apples & carrots

Can a horse eat too many apples?

Our neighbors appaloosa has acres on which to graze (ours and theirs), which she does, but for fun we feed her apples and carrots.
Our apple trees have produce a lot this year, and thus we have a lot of apples. She will eat as many as we give her.

We also give her a carrot or 2 every day. Any problem with this?

Yes, a horse can eat too many apples - but it would have to be a fair few. Do unripe apples cause colic in horses? They can cause stomache aches in people can't they? But I'd say 5 - 8 apples spread out over the day isn't going to hurt the average sized horse.

We give our horses 2-3 carrots per day and none have died yet!

I've had my pony get a tummy ache from too many apples... where I used to graze her, the idiot landowners shifted her fence and allowed her to get at their apple tree... needless to say, my fatty of a pony ate as many as she could until she made herself ill.

And I don't think two carrots a day is a problem... if I'm feeding carrots, I generally give em a couple... but I try not to make it everyday... cos when I don't have anything, they'd be put out! I've also met a few snappy ponies over the years who had owners that indulged them, and would snap at your hands looking for carrots... needless to say, I don't bother... my horses are happier with a belly full of hay and hard feed.
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I may give several carrots a day and one or two apples. I'd think too many can cause diarrhea or colics...

Well if you fed it to them by the bucket load then they would probably have issues with diarrhoea (sp. ?????) but half a dozen or so plus some carrots should be fine. I would just keep an eye on the horses and if there seems to be any probs stop feeding them so many.

Apples and carrots should be like a treat really. I know when I was little a treat meant something I didnt get very often. It should really be the same with treats and horses.

Thanks for the replies.
We will limit the apples.

The other thing to be concerned about is that apples are high sugars. If you had a horse that foundered or was IR I would be inclined not to offer them one.

Our apple tree is "shedding" apples daily about a rate of 8-10, it's roped off so they can't get to it. Each evening after I've put the boys in the barn I go out and toss apples around the huge paddock so they have to hunt for them. I forgot last night and this morning I was late. When I left they were wandering all over the place looking for the hidden treats.

I think there should be a limit cause im sure alot is not good so a few a day should not hurt :)