Acorns

[altermetoday]

Have any of your horses eaten acorns? Any ill effects? I have a paddock that wasn’t used for about a week which apparently had acorns in it that I forgot about. One morning…actually the first morning my boys were using it again, my pony came in with chubby cheeks…

I really thought I was going crazy in the morning as nothing seemed wrong… so I left him for a bit and came back in the daylight morning and yes, they were def chubby. I had no idea what was going on but assumed he banged himself on the fence while sticking his head through it. Both cheeks were swollen and one had a scrape. I put them out that night and noticed my other horse rooting around in the leaves and crunching on something and realized he was eating acorns. I’ve never noticed that they had done this in the 10 years I’ve been here… but the paddocks are short on grass this year.

Next day, pony was fine - he never had any other issues, no fever, nothing. But curious if anyone has had any issues with them.

[Foxglove]

Yes, sort of —we have trees that produce acorns. Some are in the horse pastures. USUALLY there are acorns in the fall, and the horses eat them for awhile, then seem to lose interest. But one year, it was different --the summer was unusually dry. There were far, far more acorns than in the past. Again, in the fall, horses ate a few, then lost interest. However, it was an early freeze, snow, then about January a thaw --mud and mush and acorns. My QH gelding turned yellow —his gums and the “pink” around his eyes became bright yellow. He wasn’t acting right. Had the vet out. As he waded through about six inches of rotting acorns, he said he thought that might be the cause --and there was no treatment if the horse had eaten a toxic amount of acorns. We decided to treat anyway, dumped a ton of oil down him (trying to clear his system of any remaining acorns). Then moved him to a pasture where there were no acorns. Soon after my Percheron showed the same symptoms, so he got the same treatment. Then it froze again and snowed, and no more acorns.

While we can’t be 100% sure it was acorns, it does seem most likely that the horses having limited pasture after the freeze and thaw, did eat the now rotting acorns.

In too great a quantity acorns are toxic --it never happened again --but then the weather hasn’t happened like that again.

If possible, keep horses from acorns --if not possible, just keep an eye on them. I understand the toxin builds up in the liver, hence the yellow color to gums and eyes.

[Zu_Zu]

Acorns are toxic • can cause liver failure !

I witnessed this on 2013 ! Please keep horses away from acorns - pick them all up or change pasture areas.

[altermetoday]

@Zu_Zu

Acorns are toxic • can cause liver failure !

I witnessed this on 2013 ! Please keep horses away from acorns - pick them all up or change pasture areas.

Once I realized that my horse was eating them, I got the blower out and blew the leaves away to see what I had there in that paddock. I didn’t see hardly many at all and the blower did blow out the remaining ones.

This year has been pretty dry and there is not much grass there in that paddock. They ate a whole bale of hay overnight between the horse and pony so there is really nothing to eat. I’ve now moved them as well and am getting a round bale next week for the barn paddocks. Guess we are starting the winter paddocks early this year.

I wonder if they have always eaten them and I never noticed or if the squirrels typically got them or what?

[Zu_Zu]

Jaundice

^ Yellow did not show correctly - JAUNDICE = liver toxicity- can kill cats, dogs, horses People ! …… acorns and horses - liver failure !

[Lusoluv]

There was another thread about this a few weeks ago, but my only experience is with relatives who have horses and cattle in large pastures with lots of oak trees. It’d be impossible to rake them up as it’s huge acreage pasture, and they’ve never had a problem with the horses or cattle eating them. They’ve been on this property since the '70s - not a single issue. YMMV.

[StormyDay]

Much like black walnut trees they are only an issue if the acreage is smaller so they are confined near them. If given other options, like good grass, they will always choose grass first.

[Marla_100]

Well, my horses didn’t get the memo that you only eat acorns when your multiple lush grassy pastures are gone.
My horses will scoop up the acorns so fast before the squirrels get to them and we have large grassy pastures and they get great hay in their shelters. They eat acorns like it’s candy.
I have to lock them out of the pastures w/ the big oak trees til all acorns are gone.

[altermetoday]

Marla - when do you know they are gone? I didn’t see all of them in my pasture when I turned out because of the leaves… I think I can safely start locking them out of there anyway because I typically feed rounds in the barn paddock for the winter and they are on essentially two dry lots until spring… but if its a warm winter it would be nice to rotate the space.

[Marla_100]

I have to walk the pastures. We don’t have the fallen leaves here in Florida so they just sit on top of grass. I wait til the squirrels and other critters have eaten or buried them otherwise my horses
are like vacuums.

[altermetoday]

I guess I’ll get my blower out! I think the reason its never been an issue before is that at this time of year grass has never been an issue in this paddock and now there is hardly any in it because no rain.

[Zu_Zu]

It’s not a problem, until it’s too late !

