# Nettles can horses eat and how much



## Poppys Nannan (23 September 2011)

I am sure that horses can eat dried nettles - i believe it has some therapeutic/ herbal benefits (please correct me if i am wrong) but i just wondered how many nettles they can eat, can they be overfed !!

Many thanks


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## Poo Picker (23 September 2011)

Nettles are great, I cut them and leave to lie in fields and as soon as they have wilted the horses gobble them up - particulary good for any prone to laminitus


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## 4x4 (23 September 2011)

Am told they are lso good for skin conditions


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## Oberon (23 September 2011)

Nettles are rich in iron and Vitamin C and much valued for their ability to support circulation and cleanse the blood.

You will find that if you offer them ad lib the horses tend to binge on them and then ignore them when they've had their fill.

They can't overdose on them. This seller has info on herbs if you are interested.
http://www.equinatural.co.uk/epages/BT3755.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3755/Categories


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## Alec Swan (23 September 2011)

I've often wondered about growing nettles,  commercially,  and then bailing them!!  Your horse will come to no harm,  indeed,  the reverse! 

Alec.


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## SO1 (23 September 2011)

I hope they can eat as much as they want as my pony loves nettles and at the moment he prefers eating them to grass.

I took some photo of him tucking in!


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## classicalfan (24 September 2011)

Some horses will even dig up the root to eat.  Great way to clear a field of them!


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## berry (24 September 2011)

Horses in the wild will self medicate, they will eat different plants and grasses depending on what their body needs.
Nettles are great for detox and liver problems, my mare has a weak liver and had a slightly inflammed prancreas, i always cut the nettles growing in her field and she eats what she wants and leaves the rest.
She also gets seaweed, rosehips and dandilion, i always offer her them by hand and if she eats them i will put them in her feed for a couple of weeks then offer by hand again, when she stops taking from my hand she will have a few weeks break then i will try again that way i know that she needs them, she has never looked better .


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## EAST KENT (25 September 2011)

Dried nettles are an excellent feed if a pony tends to laminitus, cools the blood so I was told.


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## ISHmad (25 September 2011)

I whack the heads off the nettles when I go round poo picking.  After a few hours they wilt and the horses hoover them all up.


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## mr fields (25 September 2011)

yes nettles are very good for horses and they cant eat as many as they like. i go around my fields when its dry weather with my tractor and topper and cut down all the nettles and weeds all my horses love it they think its christmas when they hear me comin with the tractor lol


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## now_loves_mares (26 September 2011)

<rushes outside to throw the nettles I cut down in my garden into the shetland ponies stable>

The things you learn on HHO


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