Are Gophers Dangerous to Horses? What Equestrian Property Owners Need to Know

For most homeowners, gopher damage is primarily a landscaping and irrigation concern. For horse property owners, the stakes are higher. Gopher activity in paddocks, pastures, and arenas creates genuine safety hazards for horses — hazards that are documented causes of serious equine injury. If you keep horses in Southern California's Norco, Rolling Hills, Yorba Linda, La Canada, or other equestrian communities, understanding the specific risks of gopher activity on your property is essential.

Ankle-Trap Hazards in Pastures and Paddocks

The most serious safety risk from gopher activity on horse properties is tunnel collapse. When gopher tunnel systems run through paddock or pasture soil, the ground above the tunnels is structurally compromised. A horse moving at any pace — walking, trotting, cantering — can break through a tunnel roof with a hoof, causing the leg to plunge unexpectedly into the void below. The resulting sudden stop and awkward limb position creates significant risk of fetlock, pastern, and cannon bone injuries. On soft pasture ground this risk is highest because the soil offers less resistance before tunnel collapse.

Gopher mounds in pastures present a related but different hazard. Fresh mounds are raised above the ground surface and create uneven footing that horses can trip on or step awkwardly across. In dense mound situations — multiple fresh mounds across a pasture — the cumulative tripping hazard is significant for horses moving at speed.

Arena Footing Damage

Horse arenas — whether sand, decomposed granite, or specialty footing materials — represent significant property investments. Gopher activity under arena footing creates subsurface voids that cause uneven settling, soft spots, and footing inconsistency across the arena surface. Uneven arena footing is a safety hazard for horses and riders and creates expensive re-leveling and footing repair work. Arena perimeter irrigation systems used to manage footing moisture are also vulnerable to gopher chewing damage.

Pasture Grass Damage

Gophers feed actively on the root systems of pasture grasses, and heavy gopher pressure can significantly reduce pasture productivity. Bare spots created by root feeding and mound disturbance require reseeding and allow weeds to establish. For horse properties where pasture quality directly affects carrying capacity and hay supplementation costs, gopher damage to pasture grass is an operational expense, not just an aesthetic issue.

Why Poison Bait Is Not an Option on Horse Properties

Rodenticide bait cannot be used on horse properties for direct ingestion safety reasons — horses can and do eat bait products found in their paddocks and pastures. Barn cats and ranch dogs face serious secondary poisoning risk from eating poisoned gophers. The raptors — barn owls, red-tailed hawks, kestrels — that hunt horse property pastures are killed by secondary poisoning when they eat poisoned gophers, removing the natural predation that helps keep populations in check.

Rodent Guys uses only professional trapping and carbon monoxide on all horse properties. We schedule service around your horses and animal routines — no disruption to animals or operations. No bait is ever placed on equestrian properties.

Service Areas with Significant Equestrian Communities

• Gopher Problems in Norco — Horsetown USA
• Gopher Problems in Rolling Hills Equestrian Estates
• Gopher Problems Near Yorba Linda Horse Properties

Call 909-599-4711 to schedule horse property gopher control using methods safe for all your animals.

Also see: Gopher Control for Commercial Properties