WELLINGTON, Utah (AP) - Necropsies have confirmed that nine horses in central Utah died earlier this month after eating large amounts of a toxic plant that was cut from their pasture and baled into hay.
Veterinarian Dan Harmer tells The Salt Lake Tribune the horses at the farm in Wellington ate equisetum, also known as horsetail or scouring rush. Harmer says he and another veterinarian found it in the alfalfa field from which the horses’ hay was cut.
Horsetail is one of about two dozen poisonous plants in the state. Harmer says it is uncommon to find it in an open field and believes it might have spread to the alfalfa field from a now-dry canal nearby.
Harmer says there is an antidote, but the horses that ate the largest quantities of equisetum died.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
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