Beware the poison plants.

Byline: TIA JONES

THE dry spell has scorched Mid Wales, giving the traditionally green landscape a Mediterranean hue.

In turn, this has meant less forage which,coupled with the time of season,has seen an increase in fatal equine deaths from poisoning.

The abundance of ragwort is all too evident this year. If eaten by horses and other livestock,it damages the liver and often proves fatal. When accidentally harvested, it remains toxic and is likely to cause damage if consumed in hay. Equine liver disease from ragwort poisoning killed 500 horses last year and it is estimated it will kill twice as many this year.

The only sure way of ensuring your horse does not eat any poisonous plant is to check their grazing is free of poisonous weeds and keep boundary fences secure.

Any potentially dangerous plants should be dug up and burnt. Ragwort can be sprayed in the autumn or the spring with a suitable herbicide but the pasture must not be grazed for at least six weeks after spraying.

This also applies to bracken and foxglove. If eaten, these too can cause severe poisoning.

Horses are tempted to eat bracken in late summer when other forage is dying back or at the end of the autumn when the fronds are turning brown.

Even if cut back, the roots are five times more poisonous than the fronds and the whole plant needs to be dug up and destroyed. By eating bracken,horses suffer from vitamin B1deficiency,as bracken contains an enzyme which chemically modifies the vitamin complex, deeming it biologically inactive.

Vitamin B1 deficiency in horses leads to impaired nerve impulse transmission. Most vulnerable are horses in bare grazing which, through lack of choice, start to nibble the poisonous weed and acquire a taste for it.

Bored and lonely horses can also succumb to chewing treated timber. Chemicals potentially ingested this way include copper arsenate and creosote, used to coat paddock fencing.

To a lesser extent, the ubiquitous buttercup and groundsel, if eaten excessively, can cause colic and ulceration,kidney damage and convulsions. Excess of acorns in spring -and yew throughout the year -are also to be avoided.

Having said all this,in my experience very few horses and ponies actually eat foods that will kill them. Thankfully most animals have an inherent knowledge of what is bad for them,having learnt by grazing closely to their mothers during the early period of their lives,not to eat poisonous plants.

Problems more often occur when such rearing does not take place -orphaned, bottle-fed or sick foals which haven't had the benefit of being out with their mothers. These are the most vulnerable groups which,as adults,may eat a plant that will poison them.

CAPTION(S):

Make sure you keep an eye on what horses nibble on,especially; hand- reared ones Picture: ANDREW FORGRAVE