Cherry shavings+Horses= ????

I’d call some stables around your area or get on one of the equine sites and see what they’ve got to say. I imagine horses are like people, some can have reactions to different woods, etc.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Don’t know bout cherry, but walnut is a no-no.

-- Al, South E. Az., But it's a dry heat.

yep walnut is bad for any animal, red cedar is better but can cause breathing problems for some animals

pine is best from what i have heard around here

woodworkers journal (i think) has a wood toxicity chart take a look at it pretty much anything that is bad for us to breathe would also be bad for our animals.

ja angel

-- "not all those who wander are lost" JRR tolken

I know a little about horses. Walnut is bad but most other shavings are OK except I would be wary of exotics. some of them are pretty bad.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

I believe cherry has trace amounts of cyanide in it, if I remember correctly. It would probably take ALOT of exposure to have any effect on a horse, if that is the concern, though.

OK, I talked to a few different stables and was told that the sap from a cherry tree can be toxic to a horse if eaten when the tree is live. For shaveings they have never had any problems and two of them use almost 50% cherry shaveings from the door company. Now I can head back to the basement and get some work done.

my wifes uncle didnt know about the actual wood from the cherry tree, but he said that the wilted leaves will sicken or kill full grown cattle if they eat enough, because of the cyanide that is in the leaves

jay angel

-- "not all those who wander are lost" JRR tolken

coronet1967 got it right on the leaves. They go trhough a phase whlie wilting that causes a buildup of cyanide. Eating too many of them will kill a cow or a horse. I’ve never heard of shavings causing problems though.

There was a problem here in Kentucky several years ago where many of the spring foals were being aborted. Eventually they traced the problem to a bumper crop of tent catipillars. Tent catipillars love cherry and the horses were inadvertently eating the catipillars and their droppings. Since then. most farms with horses cut down all the wild cherry treas in and near their pastures. Maybe this is where the rumor came from?

-- Wonderful new things are coming! - God