The beauty of a native flower that is the noxtious ragwort and can be deadly to horses. I am having a education about the stuff via website ragwort.org. V interesting and evidence based . It would seem that much of my horse world knowledge around the stuff comes from unsubstantiated old research and In fact it is managble if one has enough grazing to allow for high sward resting pasture management . It remains an absolute no no to have a horse in a field with nothing else to eat. I am having this discussion with many friends and we’re aiming to understand the science rather than the ‘eeek’ of reaction that ususally accompanies the word ragwort.
Apparently it is vital to the survival of hundreds of insects in particular moths and plays a crucial biodiversity role in nature . Horses will never eat it unless starving so it is a human problem that we’ve created by fencing them in . Pulling and spraying are not recommended - The Netherlands cope with it via field management and appear much more relaxed about it . I need more info to make a fully informed decision but I now look at with new appreciation rather than shudder .