Do Horses Spread Non-Native Plants on Trails?

Can seeds moved by horses cause nonnative plant species to spread along trails and into parks and forests?
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Can plant and weed seeds contained in horse manure, hooves, and hay cause nonnative plant species (plants that were introduced to that ecosystem but do not grow there naturally) to spread along trails and into parks and forests? This is an ecological question that often arises. Stith T. Gower, PhD, of the Department of Forest Ecology and Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has determined that while there are seeds from weed and non-native plant species in horse manure and hay, the plants that result don’t survive or spread on trails. Therefore, horses do not appear to be a major source for the introduction of nonnative species.

"Nonnative plant species pose a serious ecological and economic threat to managed and natural ecosystems," said Gower. "Therefore, there is a great need to identify major sources for the introduction of non-native species and implement management plans to reduce or eliminate their introduction. Horses have been suggested to be an important source for the introduction of nonnative plant species along trails, but the data are largely anecdotal."

The objectives of two studies were to determine if horse hay, manure, and hoof debris samples contained seeds from nonnative species, and if so, whether their seeds would germinate and establish on the trails.

Gower took samples of horse hay, manure, and hoof debris from 12-24 horses at each of five American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) rides held in North Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Subsets of these samples were sown in potting buckets and grown outdoors in ideal conditions in Madison. In addition, samples from the horses at each ride were placed back on the horse trail

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Stith Tom Gower is a Professor of Forest Ecosystem Ecology in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His primary research focus is the effects of global change on terrestrial ecosystems, and his research skills were used to address the research question of whether horses introduce weeds on to trails.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
333 votes · 333 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!