Boiled, mashed, roasted or fried, everybody loves the comforting taste of potatoes! They’re a family favorite and one of the worlds most delicious and versatile vegetables. So it’s only natural that you may be wondering whether you can give them to your equine friend. But when it comes to feeding horses treats, some things should definitely be avoided. Potatoes are known to be poisonous to lots of animals and horses are no exception. Can horses eat potatoes? We’ll take a look at the facts below to find out.
Can Horses Eat Potatoes?
Even though lots of root vegetables like carrots and beets are good for horses to eat, potatoes aren’t. They're toxic to horses and bad for their health.
Just like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, potatoes are part of the nightshade family which are the most poisonous types of wild plants.
Potatoes are also full of starch and carbohydrates. Large amounts of these in a horses diet can be unhealthy. Excessive carbohydrates can raise blood sugar levels and will be very fattening, and horses have a hard time digesting starchy food.
It’s better if owners don't feed their horses potatoes or any other members of the nightshade family. If horses eat too many potatoes, this can be harmful and they will be at risk of potentially fatal potato poisoning.
What’s Potato Poisoning?
Raw potatoes contain the toxins solanine and chaconine these are also called glycoalkaloids which are very toxic to horses.
If your horse eats a large quantity of these toxins then they will cause a serious inflammatory response in your horses gut.
Although these glycoalkaloids are found in the whole of the potato plant, they’re more concentrated in green parts.
In many cases when an animal has been eating a harmful plant it can vomit it up pretty quickly. But an equine cant vomit which means that there's no way of bringing the toxic food back up.
Once it's been eaten, the potato has no option but to pass through the horses digestive system and cause poisoning.
What are the Symptoms of Potato Poisoning?
The symptoms of potato toxicity can range from mild to severe.
It’s important to recognize the symptoms because this type of poisoning can potentially be fatal for your horse. It can also lead to long term, chronic effects on it's digestive system.
If your horse has been poisoned by potatoes then symptoms include abdominal discomfort, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, colic and thirst.
In more severe cases, poisoning can lead to excessive salivation, abdominal swelling, diarrhea and even mental distress and confusion.
Treatment and Recovery
If your horse has consumed a large quantity of raw potatoes then you must seek medical advice from your vet immediately. But don't worry, if your horse has been diagnosed with potato poisoning then it can be treated.
Treatment for equine poisoning caused by potatoes focuses on making your horse comfortable and flushing the toxins from its system.
For this, your horse may be given anti-nausea medication as well as diuretics, extra fluids or activated charcoal. Your horse will need to be kept in a safe and quiet place during recovery.
If your horse has a mild case of toxicity then chances are that it will make a full recovery. But in more aggressive cases your horse might be left with chronic digestive complaints such as inflammatory bowel disease. And in worse cases, this kind of equine poisoning can be fatal.
Why is Raw Potato Poisonous?
We know that potatoes aren't healthy because they're full of harmful toxins. But did you know that cooking potatoes will break most of these toxins down?
When potatoes are cooked, it lowers the levels of solanine and chaconine. This means that raw potatoes are a lot more toxic than cooked ones.
Why is Potato Skin Poisonous?
Potato peels have a particularly large amount of solanine, up to ten times as much as the rest of the potato. All of the potato plant including the green leaves and stalk contains solanine. Also, because potato peels are full of starch they may swell up from the horse's saliva and get stuck in its throat. This another reason why you should never feed a horse potato skin or let it eat potatoes from a field.
Is Cooked Potato Poisonous?
You may think that feeding your horse cooked potatoes such as chips and fries is ok but even though cooked potatoes have fewer toxins in them, there's still small amounts of solanine. This means that they may still present a risk to horses.
Potatoes are also high in starch and carbohydrates which aren't healthy for horses.
Feeding your horse cooked potato may still lead to colic. This means that potatoes in any form be it fries, mash or chips are unhealthy and unsafe for horses to eat.
What to do if Your Horse Eats Potato
If your horse has eaten a small amount of potato then don’t worry, a small piece will probably be ok.
But if you think it's been fed a large amount on the other hand, then you need to monitor it closely for symptoms of colic or poisoning.
If your horse has eaten potatoes and you think it has more than just a stomach upset then you should immediately call your vet for advice.
Just like with any other types of poisoning, your horse has a better chance of recovering if you catch it in the early stages.
Tips for Keeping Horses Away From Potatoes
Luckily, most horses won't be interested in eating potatoes or other plants from the nightshade family. This is because animals usually have a good instinct about what foods are poisonous to them. Potatoes taste pretty bitter to horses too.
If your horse is well fed and has access to lush, green, grazing then it won't be interesting in eating any wild potato plants.
It’s not uncommon for wild potato plants, or other members of the nightshade family, to be present in horse pastures.
This is why it’s always a good idea to regularly check your pasture for poisonous wild plants. If you find any potatoes or other toxic plants growing then pull them out of the ground and discard them safely.
Generally speaking, you shouldn’t feed your horse human snacks, they can cause a stomach upset. But if you really can't resist sharing your snacks with your horse, always check the ingredients first to make sure that it doesn’t contain potatoes.
If you collect fruit and veg waste from your kitchen to feed to your horse, always make sure that it doesn’t have potato peels mixed in amongst it.
Remember, the peels of potatoes are up to ten times more toxic than the potato itself!
Lastly, horse owners need to be extra vigilant if there are potato fields around their horse's barn. If this is the case then you must make sure that any perimeter fences are extra secure.
If your horse ends up in a potato field with unlimited access to raw potatoes then this could be fatal.
Can you Feed your Horse Sweet Potatoes?
After learning all about the dangers of feeding your horse potatoes, you might be surprised to discover that sweet potatoes are actually safe for horses to eat.
This is because sweet potatoes aren't part of the toxic nightshade family. They're part of the morning glory group of plants which means that they aren’t a toxic vegetable and they're good for horses to eat.
Sweet potatoes have a little bit of sugar in them but they're generally a healthy snack to give to horses.
They contain lots of vitamins A, C and E. They also contain lots of methanol and choline. All of these things can potentially help to soothe the horse's digestive system.
This means that sweet potatoes make a good treat for horses with stomach ulcers.
Even though sweet potatoes are safe for a horse to eat, just like with all other treats, you shouldn’t overfeed them.
It's important that horses eat only a few pieces of sweet potato per week, any more than this could be bad for a horse's health.
And you should also pay extra attention to the way you prepare sweet potatoes for your horse. Because they’re hard when they’re raw they can pose a choking hazard.
Make sure that you always cut a sweet potato into small pieces before feeding it to horses.
Conclusion
So, can horses eat potatoes? Looking back on the information, we can see that the answer to this question is a clear no.
Potatoes are a poisonous vegetable for horses and bad for their health and they shouldn’t eat them under any circumstances, especially raw ones.
There are lots of other vegetables out there that are good for your horse's diet, including sweet potato, broccoli and swede. So try feeding your horse one of these as a treat instead.