[SusanO]

I had a bad episode with acorns. Presented like Potomac Horse fever but it was acorns I am sure. I have two large oak trees out in the pasture. My mare had been in the pasture for years with no problems. In order to keep her weight to an acceptable level I had to divide the pasture into a “diet” pasture and the big pasture with lots of grass. The mare in the 15 acre big pasture decided she wanted to be in the 1/3 acre diet pasture so she tore down the tape fence dividing the two places. I couldn’t turn the horses out together so I switched out and gave the “diet” horse time in the big pasture while I redid the dividing tape fence.

I noticed “diet” mare spending a lot of time around the oak trees but didn’t think anything about it. Well she became drastically sick in about 12 hours or so. We were now having torrential rain and I couldn’t risk a trailer on the interstate with the weather so bad. I am out of that vet clinic’s range. Really any vet’s range. Vet told me to give her banamine, biosponge and probiotics which helped. She had severe diarrhea and would lie in the stall miserable. Vet did not think it was Potomac because he did not know of any other cases in the area. She gradually improved and did not have any long term effects. Never sick like that again either.

I will NEVER let her out in that pasture again. She was there for years and never had problems so I don’t understand it. But maybe she just ate a few now and then and she really gorged when she got her chance after a long exodus. The other mare is out there and has never had problems. However I do not see her around those oak trees much at all.

[frugalannie]

My horses run out to forage “treats” depending on which paddock they’re in. Paddock with oak tree? Acorns. Paddock with hickory tree? Hickory nuts. Paddock with ancient apple trees? Betting you can guess that one. I was hand grazing a layup yesterday and he rooted around to find the acorn caps and happily crunched them. I hauled him away but he really, really wanted to go back.

The thing is they really fatten up on these goodies and I end up cutting grain back til the good stuff is gone. So far(fingers crossed) no gastric issues over the years.

[ytr45]

I Need acorn rehab for acorn-addict pony!

[Texarkana]

My one horse with gorge on them if allowed. While my other horses leave them alone, the acorn lover will bypass acres of green grass or tasty hay for acorns.

Usually what happens if I don’t catch it soon enough is she starts stocking up slightly, then begins abscessing. I assume the abscessing is the beginining of a mild laminitic episode from the toxins, but I can’t prove or disprove that idea. She has never developed diarrhea from them, but she has had minor colic episodes from them.

[CM17]

I suppose horses have different tolerances to acorn toxins but the general guideline is they have to eat a lot to get sick. Since I rarely have much grass when the acorns drop, my horses eat them, and some years the crop appears to be tastier than others. Normal drop from 10 or so live oaks in my pasture doesn’t concern me. The one time I worried about it was a mast year, when the trees dropped at least 20 times their normal amount of acorns and the horses were snacking on them like popcorn. I moved the horses to another area. Tried a landscape acorn pick up roller but it didn’t work well on uneven terrain. I then dragged out a shop vac with a really long extension cord and spend a couple of days sucking them up, then hauling them to the burn pile. It was a lot of work but worth it for the peace of mind.

[stb]

I have multiple oak trees in my pastures. Last year the trees dropped tons of acorns, this year seems to be a more moderate year. My horses will eat acorns, but only when they are fresh and green. If good grass is still available they will leave the acorns alone. If there is not much grass left but I put hay out for them then they also leave the acorns alone for the most part.

So, I am doubly sure to make sure that the horses do not run out of hay or grass when the acorns are freshly fallen.

Also, some genius on this forum stated that they put manure out under oak trees so that the horses wouldn’t snack on the acorns. I have shamelessly stolen their great idea and it is working great. I take my Newer Spreader out and circle the trees that seem to be dropping lots of acorns.

[OzarksRider]

@stb

some genius on this forum stated that they put manure out under oak trees so that the horses wouldn’t snack on the acorns.

That was me (but I’m not too sure about the genius part)! Glad to know my tip works for you.

Several years ago one of my horses managed to get the gate off his stall one night and spent the entire night gorging himself on green grass and acorns sans grazing muzzle. When I found him the next morning, he was watching his flank, standing stretched out, and lying down and getting up frequently. Vet gave him a mineral oil bolus and I kept him in 24 hours. He recovered, but it scared me. I don’t know if acorns were the entire cause, but I think they contributed.

Ever since, I’ve been especially careful about acorns. The manure trick works like a charm, but I also use grazing muzzles just in case they decide they can tolerate a little manure. Squirrels and deer are my little helpers to clean up the acorns.

[eightpondfarm]

We had our last mast year about 7 years ago here. ALL the nut trees were in sync… My horses went nuts over pecans.

Last mast year for white oaks was last year…it wasn’t as huge as some have been. This year is slim. of the oaks here, the white oaks have the largest acorns