Toxic Plants and Trees

Just reading through the interesting posts on toxic plants...the following link takes you to a great publication that covers Australian plants and probably some that still relate to other countries. It's a government organiastion and book can either be purchased or downloaded for free.
Hope it helps Colin
https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/06-048

And as I have recently learned...

Whorled Milkweed (very deadly!)

These others were taken from the Colorado Weed Management Association book (www.cwma.org) called Noxious Weeds of Colorado (9th Edition).

African Rue
Tansy Ragwort
Yellow Starthistle
Black Henbane
Bouncingbet
Houndstounge
Russian Knapweed
Halogeton
Johnsongrass
Posion Hemlock

I was just wondering if anybody had some information. I live in Canada (Nova Scotia). Is there any sites that would tell what sort of plants are poisonous here? The pastures where my horse is boarded (community barn) are fairly overgrazed. Any info would be appreciated!
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I would suggest to probably go to your local library and find a good book on horse/pasture care - as a lot of trees we have in northern Michigan are similar to those in Canada, I can say the two deadliest I have here, you probably have : RED MAPLE AND ALL CHERRY TREES!! That includes wild cherry, chokecherry, domestic, etc.. it's the leaves in these (red maple, cherry) that contain CYANIDE, which is very, very poisonous to horses. A friend of a friend had a healthy horse who died of a terrible death from accidently eating leaves from a cherry tree. I did a lot of reading on this when we brought my horse home, and confirmed that only 3 leaves eaten can cause death-so quickly, that often a vet can't even get there on time. Really scary, I know!! I had some wild cherry trees just outside of my mare's pasture, and believe me, I couldn't cut them down fast enough when I spotted leaves had blown into her pasture! I hope this helps!

Thank you very much! The pasture does have quite a few Maple trees around it.. yikes!

You're welcome!! Remember, it's the Red Maple that's the poisonous one of the maples - Cyanide being the culprit in the leaves....
There are, I'm sure many other plants in your region to look up, but definitely the worst are the Red Maple and all Cherry Trees.

Just adding an update on my 20 yr. Old OTTB with Johnsongrass poisoning. He still continues to drip and stream urine: he's incontinent.
There have been no further neurological problems so the problem isn't progressing. This is good. The bad part is that the damage that has been done to his bladder control is permanent. At this point, he won't recover control of his bladder. We're keeping vaseline on his back legs to protect from urine scald. He's perfectly comfortable...we did a three hour trail ride on Sunday. I was riding my horse behind him and you could follow the drips down the trail. The vet has suggested adding vitamin E to his supplements to see if that will help with nerve recovery, but he doesn't hold out much hope.

A brief history: This problem began about mid-March. We noticed dripping and streaming urine and took him to the vet. We then discovered that he had been eating hay with a considerable amount of Johnsongrass in the hay. Our horses are kept at a friends farm about 5 minutes from us. She died a year ago and her daughter took over. We are the only boarders, they have about 17 horses of their own. None of their horses show any symptoms. DB is the only thoroughbred there and the oldest horse. The other horses are quarter horses and TWHs. We're assuming that DBs age and breeding might have predisposed him to this problem since none of the other horses are affected. They've always taken care of our horses as if they were their own and the BO feels terrible about this. DB is currently on senior feed and a SmartPak daily containing OneAC for anhydrosis, BiotinPlus for his hooves. He gets a weekly shot of glucosamine for his joints and is on pasture 24/7. The only time he gets supplemental hay is in the winter when the pasture dies back.

IF this had been spring shoots of Johnsongrass he would be dead because they are loaded with cyanide. Once it is grown, it can be cut and used as hay if it's properly handled. With hay shortages around, you will see it advertised. In our case it was mixed in with coastal bermuda. My advice would be to avoid Johnsongrass hay at all costs. Sometimes it's possible to get away with it with no problems....but not always. So why take the chance?????

I have a cherry tree right next to the fence where we're about to move my horses, is it certain cherries they can't eat or all?

It's the leaves of ALL cherry trees - wild or domestic. 3 leaves eaten and a horse can suffer a painful and rapid death. They are filled with CYANIDE. I never knew this myself until a neighbor told me of her friend who had this happen to her beloved horse. When we brought my horse home, I cut down any wild cherry tree and sapling I could find surrounding her pasture. It's been a while since I've read the information, so I don't know about the fruit, but I won't ever find out because the deadly trees are gone!!

Our vet said the buttercups are toxic and my pony has bumps under her jaw due to allergy to it they said.