horses and apples

[Tyler Fournier]

Our mare has a handful of apple trees in her pasture which are starting to drop their apples. Is this sudden introduction of lots of apples (the trees are very productive this year) into her diet apt to upset her digestion, or is this not a concern? I’d like to avoid fencing off the trees or picking up the apples, but her health is the primary concern.

Tyler

[Jay]

I would be a little careful with apples – particularly several productive trees worth. A few (10-20 apples) would not be a concern to me, but… too many can kill them, though I don’t have a number for what too many is. When I was a kid, a farmer lost his team pasturing them in the orchard in the fall. Once horses acquire a taste for apples…. I would probably fence them out. Good luck, Jay

[jen judkins]

In general I think well fed and nutritionally balanced horses don’t eat stuff that is bad for them, BUT apples, especially at their peak sweetness, probably pose a threat for overdoing it. I doubt the apples themselves could kill the horse, but colic or hind gut pH alterations could make them quite sick and require a hefty vet bill…so I too would fence them off if possible. That said I have several apple trees in my pasture. Most are just outside the perimeter fence and the horses eat ALOT of apples off the ground and from the low lying branches. I have one horse who will actually climb through the fence in the fall to eat his fill then climb back in (or report back to my porch door) when he is full. None of my horses have ever gotten sick from this habit, though I did lose an elderly quarterhorse to a mystery twisted bowel a couple of years ago in August. Can’t remember what the apples were like that year.

[mink]

i pasture an old meadow that had grown up with id guess maybe has 200 or more apple trees . i have 6 beef cows and my team of belgians in there and they eat every apple that drops and all they can reach . ive never seen the apples to be a problem. i go up with the 4-wheeler sometimes just to shake a tree for them , its funny to see all them come to be sure they get a treat. mink

[Tim Harrigan]

I think an important consideration is how fast do they have access to how many apples. If the trees are in the pasture they would have access to just a few apples that dropped initially, more later as they matured and dropped from the trees. So the stock would have time to adjust. If you just turned them in for the first time later in the season and the gorged themselves on apples with no adjustment period, now you have a problem.

[Jerry89]

I don’t think so. I mean, there must not be an issue as far as apples and horses are concerned. I came
to know that in ancient times, the seeds of apples and carrots were used for abortion.
I’m not sure the same case in animals.pomeranian diet

[CharlyBonifaz]

positively troublesome if there are many of them suddenly available; nearly lost a pony to it 🙁

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