I never saw the flowers even though I make it a point of hiking through this area regularly. Due to the chewed off tops, it is quite possible if I had visited a few days or a week later I may not have seen these plants either. bboy - not sure if you are referring to the plant's odd name or if you think they were eaten by horses, but on that note, while I was looking up info about "horse gentain" it was noted that nobody really knows why it was given this name :-)

I was kind of suspicious of that, Gldno, since not only are there clumps of rose campion in her garden but also along a lonnnng section of fence. I knew surely she didn't BUY all those plants, lol.

I think E. corollata is probably it, there is a lot of this plant growing in this area and I have photographed it often but in apparent later stages of growth; I think the unusual appearance of the flower and the overall shape of the plant is what threw me off but looking at some of my other E. corollata photos at the base of the plant, the leaf shape and habit seem to match this. I may try to confirm this later this spring and see if I can find some more plants in the same stage of growth. Thanks all.

Yes, it is a hebe, possibly 'Paula', although there are many cultivars with a similar appearance. All hebes have some degree of toxicity (as do the vast majority of plants) but it would not be one I'd worry about. But then no dog I have ever owned has grazed on any outdoor plants other than some grass and I grow a huge number of quite toxic plants if dogs were to bother to eat them..........they don't!! Once they are out of the puppy stage, I think they just know better.