Osage Orange Tree/Hedge Apples

["April Johnson" <ridecamp@jadawn.com>]

Dear Ridecamp,

 

I have two horses with mouth sores. Tanna has mild sores on the sides of his mouth, not enough to interfere with the bit...yet. Serts has severe, bleeding sores on the sides of his mouth and possibly on his tongue as well. He's ridden in a hackamore, so this hasn't been a problem with riding. But it just got bloody and icky today, so I'm now worried.

 

They are in a group of about 20 other horses on 35 acres. Some of that is wooded and has Osage Orange trees on it. The vet says the horses are eating the hedge apples (horse apples, whatever you're familiar with; they're big wrinkly round green fruit with lots of seeds inside) and that's what is creating the sores. Most of the horses on the pasture have these sores in some form or another and in varying degrees.

 

Another thing that's going on, just for interest's sake, is that the whole herd is infected with rain rot and (according to the vet) ringworm. They all just had a 5-dose regime of antibiotics to combat this. I am also treating my two with an antifungal topical wash. I mention this because I'm not sure if any of this links together.  The sores began showing up on a few horses 3-4 weeks before the rainrot/ringworm.

 

Tomorrow morning, we've set an appointment to pick up all the hedge apples on the property that the horses haven't eaten yet, hoping to combat the bloody, painful, foul-smelling sores by removing the source.

 

But my research on the internet tonight came up without any indication that hedge apples are poisonous. In fact, I came across this site http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/doh/html/poison/poison8.html that says that hedge apples are "considered essentially non-toxic (safe, not poisonous). Symptoms from eating or handling these plants are unlikely, but any plant may cause an unexpected reaction in certain individuals."

 

So now I'm worried that picking up all the hedge apples in the pasture and even cutting down the trees (like the barn owner has started doing) will take care of this problem. Our vet seems rather non-chalant about the whole thing and hasn't suggested treatment for the symptoms and only offers the hedge apples as the culprit.

 

Another concern I had was that the horses started getting hay at about the same time the first sores showed up. Naturally, our first reaction was that the hay was causing the sores, but the vet and the barn owner say no.

 

I generally trust the barn owner and the vet, but I'm worried that we haven't found the root of this problem.

 

Does anybody have any experience with this sort of thing? Any ideas for treatment for at least my two horses for the sores on their mouths? Any ideas what may be causing the sores? Anybody had hedge apples cause this much trouble in a herd of 22 horses?

 

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

 

April, Tanna, & Serts

Nashville, TN

april@jadawn.com