Electrolyte supplementation during Endurance Competition

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Mandrake

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Two weeks ago i went to an endurance competition and i saw a lot of riders using electrolyte syringes during the stops.
Could you explain me which would be in your opinion the best plan to administer electrolytes to an endurance horse?
It's better to use them only during the competition or would be better to start to administer some days before?
Which are the most important electrolytes for the horse?
 
IMO: I only fed salt up to and during the ride and stopped using the syringes and commercial electrolytes long time ago. The syringes are really not nice and I didn't feel forcing this incredibly salty and revolting stuff down my tired horses throat was in anyway doing them any good. They are also very easy to over use and salt poisoning has been an issue. My problem with commercial electrolytes is they contain a lot of sugar in order to make them taste better.

There is no way that you can ever totally "replace" the electrolytes a horse sweats out during an endurance ride - it just isn't possible to do. Better to have a good feeding program before, during and after. IMO.
 
It depends on the weather, how fast you go, how well your horse eats and drinks during the ride, and many other things..!
It is very easy to put a horse off drinking and eating, even if it is doing both well, by pushing electrolytes in via syringe and you should never give electrolytes to a horse that isn't drinking.
Pretty sure a recent study showed no significant difference in performance when e'lytes were given by syringe or when they were just available as wanted by the horse (in water).
My personal preference is to give electrolytes in feed in the 2 days preceding a big ride. these are probably peed out by the day of the ride, but they do make the horse drink well so they arrive at the ride well hydrated. During the ride itself I offer electrolytes in water sweetened with molasses, with plain water also available at all times. I don't give any by syringe.
It is important to always use an electrolyte formulated for endurance horses - because they spend most of their time in aerobic metabolism (unlike racehorses and eventers where they are performing in the anaerobic zone) they have an overall tendency towards metabolic alkalosis, not acidosis. The electrolytes chosen need to reflect that.
The most important electrolytes are sodium chloride, potassium, and calcium.
 
Wich are the main differences between an electrolyte formulated for endurance horses or racehorses? and why can't we give electrolyte to a horse that isn't drinking?
 
Electrolytes given to a horse that isn't drinking will make dehydration worse as fluid then has to be drawn from the blood into the gut to deal with what has become a hypertonic body compartment (the digestive tract). This means less fluid is available for blood and cells. Also they can irritate the gastric lining and further reduce their desire to drink. Some schools of thought say that giving the electrolytes will stimulate the thirst response and encourage the horse to drink but this is not 10% reliable and personally I prefer not to take the risk.
The main differences in the electrolytes is that products designed for racehorses have a lot of bicarbonate in them to offset the metabolic acidosis that those horses develop. Horses in "sprints' like racing and eventing exercise in the anaerobic range and develop a lot of lactic acid as a result: their overall tendency is towards metabolic acidosis. IN endurance horses (long slow distance work) most of the time they are in an aerobic exercise state and thus their overall tendency is towards alkalosis and they do not need the extra bicarb.
Endurance horses also tend to lose a lot more calcium and magnesium and endurance designed electrolytes contain more of those 2 salts.
 
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