This message is from: Kathy Spiegel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Jean Gayle wrote: > This message is from: "Jean Gayle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > She sounds like quite a character, Meredith. I think peaches are okay it is > the pit that has. is it arsenic? Horses can find the best way to have > accidents in ways we humans do not seem to anticipate, i.e. like Gunnar > running across the field with the garden gate over his neck. Smart boy > though, he finally stopped and shook it off. Jean > > Jean Gayle > Aberdeen, WA > [Authoress of "The Colonel's Daughter" > Occupied Germany 1946 TO 1949 ] > http://www.techline.com/~jgayle > Barnes & Noble Book Stores Cyanide is the compound in peach and apricot seeds ( inside the stoney pits). I have no idea of the fatal dose in horses but a cup of pits ( apricot ) may be fatal in humans. Re tying horses to imovable objects - I had a very bad experience with a beautiful horse who had a fatal flaw that I did not know about-He pulled back and went totally nuts when tied to objects, but not all the time. I had had him for about six months and rode him fairly often, but never tied him for any longer than it took to get him saddled. We had just trailered our horses to the national forest for the beginning of a 3 day pack trip over the fourth of July. He was tied to the side of a horse trailer while we got the gear ready He suddenly pulled back and then went berserk. Even though the lead was tied with a half-hitch- I couldn't get to the end of the rope because of the flailing hooves. I simply could not get between him and the trailer in time to release the lead. The horse broke his leg at the fetlock and then proceeded to completely disarticulate the joint on the edge of the trailer fender. You could see the damage grow with each blow but he would not stop and the lead did not give. He had a nylon halter on. I finally got in with a knife and got out with only one blow to my leg. We had to destroy the horse right there. Luckily no one including the other horse tied to the trailer was seriously injured but it was traumatic. We found out after talking to the previous owner that the horse had a history of pulling back violently when tied to any object but it was unpredictable and he had forgotten to mention it. He felt bad and I felt even worse. With the exeption of that one fault he was a gem and had never given any indication of the fury that could be unleashed when he found he could not get away. I do not know what caused it in his past, we were unable to trace the other prior owners but to this day I get very nervous tying a horse. The breakaway halter or snap is a good idea. There are situations where you cannot safely get to the lead to release even a simple half hitch. I would rather retrieve a horse than put another one down because of an accident like this or worse, have someone seriously injured. Until you have seen a horse in full fury and unable to escape, it is easy to forget how deadly they can be. Kathy
