Best Hedges For Horses & Livestock

Our Livestock Friendly Hedge Packs contain the best hedge plants for horses and livestock in the UK. They also qualify for Countryside Stewardship grants.

These packs contain no blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), which has long thorns that can harm large livestock, especially horses.

• Blackthorn is primarily a risk to horses when they run alongside or jump over blackthorn hedges during activities like hunting, not so much when blackthorn is used around their paddock and cut every year.
• In large quantities, Blackthorn is poisonous to horses, but again this risk is not significant when the horse has good pasture, and the hedge is cut yearly. 
• Blackthorn is a traditional choice for enclosing sheep due to its dense growth from the base, which is ideal for stopping escape-artists from wriggling out the bottom; we sell a Blackthorn based hedge mix for this purpose. 

Ideal hedge plants for Horses and Livestock:

• Hawthorn
• Cherry Plum
• Crab Apple
• Common Dogwood & Red Dogwood
• Field Maple
• Guelder Rose
• Hazel
• Wild Roses
• Wayfaring Tree

Browse all our Hedging Plants.