Is there a reason why my horse reacted so strangely to celery?

Okay, so a few weeks ago my friend and I were in the pasture with a stalk of celery and decided to see if my horse would like it. I hate it, my friend loves the stuff...and apparently my horse is with me on the subject.





So my horse (Nik) takes the celery away from his hay in his teeth, drops it, nudges his little pile of hay a few feet in the other direction, then turns his butt to the celery stalk. Usually if he doesn't like something he just eats around it, but I've never seen him go that far with disliking a food. Is this strange or what? I know the Amish rarely give treats to their horses, Nik didn't know what a carrot was when I bought him.





Anyone else have a horse that gives this kind of reaction to some kind of food? I'm guessing this is just personal preference :)

Is there a reason why my horse reacted so strangely to celery?
it could have something to do with the smell... i've never heard of or seen a horse do anything like that but i wouldn't put it past one to actually do it. try giving it to him again and see if you get the same reaction.. i'm courious
Reply:So I know that giving celery to small pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs can actually kill them by causing extreme blockage of the intestines due to the stringy quality of the stuff. Rabbits eat carrots and hay ectera just like horses. This is just a random assumption horses are so different then rabbits and guinea pigs it isnt even funny, but maybe your horse thought you were trying to poison him or kill him.





Edit: HA! I was on the right track... ^_^ *points down* Also celery has absolutely no nutritional benifit to anyone who eats it, it is basically 99% water.
Reply:As celery is closely related to rhubarb and rhubarb is highly toxic to horses, perhaps the horse is smarter than you think. People can even suffer celery allergies and exposure can cause potentially fatal anaphylactic shock.