Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Oak trees near paddock

From: Mark

Hi, I have been reading your newsletter for about a year and find it very useful. I especially find your balanced (no pun intended) sense of what is important in life and in life with horses most appealing.

My wife and I have 2 small horses, a New Forrest Pony and an Icelandic. We are preparing to take them home and are in the process of having a barn built and laying out paddocks. There are oak trees near one of the paddocks and we have read that oak leaves and especially acorns are very dangerous. Are you aware of how dangerous they might be and whether with proper paddock maintenance we can safely keep our horses near the trees? We plan to police the paddocks once a day to remove manure etc. but know that there will probably be times when leaves and acorns are available in the paddock.

Thanks again for your wonderful newsletter. Mark

Hi Mark! Thanks for the kind words; I'm glad to know that you're enjoying HORSE-SENSE.

Acorns are harmful if they are eaten in large quantities, they just don't present the same sort of danger as the wilted leaves of red maple or wild cherry trees. With proper paddock maintenance, you should indeed be able to keep your horses safe. If you are removing manure daily, just remove excess acorns at the same time, whenever acorns are a problem. Many horses eat a few acorns and then ignore them, and most horses won't eat very many acorns unless they are very hungry and there is little else available to eat. A few horses die every year from acorn poisoning, but these are NOT horses that just nibbled a few acorns here and there. You don't have to be fanatical about removing every last acorn from the paddock - just don't leave huge piles of them where the horses can reach them.

Jessica

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