RAGWORT POISONING

I was actually going to put up the course held the week before last, at sarah Fishers' Tilly Farm (TTouch HQ), which was brilliant, we had fantastic horses to work with a great results, so will do that next. However first I felt it both appropriate and important to post the case study I recently marked on ragwort poisoning by Sue White, Herefordshire, since it may hopefully help others should they find themselves in the same situation. It is also appropriate since we have just covered poisoning in class.


Often people unfamiliar with the subject will challenge it by reciting instances where animals have poisoned themselves. In most cases this can be explained. In the case of ragwort this usually only happens if the horse is 'starving hungry' not 'greedy' or when ragwort is dried and mixed with the hay.  In this case the bitter molecules that help the horse identify the plant break down. As self selection is dependent on odour this might make it difficult for the horse's self-medicative mechanisms to accurately identify the toxic plant. In regards to dried plants ragwort is the exception rather than the rule; the taste and smell of many herbs are unaltered when dried, which is why they are still used in zoopharmacognosy.


Case Study – Quarter Horse Yearling Maizey.

Maizey was one of a whole yard of horses who all become ill to varying degrees after consuming hay which proved, after investigation, to have ragwort mixed in with it.  As the ragwort was dried and well mixed in to the hay bales it was not easy to detect visually or by taste for the horses. The first signs of the contaminated food effects were not noticeable until after about 4-6 weeks of the hay being trickle fed to the horses. Some of the horses reacted with a slow steady muscle loss and energy depletion, others developed bouts of bad diarrhoea, others appeared normal but then suddenly displayed neurological problems such as co-ordination loss and the staggers.

Three of the youngest horses with muscle wastage and intermittent diarrhoea one by one collapsed and were not be able to get up. The first visit from the vet was a diagnosis of possibly worm burden or a virus. They had to be managed on drips and fed by hand whilst bloods and samples were taken. Worms were counted out as a source of the problem, bacteria and viruses were ruled out and poisoning from an unknown source was eventually confirmed. With still no confirmation of it being Ragwort all the horses were still being fed the contaminated hay – sadly these three yearlings died within days of their collapsing.  A post mortem and subsequent liver biopsy from one of these horses then confirmed the ragwort poisoning. The hay bales were examined and advised to be burnt.

Maizey was not much older than the three that had just died, her main symptoms were a huge amount of muscle wastage, weight loss and intermittent chronic diarrhoea with a fluctuating appetite and a great reduction in her normal energy levels to the point of exhaustion but not collapse or any obvious neurological effects.  I was not able to visit the yard until clearance was given that the problem was not a contagion, but once I could; I visited the day after the third yearling had died. The vet had left a warning to the owner that it was likely that more could die as there was no other treatment he could supply other than high level vitamin B12 supplements which may or may not help. It was in the lap of the gods as they had been trickle fed the ragwort over a couple of months and were all liver damaged to some extent or another.

Maizey had never seen or smelt essential oils before nor had she been offered macerates or herbs for self-selection. As soon as I put my bags down outside her door she was really interested and keen.

I thought about what Maizey had so far endured in the yard during the few weeks leading up to my visit. She had watched three of her playmates die, wasn’t feeling well herself and was surrounded by a lot of low energy, a yard full of sick horses.  I considered it would be an appropriate start to offer her rose otto to see if she needed emotional support first. She sniffed and licked several times followed by the same response to angelica root. She then moved away to process and ate some hay. She then took an interest in the neroli on offer. She liked the neroli a lot and took many left and right nostril sniffs and then took some from my hand, nuzzled me then processed very deeply looking far away and very relaxed for some 4-5 minutes.  I reoffered the rose; she showed no interest and moved away. I then offered yarrow which she took by inhalation only processing thro’ both nostrils then German Chamomile. She licked and sniffed a lot of this with short 15 second phases of processing in between licks.

I moved on to carrot seed to see if something with a little more of a physical use might appeal with cellular repair  – she took 3-4 sniffs and one lick then more sniffs. She processed by grinding her jaw and teeth and licking her lips then took to her hay.

I then offered lemon and lime in turn for the liver and detox in general and she took one sniff of each.  I offered her Ginger which had the same response then bergamot, grapefruit, then juniper all of which she refused by walking away. She showed no interest in peppermint, spearmint nor any other oils at that point. I reoffered rose, neroli and yarrow again followed by german chamomile but she continued to move away and was clearly not interested in any taking more.

I thought about how her body especially her liver would need nutrients to support it for not only detox but for repair and to help build up her blood and strength so offered her seaweed before moving onto powders. She loved it, was very attracted to the seaweed and licked my hand really hard, biting the surface with her teeth trying to get more and more. I offered her kelp and she took 2 small licks but then went back to the seaweed extract. From that reaction I felt that a ‘superfood’ might help so offered her barleygrass. The world turned temporarily green with all the sniffing, blowing and licking and she relished her way through about a quarter to a third of a kilo ultimately preferred as a runny paste, before slowing up. I then offered her nettle powder and she took a similar amount preferring it again as a runny paste.  She then looked satisfied and was beginning to slow down in her responses to being offered anything. She took one tiny hand of rosehips but wasn’t that interested to come for more. She finished with some more seaweed and a final small scoop of barleygrass then went to her hay before going to sleep. She was not interested in dandelion root, wheat grass, slippery elm, liquorice powder, clay, peppermint leaves, macerates or any other oils. I didn’t feel it appropriate to revisit the essential oils I had first offered, as she looked so sleepy and relaxed, to me she showed a horse who primarily needed to take care of her physical state first and foremost.

I left it with the owner to continue offering Maizey seaweed, barleygrass, nettle, neroli, german chamomile and yarrow. I suggested these be offered every day for a week or so, she took them every other day for 2 weeks.  Then 2-3 times for the next 2 weeks and twice for the next 2-3 weeks then once per week and finally only once or twice for the following month.

I revisited the yard three weeks after my initial visit and she took further interest in consuming linseed oil quarter to a half pint at a time to start and dandelion root in addition to the above. She mostly still relished the nettle and barleygrass and sniffed the seaweed a lot. In all Maizey took remedies for about 2 – 3 months then she fully lost interest.

Maizey survived the poisoning and doesn’t show any signs of the ordeal. Her body is fully muscled up and she full of youthful energy ready to be backed this spring.

Maizey was not the only horse on this yard I attended to, the owner wanted all of the horses to be offered the oils and herbs which proved interesting. In all there were about 10 more to attend to. They didn’t all have the same symptoms, and even when they did, they didn’t all choose the same remedies, although they were all poisoned with the same plant, their needs to help themselves were very individual in selection and quantities.

Overall and across the whole yard the list of the most  selected ingredients was Nettle leaves and powder, Dandelion Root and powder, Barleygrass, Mint leaves, Linseed oil, Seaweed, Wheat grass, Rosehips, Kelp and Peppermint essential oil.

The two stallions were the keenest on linseed oil taking in pint at a time measures, also taking seaweed, kelp, dandelion root and peppermint oil and mint leaves. Neither had interest in barleygrass or many of the other remedies Maizey had wanted. The horse with the worst neurological problems was Beau. He developed the staggers which I found quite distressing to witness. He proved very difficult to offer to as he was so dazed and in a strange half delirious state that his responses appeared dulled to the point of almost zero.  I took a long time with him watching and looking for the smallest signs in order to get a feel for his selections but with patience and perseverance even he has come round and now looks back to normal health and none the worse for his ordeal.