Beautiful but very poisonous, domestic or wild, they constitute a real risk, sometimes mortal, for the ponies. In your home or in excursions, it is necessary to be able to identify them!

The riders and the breeders know that it is very imprudent to give certain seeds (flax, ricinus, nipples...) for the ponies to eat. They are not carefull enough with the plants, shrubs or herbaceous plants, domestic or wild. However the researchers of national Institut of agronomic research (INRA) have registered about twenty plants which can intoxicate seriously the equines.
The yew (Taxus baccata) represents one of the most frightening dangers. This decorative conifer is very appreciated by the ponies because it does not produce resin.
But its majestic foliage dissimulates a poison extremely violent, the taxine, able to strick down in a fulgurating way any pony too greedy. There is no effective treatment against it!
The boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), the thuja (Thuja occidentalis), the locust tree false-acacia (Robinia pseudo acacia), the cherry-laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) or the famous rhododendron which one finds in the parks and the gardens are also very toxic.
In the undergrowth or meadows, the principal sources of danger are the savages herbaceous who proliferate between the spring and the autumn. It is particularly necessary to be wary of wide spreading plants like the bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), the colchicum one
(Colchicum autumnal), the common ragwort (Senecio jacobea), the datura (Datura stramonium)

or the St.-John's wort (Hypericum perftratum). Exceptionally, the breeding herbaceous can also appear dangerous in the event of excessive consumption. It is the case of clover (hybrid or rosy) at the origin of several alarms in recent years.
How to evaluate the risks?
"They are obviously different according to the area and the seasons" explains the national Center of toxicological information veterinary surgeon (CNITV) of the School veterinary surgeon in Lyon (1).
The statistics show for example that they are larger for moving of the animals or in the event of bad food. Take care of your pony's food and when it moves in unknown ground are thus measurements of essential precautions. If you have one's suspicions about intoxication, don't wait call the veterinary surgeon. "The first reflex, it is to withdraw the animal from the danger, move it away from the suspect plant", insists Dr. Eric Levy, veterinary surgeon in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines). "Then, it is necessary to install it in a comfortable place in order to avoid the wounds and the lesions which it could have received at the time of convulsions or fall. Lastly, it is necessary to give it water in abundance whilst waiting for first aid to give him, which often consists of purging and perfusions"

File made by Charles DESJARDINS
(1) Permanence CNITV (24 h sur 24). Tel. : (16) 78.87.10.40.



THUJA

Its leaves contain toxic substances (of which thujone) which causes gastroenteritis, as well as hepatic and renal lesions, sometimes accompanied by convulsions. Treatment: flushing out of stomach and purgative.


BOXWOOD

It conceals alkaloids which start acute intoxications and digestive disorders. Symptoms: convulsions and respiratory paralysis. The treatment consists of flushing out the stomach (with a solution of tanin) and purgative.


DIGITALIS

It contains heteroside cardiotoxic. It causes rather rare intoxications which appear in digestive and urinary dysfunctions. A consumption of 140g of leaves can be lethal.


FALSE HELLEBORE

We can find it sometimes mixed with the hay. It is rich in alkaloid. Its consumption causes gastroenteritis and uncontrolled tremors. The lethal amount is evaluated by one kilo of dry leaves.


LABURNUM

The ingestion of this plant causes muscular convulsions, respiratory disorders and colic. Recommended treatment: flushing out the stomach, activated carbon and barbiturates.

LOCUST TREE FALSE-ACACIA

Its bark irritates the digestive mucous membranes. The leaves cause serious cardiovascular dysfunctions. The lethal amount is of 150g of bark. Symptoms: colic and a hyper excitation.

COLCHICUM

The toxic agent (colchicine) contained in this herbaceous acts on the capillaries. Symptoms: hemorrhagic diarrhoea and colic due to abdominal lesions. The lethal amount is a few kilos.

CHERRY-LAUREL

This plant causes serious respiratory disorders which leads to death pony. The treatment, based on the injection of hydroxy-cobalamine or methylene blue, must be very fast.

RHODODENDRON

It contains a very powerful toxic principle, the andromédotoxine, which causes multiple manifestations: digestive system disturbances, respiratory problems and bad coordination of movements.

ST.-JOHN'S WORT

The substance contained in this plant, the hypéricine, accelerates photosensitization and causes very unpleasant redness and itching. We can recognise the poisoned pony by its inflated eyelids.

FERN

Its toxicity remains frightening, even when it is mixed with the hay. The symptoms (locomotors disorders) appear at the end of 20 or 30 days. Treatment: brewers' yeast and B1 vitamin.

DATURA

The intoxications occur especially when its leaves, which shelter a toxic cocktail, are mixed with fodder. Symptoms: a dryness of the mucous membranes and a hyperexcitability.

COMMON RAGWORT

This rare herbaceous causes devastations to the liver of equine (fulgurating cirrhosis) and the cardiac disorders accompanied by digestive system disturbances. The intoxication is accompanied by a loss of weight and reflex.

 

 

 

Il recèle des alcaloïdes qui déclenchent des intoxications aiguës et des troubles digestifs. Symptômes: convulsions et paralysie respiratoire. Le traitement consiste en un l

 
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