We just got a bunch donated, we were planning to plant them around the ring to give a windbreak- but one source online says they are toxic to horses- don’t see them on the ASPCA poison plant list- does anyone know for sure?
The variety is Thuja Excelsior- and a friend who does holistic treatments says she uses Thuja extract to treat skin funk in horses…
TIA!
They are mildly irritating, but not toxic according to the person I talked to at the extension service when my cows broke into the backyard and demolished two arborvitae. I would imagine she was right, because the cows were fine. I realize horses and cows are not the same, but generally a toxic plant that will make a horse sick will also make a cow sick.
If they are just going around a ring and not in pastures or turnouts it should be fine unless the horses can reach them to nibble on.
if you have deer around, they’ll chow down on them. As in, destroy them… I had one planted right by my house’s foundation and one winter, the deer destroyed it.
We have it. Plant it. It will grow. We have lots of deer, no takers on the thuja.
Horses would be able to reach it and nibble on it, it will be along a shared fenceline between the ring and a pasture, but in the pasture…still OK?
Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) contains the chemical Thujone which is toxic and causes Fetal Damage. Source: University of Idaho Database, “Equines and Toxic Plants”
Note: Deer are cud-chewing herbavors and can eat plants that horses can not.
All evergreens are toxic to some extent. However, most horses will not eat evergreens, and many times the quantity consumed that is necessary to actually cause harm is very large. As long as your horses have something else to nibble on, they should leave it alone. A mouthful here and there will just remind them that is does not taste good.
My horse ate three potted AV’s and was fine. The turd.
As long as they don’t eat the entire tree they’ll be fine. They may nibble on it, though, especially if they get bored or hungry. So if you don’t want some interesting topiary I’d suggest making some way to prevent them from getting to it. Keeping full hay nets to distract them should be enough.
Horses and cows are FAR from the same. Cows have 4 stomachs and can eat lots of things that will kill a horse. Dogs and cats and horses. All different as far as what is poisonous in terms of plants and meds. You MUST check the species.
Not toxic in my experience. I planted a screen of them on the east side of the barn about 15 years ago. They quickly grew and horses never bothered them. Then I had some dumb ass workers putting in some fence posts that decided it would be a good idea to limb up the trees next to the fence. Had I been there when they did this I would have put a stop to it.
Now the scratchy lower branches were not there to keep the horses away from the trunks and the horses decided that it would be a good idea to start eating them. Bear in mind horses had plenty of hay and 15 acres of grass. So they started chowing down on them trying to girdle the trees and eating the lower limbs. I was able to get hot wire up to save the trees. The horses were in no way affected by their new candy. After a few years the trees recovered and I took down the hot wire. Horses have shown no interest in eating them again.
Don’t know about horses but my goat loves mine. He’s “pruned” it way back.
I had one in my paddock. Chuck killed it by using it as his personal scratching post.
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