Can Horses Eat Acorns?

I was walking through the woods with my horse the other day and when we stopped, I noticed he picked up an acorn off the ground and ate it.

He seemed to enjoy the crunch and I didn’t stop him, but I really had no idea horses would eat acorns.

There are always a lot of them around the woods near my homestead but I’d never seen my horse eating them.

I’m always looking for new treats to feed them, but I like to do my research first, so I decided to look into it.

So, can horses eat acorns?

Acorns are actually not safe for horses. They contain a substance called tannic acid, which can cause severe kidney and liver damage when eaten in high enough quantities. Unlike my horse, most horses will instinctively avoid acorns as they are quite bitter tasting, in any case.

So, you should never feed acorns to your horse.

While it’s true that it would take a large quantity of acorns to seriously hurt the horse, no amount is really safe and you should never let your horse eat acorns.

So, let’s look at it in a bit more detail.

Why is my horse eating acorns?

So, as I said, horses generally won’t eat acorns as they’re bitter and unpleasant to eat.

They might have to try one early on to figure that out, but once they know, they know.

But what if your horses seem to be eating a lot of acorns?

Well, there are a few reasons this might be the case.

Horses spend a lot of their time grazing or eating hay, so the first thing you need to do is make sure they have plenty of quality hay or pasture.

One reason they might turn to something like acorns is that they’re not getting all the nutrients they need in their diet.

So, if your notice your horse eating acorns, try changing up their diet a little.

Try introducing a new, more nutritious variety of hay like alfalfa.

Try new treats in their diet, like fresh fruits and vegetables.

The only real reason your horse would choose to eat acorns is that they aren’t satisfied by their main diet. Some horses can be very choosy!

Can a horse recover from acorn poisoning?

Despite the caution I’ve urged, you should be aware that acorn poisoning is actually quite rare.

Different horses will have different levels of tolerance, but in most cases, it would take more than the horse would eat to do it serious harm.

That said, the health risks associated are certainly serious enough to take every precaution.

If your horse eats only a few, it may suffer from diarrhea and colic.

Much more than this, and the tannic acid can cause severe liver kidney failure, which in many cases can be fatal.

If your horse has already gorged itself on acorns and is suffering from acorn poisoning, there isn’t much that can be done.

As I said, these cases are vanishingly rare, but they do occur.

Anecdotally, some horse owners do report that their horses actively seek out acorns.

Again, this is likely to be very rare, but in these cases, you will need to be extremely careful.

They could easily eat so many as to cause acorn poisoning.

So, essentially, the vast majority of horses would not eat enough acorns to cause acorn poisoning.

Acorns are bitter and harmful and horses are smart enough to know this.

However, the reality of acorn poisoning is certainly serious enough to always actively make sure your horses are not eating acorns.

Can miniature horses eat acorns?

Miniature horses are often thought of as very different to ordinary horses, but in the case of whether they can eat acorns, the answer is no different.

In fact, miniature horses could probably tolerate much fewer acorns than larger horses.

They are literally smaller and it would simply take a smaller amount of tannic acid to cause liver and kidney failure.

So, don’t feed acorns to your miniature horse, either.

Are oak trees bad for horses?

So, what about the rest of the tree?

The seed from which they grow is a definite no, so, as you might expect, the rest of the tree is not particularly safe either.

Blossoms, buds, leaves and stems of an oak tree are all unsafe for a horse and can cause the same problems associated with acorns.

It still requires eating a very large number, but something like oak leaves your horse would enjoy more than acorns.

Still, most horses won’t eat oak leaves.

But if you have an oak tree in reach of your horses, you should monitor them carefully to make sure they aren’t eating it.

Again, though, horses won’t usually eat oak leaves either.

Acorns are not a safe snack for horses, then.

Though they might seem harmless in themselves, they are potentially toxic and could cause at best discomfort and pain and at worst long-term health problems.

If your horses seem to be eating acorns of their own accord, it might indicate an issue with their pasture or the food they have available.

Serious cases of acorn poisoning are rare, but it always pays to be as cautious as you can.