This is why internet sometimes isn't so great...

[Teehee]

It can drive one bonkers...!!!

Two weeks ago I moved my mares to another field since they had the other one pretty much chewed down. It turns out that I took them to a field where there's a lot of grass but it's not tender clover ... a more native grass...(with the idea that they wouldn’t get overly soft, because of a protein overload)

Anyways, today I've noticed that I can see my mare’s ribs; they still have chubby butts... but they've chewed down the grass they like, but they other native stuff is pretty much untouched... I was looking up on the internet if maybe that grass is toxic or something... since maybe that's way they're not eating it... And now I’ve found out that there’s a so called Fescue grass (which seems to be a very common grass here...) that can contain some type of fungus that can harm the mare’s and foal, supposedly it can make sheep and cows go lame... so I imagine even it could affect horses...!!! And the worst part is that if it contains that fungus... it doesn’t die even if you make hay out of it... so needless to say... I’m completely paranoid now!!! Then I was reading that some other type of grass (normal grass to me...) can cause laminitus...

I mean, how ridiculous can that be? That a grass eating animal can get sick ... eating grass!!!???

I'm completely nerve-wracked!!! This having internet... and looking things up, is great... but sometimes you trip over things... I'd have rather not to even know about!!!

Definitively... ignorance is a bliss!!!

 

[magicalmac]

Im the same with medical books and horse magazines. I read this months topic on a particular disease and then whoosh in my mind my horse is showing all the symptoms. I know what you mean about ignorance is bliss. How about this one "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

 

[Teehee]

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

Oh, yeah... a little knowledge is very dangerous!!!

But the problem is... the more I learn... I realise the less I know!!! It's a vicious circle!!!

 

[KateWooten]

Fescue is a real problem if you have brood mares. It thickens the er... something that surrounds the foal, and leads to the foal being 'retained' and born late ... a bunch of other problems, stillbirths etc. Round here, you take mares off all fescue for their last 90 days, and then buy hay from out of state.

There is at least one study that indicates regular horses grazing on fescue with the fungus have slower recovery rates and less stamina than horses who are not exposed to it.

in general, however, in areas where the fescue is a problem, it doesn't bother regular horse owners at all, only breeders, and only in the last 90 days of gestation.

I've never heard that it's poisonous.

Certain grasses at certain times of the year, do lead to laminits in horses who have a tendency towards it. Grasses with high sugar contents, in a growth spurt, with frost on them - they're a definite no-no if you have little fat ponies, for example. You might want to read up on the safer grass website - I htink it's www.safergrass.org ?

 

[Lonestar]

that some other type of grass (normal grass to me...) can cause laminitus...

I mean, how ridiculous can that be? That a grass eating animal can get sick ... eating grass!!!???

Yup, my pony has laminitus from going from the bare winter paddocks to the nice, fresh green spring grass.

Now you know how i feel about researching laminitus etc. Lol

 

[Bronya]

And my horse somehow managed to get laminitis, from eating grass supposedly since she wasn't in work, in an almost bare field - whilst losing weight because there was so little food! Go figure......

Field was VERY waterlogged and wet - but that's not on the list of causes...

 

[Rips]

So how do you know if your grass if fescue grass?

 

[Laura+Phantom]

I mean, how ridiculous can that be? That a grass eating animal can get sick ... eating grass!!!???

My farrier always says that grass is poisonous to horses, in his tongue-in-cheek way. He has a point there!

 

[Teehee]

So how do you know if your grass if fescue grass?

This is what it looks like...

http://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/plant15.htm

By the sounds of it, it's not the plant in itself that makes the animals sick, but a fungus that thrives on it. You can't tell by looking at it, you have to get the grass analised at a lab!!!

 

[Teehee]

My farrier always says that grass is poisonous to horses, in his tongue-in-cheek way. He has a point there!

Yes, I thought people in the old days were cruel having the horses up in the fields where only thorns and harsh grass use to grow... but in the end they probably did it for a reason!!!

I guess that giving green grass to horses... is killing them will love!!!

 

[Gill]

My farrier also says grass is poisonous for horses especially at this time of year. I have acres of lovely grass but my ponies are in a very bare area and fed mostly on hay and the leaves they like in the hedges.