He ate the flagging tape!

I recently fenced in a small grazing area for my horses, as they have pretty much decimated their pasture and I don't want to start feeding hay just yet. I put strips of yellow flagging tape along all the new fencing as a precaution, because I thought as soon as I let them into it they might start tearing around and run right through it. Today when I let them in they ran a bit, but quickly settled into some serious grazing. As I watched my yearling colt Cody grazing alongside the fence he suddenly lifted his head and tore off a piece of the flagging tape. He still had a mouthful of grass and continued chewing, but before I could get to him he had swallowed the whole works- flagging tape and all. He seemed fine afterward, but should I be alarmed, or will he just pass it through? It wasn't a huge piece- maybe 6 inches long- but is there anything I should watch for over the next day or two?

Years ago, when the Vancouver Zoo was called the Vancouver Game Farm, you could just walk up to the fence and feed the animals & touch them through chain link fence. I was feeding the elephant, she kept on eating & eating. So I opened the plastic bag & thought she would just stick her trunk in & take what she wanted. Hah! She wrapped her trunk around the whole plastic bag & grabbed everything. A zoo worker saw this & came over, I was upset that the elephant ate plastic, he said not to worry it would just pass through her because she was big animal. Although your horse is not as big as Tina was, I am sure he'll be fine. Tomorrow you'll see his poop with the yellow plastic ribbon in it. Happy poop picking!

Keep an eye on him - it will most likely pass without issue, but it's always good to be extra aware if/when they have eaten something like that.