DAN: "Every summer, my horse and other horses at the barn
start with slobbers from red clover.
Is there anything that can help slow down
the amount of drooling without limiting the horse's turnout?"
DR LYDIA GRAY: So I think I'm going
to have some ideas for her.
I think the answer might be yes.
But first, I want to make sure that everybody who's watching
is on the same page.
So slobbers is the name that we give
to this condition we see in horses when
they eat a type of plant in the family of the legumes.
Legumes-- you think of alfalfa.
Clovers-- I think she mentioned red clover.
There's white clover, there's alsike and then
my favorite legume, lespedeza.
DAN: Oh, of course.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Of course.
So these types of plants, as legumes,
when there's certain conditions, like high humidity,
a fungus can grow on them.
And the fungus produces a microtoxin called slaframine.
And so slaframine poisoning is also referred to as slobbers.
Slaframine poisoning sounds terrible.
This is mostly a nuisance.
It's not really a health threat to horses.
It's a cosmetic thing.
So if your horse is in the barn and you're riding it every day,
it's annoying because they can leave
big, big puddles of saliva.
But if you're showing, it's more--
so I can understand--
DAN: Not a good look, yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: It's not a good look.
So the things that she can do are things
that you do in the pasture.
And so she may or may not have influence over these,
but I'll just read these.
And some of these are long-term and some are short-term,
but overseed with grass, and make sure
that you're planting no more than about 40% of the legumes.
And I think I say this, too, a lot,
every time-- talk to your county extension agent.
They know your geographic area intimately well.
They know pasture management.
They know weather.
They know toxin, toxic plants.
They know all that stuff.
That's their job.
DAN: Definitely a great resource to take advantage of.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I don't think we use them as much as we should.
You can learn, as a horse owner, to check legume or clover
leaves for this fungus.
And so they'll look like black spots or black rings, maybe
just brown or gray.
And like I said, they appear in times of high humidity,
but really anytime the pasture is stressed.
So a pasture gets stressed from too much water, but also
too little water, so periods of drought, it's always stressed.
And also overgrazing-- if a pasture is eaten down.
That said, one of the best things
you can do to reduce how bad this problem gets in horses
is to keep the pasture mowed to about no more than three
to four inches high because regrowth
tends not to harbor the fungus.
So if you keep your pasture low, you'll have less of the fungus
and less of the slaframine.
DAN: Interesting, OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So that's something
you can do like right then.
The phrase that your county extension agent may share
is fertilize, rest, and rotate.
And you want to fertilize the grass because the clovers
and the alfalfas--
they take over if the grass doesn't have
what it needs to grow more.
DAN: So you want the grass to keep growing,
get provided with nutrients--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, otherwise the legumes
will tend to take over, the bullies.
But resting the pasture so it's not stressed,
and one way to rest it is to rotate.
So if you have two pastures, you can use one and not use one.
And that's good because you're letting it grow,
letting it even out again.
You can mow it.
You can remove the manure, so thinking about parasites.
And last resort, then you have to pull the horses.
And I know this was not what you wanted to do
was pull the horses and put them on dry lot, feed them hay.
Now hay, if it's made with legumes,
can also have slaframine in it.
However, like vitamin E and some other things,
slaframine also degrades through time
as the hay is cut and stored.
So it will be less than the living grass.
DAN: OK, so those are definitely some options.
Depending if she's boarding her horse,
you might have a little bit less control over the pasture.
But if nothing else, you can always do dry lot with hay,
if that worst case comes to worst case.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
And the last thing I would say is don't assume that
just because your horse is hypersalivating
that it is slobbers.
Maybe the first time, unless you experience this every year
and you know your horse does it, and not every horse will do it.
Some are more sensitive to slaframine.
And also, it depends on your preference for grazing.
If you prefer to eat grass, you're probably
not going to run into this.
But if you're a clover seeker, then you're
getting a heavier load of it.
But have a vet out at least the first time
and make sure that slobbers is what you're dealing with
and it's not choke, which is very serious
and could be life-threatening, that it's not
some sort of trauma or a dental disease,
or there's other things your vet can rule out.
But really, it's a chronic, over time thing, that every day you
see it.
So that's one of the clues that it's slobbers.
But your vet can help you narrow down, say yep, it's for sure.
Confirm it.
DAN: Awesome.
Well, hopefully those tips were helpful for you,
and let us know how your horse does with some
of these management tips.