This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Equine Nutrition an Overview of Feeding Horses »
  Discussion on No.2 Pencil
Author Message
Member:
Jewel549

Posted on Sunday, Sep 24, 2006 - 6:51 am:

Last night I was building a feeder for my horses when my oral thoroughbred who likes to nurse on her own tongue, ate the pencil that I was working with. I believe that pencil's are made out of graphite now and not lead, but am not positive. But my question is, how bad is this? Is it going to hurt her? Besides the possibility of splinters and the medal near the eraser what can I expect. I am no too worried about the wood portion of the pencil, because the horses occasionally chew on the trees in the woods. But what kind of symptoms should I be looking for, for possible lead/graphite poisoning?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Sep 24, 2006 - 9:09 am:

The graphite is not toxic and the metal small and regular, it is likely that this will all just past through her.
DrO
Member:
Jojo15

Posted on Sunday, Sep 24, 2006 - 9:21 am:

uhoh..small pencil? long? did she chew it? or swallow whole? I bet if she chewed it you wouldnt have a problem. But whole? you might. Yes, pencils are rarely made of lead any longer. most of the "leads" in pencils are made with clay bases, oils etc... yellow paint? not much to cause concern. The metal is small too. Its the WHOLE thing together i would worry over and it getting stuck and causing a blockage. Can you have the vet over and treat like a mild colic? oils and such? That might help move it thru faster...
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Sep 24, 2006 - 4:46 pm:

I don't believe pencils were ever made from lead jojo, certainly not in my life time. Oil would not help if swallowed whole as I am not sure you want it to move faster. I debated the whole vs chewed but that is like worrying about does the horse chew its food whole isn't it? If swallowed whole and the end sharp this will cause a problem no matter what is done but I think it most likely to have been chewed.
DrO
Member:
Jojo15

Posted on Sunday, Sep 24, 2006 - 5:37 pm:

LOL.. gotta love wikipedia. I thought there were "art" pencils that still contained lead, that was my rarely thought...but can't find any reference at all. Don't know what i was thinking, they still use lead for? ceramics? who knows...
Member:
Jewel549

Posted on Sunday, Sep 24, 2006 - 10:17 pm:

Ohh she chewed it!!! That is what caught my attention, because I hadn't given her anything and she was crunching on something!! I could tell when she hit the "graphite" part...she did that head shake, but kept chewing..then starting eating grass again. She is standing and acting normal today, so they must not be too bad!! Maybe I'll buy a case and start giving them as treats!! Ha Ha. Thanks for everyone's help and assistance!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Sep 25, 2006 - 6:47 am:

Fishing weights: sinkers are still made of lead.
DrO
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Monday, Sep 25, 2006 - 8:48 am:

Hang on to the lead sinkers as they will be rarities before long.

In efforts to protect fish from lead poinsoning (I mean . . . who wants nutty fish swinning in our lakes and streams?) I don't believe fishermen can find them for sale in Vermont anymore. Fishermen are requested to turn in their lead ones, and can buy steel(?) ones in sporting goods stores . . . but the steel ones don't pinch around the fishing line as nicely as the lead ones did.
Sure do miss good ole lead in paint though . . . Exterior paint just doesn't seem to last like it used to . . .
Member:
Vickiann

Posted on Monday, Sep 25, 2006 - 10:04 am:

The lead ones are also consumed by waterfowl from the bottoms of bodies of water.
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Monday, Sep 25, 2006 - 10:37 am:

Maybe that's where the saying "Silly Goose!" origniated . . . but I don't think I can blame lead for my Morab's idiosyncrasies.

Seriously, though, were lead pencils ever really made of lead instead of graphite or did people just call it lead? Seems like they would have been pretty heavy pencils.
Member:
Erika

Posted on Monday, Sep 25, 2006 - 3:52 pm:

Couldn't resist, sorry, off topic...
My dad was a hunter when I was a kid. When we had pheasant for dinner, I was supposed to spit out the lead shot. It got tedious, so I just chewed very little and swallowed it all!
I blame my college statistics grade on pheasant dinners.
Member:
Canter

Posted on Monday, Sep 25, 2006 - 4:26 pm:

...Hmmm Erika, I think you just helped me discover why my memory is shot at such a (relatively) young age...too many pheasant (quail, etc) dinners as a kid with a bit of lead shot garnish!
Member:
Paul303

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 27, 2006 - 11:38 pm:

OK, so that explains Erika and Fran.....what's everyone else's excuse?
Member:
Ilona

Posted on Thursday, Sep 28, 2006 - 2:04 am:

Thanx all, you brightened my day with some good old belly laughter. Its just what was needed after a 12 hour drive(ugh!) I wonder what would happen with a ball-point pen...my hunch is plastic just doesn't have the same appeal.
Member:
Liliana

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 4, 2006 - 11:53 am:

So you can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC