Horse ingesting herbicide/weed killer?!

[impressive-92]

Hi everyone, I am a bit worried about my gelding, and I was hoping to put my mind at ease. About a week and a half ago, I was out hand grazing my gelding around the track that surrounds the outdoor arena at my boarding facility. It turns out that around the area he had been grazing had been spayed with weed killer. Sadly no one informed me of this until today, after I was grazing him around the same place.

It rained heavily a couple days ago, so I’m hoping that washed off the chemicals he could’ve eaten today.

His behavior hasn’t changed at all. He still is eating and drinking and running around

Can he get poisoned from this? If so how long it would take for there to be symptoms if he had gotten poisoned?

Any help is much appreciated

[Scribbler]

What was the weed killer? We went through a discussion about Roundup or glycophosphate at our barn, it was being used by the park in certain limited areas, and it seems like it isn’t particularly toxic to horses, but you’d want to avoid it.

I would say if the horse grazed a week ago and is fine, he is fine.

Whenever you run into the generic term “weedkiller” or “pesticide,” be sure to ask what it actually is.Then you can look it up online and see if it’s actually that toxic or not.

[impressive-92]

@Scribbler

What was the weed killer? We went through a discussion about Roundup or glycophosphate at our barn, it was being used by the park in certain limited areas, and it seems like it isn’t particularly toxic to horses, but you’d want to avoid it.

I would say if the horse grazed a week ago and is fine, he is fine.

Whenever you run into the generic term “weedkiller” or “pesticide,” be sure to ask what it actually is.Then you can look it up online and see if it’s actually that toxic or not.

I have no idea what was used, and the barn manager looked at me like I was slightly crazy when I brought it up.

[trubandloki]

If your horse has been fine for a week then your horse is fine.

I think if you are really concerned ask the barn manager again what the product used was and look up the use instructions.

Whatever Mr. Trub uses says it is safe for grazing animals once it has dried on the plant. I most certainly do not spray anything just before I turn the horses out, but it is good to know how long you have to keep them off it before they can eat it.

[impressive-92]

@trubandloki

If your horse has been fine for a week then your horse is fine.

I think if you are really concerned ask the barn manager again what the product used was and look up the use instructions.

Whatever Mr. Trub uses says it is safe for grazing animals once it has dried on the plant. I most certainly do not spray anything just before I turn the horses out, but it is good to know how long you have to keep them off it before they can eat it.

Okay thanks! My horse already has some health problems so I’m usually way too cautious

[Scribbler]

Did the BM do the spraying himself or did he hire it out? Any responsible property owner would know what was being sprayed whether he did it himself or not. On the other hand he may not have the name on the tip of his tongue or might not want to get into details with a client.

Do you actually know it was sprayed? If it was sprayed you should see plants dying off in the area.

If it looks the same same as always perhaps it wasn’t sprayed. Did you hear it from another client? It is amazing the amount of misinformation that can circulate in a barn of averagely ignorant horse owners. It’s worse than Facebook.

If you were back.grazing in a week my guess is it wasn’t sprayed with herbicide! So BM might be looking at you puzzled because as far as he knows it was never sprayed at all

[impressive-92]

@Scribbler

Did the BM do the spraying himself or did he hire it out? Any responsible property owner would know what was being sprayed whether he did it himself or not. On the other hand he may not have the name on the tip of his tongue or might not want to get into details with a client.

Do you actually know it was sprayed? If it was sprayed you should see plants dying off in the area.

If it looks the same same as always perhaps it wasn’t sprayed. Did you hear it from another client? It is amazing the amount of misinformation that can circulate in a barn of averagely ignorant horse owners. It’s worse than Facebook.

If you were back.grazing in a week my guess is it wasn’t sprayed with herbicide! So BM might be looking at you puzzled because as far as he knows it was never sprayed at all

There was a note on the board that said there was weed killer sprayed around the edge of the barn, so I didn’t graze there. I was never informed by the barn manager that he had sprayed along the track until I was grazing where he had sprayed. I’m not sure if he had someone do it or not.

I saw no dying grass or weeds where he was grazing the other day, but some when I was grazing him there the first time, but he didn’t eat them. I may have missed the area that was sprayed, it’s hard to tell.

If he were here to get sick, how long would it be until I saw signs or symptoms

[impressive-92]

I’m still quite worried about liver disease. If he were to get sick would I have seen symptoms by now?

[Scribbler]

He is not going to get sick. The most likely herbicide would be Roundup and that is not going to be a problem a week after use.

[mmeqcenter]

If it’s been a week and a half and you’ve not seen symptoms of distress, he’s probably fine.
BO may have used a herbicide that is formulated to be safe for animal exposure/grazing, like Pasture Pro.
Most herbicides, even those not specially formulated to be safe, state they are safe for animals to be on after a rain.

[Guilherme]

The most likely weed killers are RoundUp (or its generic version Glyphosate) or 2,4,D. There are some that use these two as a base and then add other materials to make them more “persistent” or more effective on certain types of plants.

If the spraying was done several days before you grazed your horse there then it’s most unlikely that either of the above materials will have any negative effects. But to be sure you’ve got to do two things: find out what was used; when it was used; was there any rain between the use and the grazing; and then call your vet and ask if you should be concerned as your horse has some potential vulnerabilities.

G.

[csaper58]

Your horse is most likely fine.

If there is any change in his eating or drinking habits, or if he act more lethargic than normal, or if his gums start to look yellow or grey, those are symptoms of liver disease.

Without knowing the exact name of the chemical, and not knowing what country you are living in, we can not know how (or if) your horse will be affected.

Your country is only important because some chemicals not used in the USA, where I live, are legal in other countries.

[impressive-92]

@csaper58

Your horse is most likely fine.

If there is any change in his eating or drinking habits, or if he act more lethargic than normal, or if his gums start to look yellow or grey, those are symptoms of liver disease.

Without knowing the exact name of the chemical, and not knowing what country you are living in, we can not know how (or if) your horse will be affected.

Your country is only important because some chemicals not used in the USA, where I live, are legal in other countries.

Okay thank you, I’m in the US as well, I can try and find the name of the chemical

[impressive-92]

@Guilherme

The most likely weed killers are RoundUp (or its generic version Glyphosate) or 2,4,D. There are some that use these two as a base and then add other materials to make them more “persistent” or more effective on certain types of plants.

If the spraying was done several days before you grazed your horse there then it’s most unlikely that either of the above materials will have any negative effects. But to be sure you’ve got to do two things: find out what was used; when it was used; was there any rain between the use and the grazing; and then call your vet and ask if you should be concerned as your horse has some potential vulnerabilities.

G.

Okay great, thank you. He ate it (or potentially ate) a week or more after it was sprayed. Then the second time he had potentially eaten it there had been rain

[impressive-92]

@mmeqcenter

If it’s been a week and a half and you’ve not seen symptoms of distress, he’s probably fine.
BO may have used a herbicide that is formulated to be safe for animal exposure/grazing, like Pasture Pro.
Most herbicides, even those not specially formulated to be safe, state they are safe for animals to be on after a rain.

Okay thank you. He ate it before the rain as well, but I haven’t seen anything abnormal

[impressive-92]

@Scribbler

He is not going to get sick. The most likely herbicide would be Roundup and that is not going to be a problem a week after use.

Okay thank you so much