Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Okay so I'm not crazy my horse really is spooking at purple flowers.  I have 
had this problem also.  I know that there was an article in Equus a few years 
back that talked about piosonious( I think I misspelled) plants and that some 
horses have a gene that makes it so they recognize and wont eat certain plants. 
I cant remember what the trigger was but I would assume that scent has 
something to do with it.  Now I am pretty sure that my horse has this gene he 
has proven it time and time again.  We come across alot of fiddleneck were we 
live and the other horses will eat it and he won't.  Also when we are out on 
the trail far away from home and I suspect that a plant might be bad he will 
sniff it and won't eat it.  If there's grass around it he will carefully eat 
around the plant.

So I wonder if these horses we speak of have this gene.  Maybe they are 
catching the scent and their flight reflex kicks in since we come across things 
quickly on the trail.  This would definitly be interesting to look into.  Also 
to know if purple is a common color for piosonious plants or if the color has a 
scent pattern.

This would definitly give us all an excuse when our horse is just plain being 
stupid.  We can just say they smell a piosonious plant!

Alexa Campbell


     

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