Ridiculous question— My husband lost his wedding ring today and thinks it may have been while he was filling our horses’ hay feeder. It’s a Tarter hay basket with a slow feeder net. If he did lose the ring in the hay, what are the odds a horse could eat it? Would this be an emergency or would they pass it? Could it cause any digestive issues if swallowed?
From experience watching what a horse will leave in the feed tub while able to eat every other grain in there, I would say if he lost it while filling the feeder it most likely is still in there.
He needs to either get the ring resized or stop wearing it while doing chores.
I haven’t worn mine in for over 20 years.
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You could have him radiographed or serve up a few days of psyllium fiber say for 4 or 5 days. And sift the stall shavings and manure daily At least it’s not a rough cut stone
Call your vet tomorrow for advice
Your husband has a unique excuse😄
Do you have a magnet pickup for nails to use in the shavings and manure?
start the psyllium now. For the horse.
I think I’d go through the hay in basket before I panicked. If you don’t have a nail sweep, go get a cheap metal detector. Remove the horses from that paddock if possible - go through the hay slowly with the sweep or metal detector. Then if you don’t find it, call the vet.
I agree it’s more likely the ring is in the hay or the feeder, but in the event that the horse eats it, I doubt it would cause any serious issues passing through.
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When I see how much my horse is capable of leaving behind, I think you very well may find it unconsumed. I assume you went out and checked all around the feeder and did not find it?
So long as it is a standard wedding band, I’d be surprised if it caused any issues passing through. Think about how big manure is vs the size of his smooth ring.
And yes, if it comes off that easy, he needs to get it resized. Mine is pretty loose, but it wouldn’t slide off over my knuckle without my knowing it.
I would have a hard time imagining a horse actually eating a wedding ring. My horses will sort out stems or twigs without eating them; I can’t see how a horse would accidentally eat a ring. Maybe play with it, but not eat it by accident.
I’d look for other places it might be lost before I’d start going through manure. Anything like filling water buckets or scrubbing troughs? Cold water would make it come off easier than normal.
But, no, not an emergency if the horse actually ingested it.
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A nail sweep (at least the ones I’m familiar with) wouldn’t help unless the ring was made of a ferromagnetic metal like iron.
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Good to know! Never thought about that. I should have paid more attention in chemistry class. LOL
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A ring would feel like a stone in the horse’s mouth - ie not chewable. I would be really surprised if a horse didn’t spit it out if it was accidentally picked up with the hay. They certainly spit out stones and sticks if they accidentally pick them up. Something firm like a ring would stop them from being able to grind the hay properly and would feel really uncomfortable.
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Magnets do not attract gold.
ETA that this is physics, not chemistry.
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I second the metal detector idea…
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Wanted to add that it’s not exactly unheard of for horses to swallow small inedible objects. Enteroliths form around a nidus of debris like a rock or a nail. Unusual, yes, particularly if the thing is something you WANT them to swallow like a medication tablet, but it can happen.
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My horse had his stomach x-rayed when he was colicking every three days. Vet said “a bit of sand, a nail, nothing much” A nail??? Yup, I saw it, and it was passed normally as second xray 3 days later was clean.
I agree with others that I don’t think a ring, if swallowed, would be a problem, but I can’t imagine them eating it…
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Yup-happened to my dad. Pony, dad and ring all survived.
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Thanks for checking, and thank you all for your answers! We’ve looked all over with a metal detector as well as checked all horse manure and did not find it, so we’re assuming it fell off of his hand while washing his hands and slipped down the drain. Good thing it’s insured! My husband has, like, no knuckles which is probably how it happened but after two years of marriage this is a first!
Looks sideways…I am now going to be pondering that at 3 am!
Chemistry to know the chemical make up of a substance, physics to cover the magnetic properties?
Have you talked to your insurance company yet? Do so asap, because there is a chance they will send out someone who is a Finder of Lost Jewelry and believe it or not, they find it and retrieve it. Even down the drain (with luck it is still sitting in the S bend).
I knew a gentleman who had that job on a call-up basis for insurance companies. He had a few technological tools that he used, and he would find small jewelry along the sides of lakes and streams, in grass, in boulders, embedded inside furniture, in carpet – you name it, and over 25 years he had found it there. He said that if the thing was there, he would absolutely find it every time.
Basically the insurance company used him as cheaper than paying out some of the claims. It is a little-known job done by a small number of specialists! 
Good luck!
And by the way, my last horse would have definitely happily swallowed something like a man’s wedding ring. He enthusiastically chewed up and swallowed plastic bottle caps, and occasionally made a dive for certain small white stones (in the parking lot of the barn). I tried to get things out of his mouth but he would fight for it. As far as he was concerned, he found it so it was his, and he was gonna eat it. None of it ever did him any harm, fortunately. I felt kind of silly constantly telling people with water and juice bottles “please don’t leave that there, where my horse can reach it”. :winkgrin:
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It varies wildly from horse to horse - some have a good sense of what’s edible and others don’t.
My friend’s horse ate a glove (colicked but passed the glove with no lasting harm done) and another friend’s horse almost ate someone’s car keys before she fished them out of his mouth.
On the other hand, I left my own horse unattended once in a small paddock with my grooming tote containing a rolled-up plastic bag half-full of baby carrots (original packaging) for a few minutes. I figured she wouldn’t check out the grooming kit because she was grazing. Boy, was I wrong. Mare unrolled the bag, dumped out all the carrots and ate them all other than one half-chewed baby carrot. She didn’t touch the plastic - didn’t even rip it any further than the original opening. She’s a total horsey hoover for food but seems to have a good understanding of what’s edible and what’s not - plastic doesn’t meet the edible criteria.
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