Horse ragwort poisoning?

I know this horse and she is dying of liver damage. It has apparently been brought on by her being allowed to eat rhododendron and ragwort. I have heard though that this takes years to have an effect on the liver.





What I want to know is, how soon after eating a large amount of these two highly dangerous plants, does the liver of a horse begin to start failing?





Thanks.

Horse ragwort poisoning?
For every cell of ragwort a horse ingests, one cell of liver is destroyed.


Depending on the horses general health, depends on how long it will take for that horse to recover/die.


Liver cells regenerate, so a healthy horse can be exposed to ragwort (though never recommended) and so long as it doesn't eat so much that the liver is damaged beyond regeneration (over 45%) and recover.


Vitamin injections can help recovery (I think it's vitamin K but don't quote me on this)


I was called to treat a very sick 2 year old Trotter. He was waybeyond any help I am sad to say. His liver was in failure, the whites of his eyes and membraine in his nostrills were yellow, so they had him put down.


Upon examination of the liver it was "like a cork". Very hard in texture and full of holes. Typical damage caused by ragwort exposure, and he was only 2 years old.


Horses will eat ragwort when green if there is nothing else on the field. (Classic starvation paddocks). The only way to get rid of it is to dig it up, roots and all. I put salt in the hole and fill in with soil. Where gloves when doing this. It will affect humans too.


Also if digging ragwort when pollen is high (if you have been neglectful enough to leave it that long) the pollen will cause lung damage if inhaled. Ragwort is a carcenagenic.


Get a Ragwortfork and watch for the dark green rosettes and get digging!!


You are quite within your rights to report anyone with ragwort growing in feilds/beside moterways/roadside to the minestary.
Reply:24 hours is usual and to clarify the point. Horses tend to eat the ragwort only when it is dead (and most poisonous) and when there is nothing else much for them to eat.





Incidentally, hay polluted with ragwort is extremely dangerous for that very reason. Which is why it is wiser to shake your hay loose before filling nets.
Reply:I think they can easily get infected. eating those plants is like eating poison, we had a little filly that got really sick, so we looked into it, and we think she might have gotten a hold of some ragwort. she made it through but she couldn't stand up on her own, we had to give her dmso for a month every day and use like 10 guys to help her on her feet. luckily she was little and not a full grown horse.
Reply:I thought a horse could only get ragwort poisioning if the plant was dead. I had a horse once who had in depth blood tests to find that she had liver damage, she was 13 and is now nearly 20. Im sorry i dont know the answer to your question but am interested in finding out too, my field grows ragwort and every year i dread it, going out and pulling it up by hand, but my shetlands refuse to eat it while it is growing, they ignore it. Defra say it is a finable weed to grow but do not offer a solution or a definate weed killer,and all along our grass verges it grows and pods it s seeds on the wind. i wish there was something invented to kill it for good.
Reply:Ragwort is both poisonous when it is dead or alive, if the horse has been left in a pasture of rhododendron and ragwort it would not take long atall for the liver to start failing, but obviously there is no set time. This is very unfortunate but hopefully the owner will be more aware in the future, maybe read up on other poisonous plants it is always good to know what your horses are grazing on.
Reply:MY SHIRE DIED OF REGWORT
Reply:most animals wont eat ragwort when it is growing because of the bitter taste,unless they are short of other grazing. if the ragwort has been cut , it turns black and is then palatable, and will be readily eaten in hay.if you have a ragwort problem you self,ask one of your local agricultural spray firms to take a look of your ground,they will cure the problem. one years seeds = seven years seeds.they will kill the rhododendron as well if you want.point is did horse get ragwort in bought in hay, or the grazing
Reply:I knew a Highland Pony who ate continually at some rhododendron bushes from a friday evening (when they were cut and left next to his paddock) over a weekend; he died on the monday afternoon.
Reply:im not completely sure but if they eat i big amount of it then i would think the liver would begin to struggle very quickly! but this is just an assumption. im sorry about the horse, this is why its so unbelievably important ragwort is cleared from fields. its a b*astard to get rid of for good as well!!!!!!!!
Reply:It's a difficult question. In small amounts it takes years for the liver to fail, but it is a cumulative effect, (it builds up).





In one sitting two thirds of the horses weight is fatal, but that's assuming non has ever been eaten before.





Ragwort and rhododendron are both controlled species of plants. Ragwort specifically for the protection of horses/ponies and donkey's, rhododendron because it is non native with no biodiversity impact.





Anybody knowingly allowing a horse to graze ragwort has broken the law.





http://www.ilph.org/advice/ragwort.asp