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hedge apples?

6K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  walkinthewalk 
#1 ·
i just got my first horse and he loves H.A. weird..! should i be worried that it might hurt him? will the white stuff stick to his throat? or the H.A get lodged in his throat. if anybody knows anything about thi topic please gie me some info!!!
~thanks:)
 
#2 · (Edited)
You have GOT to be kidding!?:shock:

We ARE thinking the same thing?


None of my horses would touch them - lol

The thorns off the tree caused more than one flat tire on both tractors. Those aren't cheap to fix, when tractor = farm tractor; even if they were "just" the front tires.

My Arab got nose bleeds from trying to eat the grass around the tree.

We cut the tree down but now the miserable thing tries to grow back in the form of a bush so we bushog over it ----- AFTER we were pretty sure we'd raked up all the thorns.

Other than the rumor they make good insect repellent (didn't work in my barn), from what I've read these things have no purpose in life accept to make mine miserable and evidently keep your horse happy.

However, I Googled "are hedge apples toxic to horses" and got several credible hits.

It seems the fruit itself "probably" isn't toxic but they do a grow a mold at certain times of the year that is toxic. One article said they are toxic to ruminant animals (cows).

All articles said the biggest worry for any animal is choke.

If it were me? I'd get the chainsaw out again:D Are my feelings for the lovely hedgeapple, clearly evident? :-p

EDITED TO ADD: I know you're new to the forum but is your horse in a small area to where he is bored and eating these awful things out of boredom? If so, I'd get the chainsaw out yesterday:)
 
#3 ·
Horses love them. Squirrels, deer and cows also love them. I have not ever heard of any problem with anything eating them other than real pigs can get them stuck in their throats. I have seen more cows with a stuck hedge apple than horses.

Our horses are going around every day right now checking out ever Bois D'Arc tree. They have already gotten every one off of the trees that they can reach. Now they are just looking for the ones that fall off. They will be after acorns and pecans pretty soon.
 
#5 ·
I tried to hit the "Like" button but it won't let me:-(

In my tirade against Hedge Apples, I forgot to add about the times the thorns have been stuck in my horses' leg hair and I actually saw the broken piece of one sticking in the sole by about 1/32 of an inch:shock: That was enough to make me Ickthamol and wrap that hoof for a few nights - whether I needed to or not:-(

I am not a person to go chopping trees down but, I miss that Hedge apple tree like a toothache at a turkey dinner:-p

I also think I might have forgot to say, I would chainsaw the d**n thing down - lollollol
 
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