse leaves?



## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

Sunny the horse likes to eat leaves that fall from trees off the ground.

Is it OK for me to gather leaves from other parts of the property (mainly from maple, oak and elm trees) and bring them to him as long as I don't overdo it?


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

Red Maple and walnut can be toxic. Really toxic. Wilted cherry leaves can be toxic too.
He is a bit unusual- I have had horse nibble at a leaf or two but never consume them. Maybe you could rent him out for leaf clean up.


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## ann in tn (Nov 25, 2007)

You have to be careful, just like above poster stated, about the types of leaves in your pasture. That being said, I have a halflinger who eats pecans that fall from the tree..... Horses are strange - who would have thought a horse liked nuts?


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

Acorns can be toxic if they are mixed in with the oak leaves. Some horses will eat them and they are very high in tannic acid. I wouldn't encourage a horse to eat more leaves than happen to be in the pasture. They could be moldy as well.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

The following trees have no place in horsekeeping areas because of their toxicity or potential for causing digestive distress. They are listed in order of the risk they pose to horses, starting with the most hazardous:

Yew (taxus sp.)
Oleander (nerium oleander)
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Cherry trees and relatives (prunus sp.)
Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
Cherry trees and relatives (prunus sp.)
Black Walnut (juglans *****)
Black Locust (robinia pseudoacacia)
Horse Chestnut, Buckeyes (aesculus hippocastanum)
Oak trees, acorns(quercus sp.)
Russian olive, also known as oleaster (elaegnus angustifolia)


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

My horses might nibble a bit on some leaves, but the goats clean the leaves up pretty good. Like onions and garlic to dogs a little won't hurt but allot is toxic so where the line is drawn at toxic involves animal size, and how often....
Even to much of a good thing can be toxic...to much chocolate is toxic to my waistline.
And looking from that list above I have 1 maybe 2 black walnut trees oh yeah me!!


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

Mind you horses generally can eat a modest amount of acorns and be ok. It's when they start obsessing over them that it's a problem. I mention this just so some poor person doesn't end up out there picking up every last acorn in their field or cutting down all their oak trees! My horses will occasionally nibble on oak or pine leaves. They are likely very good for them as trees pull up minerals from deeper in the ground that grass may not have as much of. Pine needles are also super high in vitamin C.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

wintrrwolf said:


> My horses might nibble a bit on some leaves, but the goats clean the leaves up pretty good. Like onions and garlic to dogs a little won't hurt but allot is toxic so where the line is drawn at toxic involves animal size, and how often....
> Even to much of a good thing can be toxic...to much chocolate is toxic to my waistline.
> And looking from that list above I have 1 maybe 2 black walnut trees oh yeah me!!


That isn't true. A tiny bit of oleander or yew can kill a horse in minutes. No matter the size.

You have black walnut in your pasture? Where your horses are?


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

southerngurl said:


> Mind you horses generally can eat a modest amount of acorns and be ok. It's when they start obsessing over them that it's a problem. I mention this just so some poor person doesn't end up out there picking up every last acorn in their field or cutting down all their oak trees! My horses will occasionally nibble on oak or pine leaves. They are likely very good for them as trees pull up minerals from deeper in the ground that grass may not have as much of. Pine needles are also super high in vitamin C.


We had an Arab-welsh pony that loved and could not tolerate live oak acorns. It caused blind staggers as well as colic like problems. We ended up taking her to Texas A&M and that was the diagnosis. We had 15 other mares in the same pasture with no problems. We lent her to a friend without oak trees and she was fine from then on.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

I know of a horse who coliced and died - the necropsy revealed there were three acorns in his stomach. That was enough to kill him.


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## 2horses (Jul 19, 2004)

My horses like to eat acorns too and thankfully I only have one tree that produces them. They'll eat a few and then wander off, so they don't just stand there and fill up on them - but I am trying to rake up as many as I can. They also eat dried chinaberries when they fall off the trees (I have probably fifty of them), and those are on the bad list too. I figure it's like anything else - they spend all their waking hours trying to find a way to hurt and/or kill themselves, and all I can do is try to manage what they have available to do it with. It really just depends on the horse and how determined they are.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

What's toxic to some species isn't to others. The most expensive hams in the world come from pigs who are finished on acorns.


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## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

There are mostly silver maples and elm. The oak leaves blow in from the neighbors and the acorns stay under their trees. There are a few sycamore leaves that blow in, too.

It sounds as though I might be better off just putting the leaves directly on the compost pile instead of running them through the horse, first.


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## Helena (May 10, 2002)

Oh My !! We have always put leaves in our horse pens to spruce them up from time to time..especially during the winter with the sawdust. They do nibble at them but have never had a problem with illness. Just an assortment of different leaves usually. I will mention this to husband about the illness of some leaves. I know my goats do go crazy over them..but yet again..they go crazy over alot of things..Thanks for the advice...


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