It’s Monday again (they just never stop coming) so chin up and lets learn about another plant your horse can’t eat. Today we are going to meet one of the prettiest (& most tragically named) toxic plants in the whole collection, Bleeding Heart
A Little About Bleeding Heart
Dicentra spectabilis is Bleeding Heart (also hilariously called Dutchman’s Breeches). A perennial herb, this plant has deeply lobed & divided leaves, long nodding white/pink flowers and capsule like fruits with many seeds.
How Dangerous Is It?
The whole plant is poisonous but luckily they are generally only used as ornamental plants in gardens and rarely will horses have contact with them. Even if they did, they’d have to be pretty hungry to eat the Dutchman’s Breeches (heh) as they tend to be unpalatable.
Every part of this plant is toxic to horses.
What To Look For
You know your animal the best, so you should know when something is amiss. Bleeding Heart toxicity symptoms can occur anywhere from a few minutes to even days after ingestion and include tremors, lack of coordination, staggering, diarrhea, colic, difficulty breathing, convulsions. Luckily animals rarely die from ingesting Bleeding Heart.
Learn More
Be sure to check out the Bleeding Heart page to learn more about the plant and while you are at it why not check out more toxic plants?
*It should be noted that I’m not a veterinarian. This information is written specifically for horses and should be used for reference purposes only. If you think your horse has eaten something toxic call your vet right away.