Epsom Salts

[wiglet]

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who adds Epsom Salts to their horses feed to prevent impaction colic.
How much do you feed and how often? Every day? Once a week? Just if their dropping appears to be hard or not as many droppings being produced.
Are there any side effects? Can they overdose on them?

I'm guessing there are now other supplements with fancy packaging to do what Epsom Salts do, but if Epsom Salts work, why pay extortionate prices?

Anyone?

 

[madlady]

Over winter all of mine always get epsom salts a couple of times a week as a preventative measure. They are all 16h plus so get 3 scoops per feed.

Sods law we ran out this year and had 2 impaction colic over the weekend - I won't run out again!

 

[Goldenstar]

One of my horses has a complicated medical history and suffers poor bowel mobility at times .
He get fed bran twice daily with Epsom salts once .
We monitor his droppings for amount and size and increase the Epsom salts and the number of mashes a day as soon as we see anything that worries us .
We also give extra mashes and ES when he roultine is upset for instance he's been away for dressage training this morning and is off at two to go jumping so he's had a small mash with ES when we got back .
I also will give one after work if we have a long journey home after a clinic .
ES Can cause dehydration because they draw moisture into the bowel so it's very very important you only give them to horses who are drinking well .
I find it quite amusing that the things that helped him most come through what was a very difficult time was something that was roultine in horse care in 1817 .

 

[wiglet]

Thanks for the replies. Having just dealt with an impaction (now all sorted by my vet) I am going to start using twice a week, like you suggest Madlady, as a preventative measure. Goldenstar - my mare drinks well and she gets more moisture from her feed (Alfabeet and AlfaA) which is all fed very sloppy. Hay is fed wet now. My vet suggested the ES - I just wanted to do a bit more research and yes, I guess the horsemen and women of years gone by knew a thing or too!

 

[Charlie007]

Could you just add plenty of salt into feed each day? Many feed companies now advise adding extra salt. I have been doing since last year and they are drinking more.

 

[Goldenstar]

Could you just add plenty of salt into feed each day? Many feed companies now advise adding extra salt. I have been doing since last year and they are drinking more.

I think that the vets view is that ES are better because they draw moisture into the bowel helping to keep the poo moist and soft .
Feeding salt keeps the horse drinking but too much water ingested can cause issues with the kidneys over working and with the electrolyte balance and the horse can wash the food food through the system too quickly if they drink too much .

And I have to say bran and ES was the turning point with my horse and stopping feeding hay I feed him once haylege now .
I

 

[wiglet]

Could you just add plenty of salt into feed each day? Many feed companies now advise adding extra salt. I have been doing since last year and they are drinking more.

What Goldenstar has said is correct and it's also worth mentioning that ES and table salt/sea salt are chemically different. ES is magnesium sulfate and table salt is sodium chloride. I was actually worried about overdosing on ES but just giving a couple of times a week should be no problem. ES has many uses apparently - I had no idea until I began research!

Goldenstar - interestingly I am now in the process of changing over to haylage, it will still be served wet as the yard haylage is quite dry. Do you wet your haylage or is it a damp haylage anyway?

 

[Goldenstar]

What Goldenstar has said is correct and it's also worth mentioning that ES and table salt/sea salt are chemically different. ES is magnesium sulfate and table salt is sodium chloride. I was actually worried about overdosing on ES but just giving a couple of times a week should be no problem. ES has many uses apparently - I had no idea until I began research!

Goldenstar - interestingly I am now in the process of changing over to haylage, it will still be served wet as the yard haylage is quite dry. Do you wet your haylage or is it a damp haylage anyway?

No it's dry type but of course it's higher moisture than hay I don't soak it he did not like it and that's the worse thing for him not eating because your forcing him to look at net of something he does not like , changing to hay did seem to be a really bad move for him he was on box rest ( broken rib ) and we swopped to lovely meadow hay because he was gaining weight it not thought hay caused the problem but it certainly did not help .
We also don't give any chopped products alfalfa , chopped straw hay blocks anything like that now.
He gets haylege oats bran linseed and a little bit of speedibeet we have him on the supplement Eugsin SLH and a good balancer and of course electrolytes and the ES .
It's working for him fingers crossed but we have to watch him very carefully .
The next hurdle will be spring not sure if it will be best to keep him stabled with turnout or turn him with the others at night and in during the day

 

[cowgirl16]

Over winter all of mine always get epsom salts a couple of times a week as a preventative measure. They are all 16h plus so get 3 scoops per feed.

Sods law we ran out this year and had 2 impaction colic over the weekend - I won't run out again!

Very interested in this thread, as my old boy can get a bit "firm" occasionally. My vet said to add Epsom Salts to his feed. How big are these scoops you use Madlady?

 

[irish_only]

Following as this is really interesting. Having gone full circle on feeding and now back to basics I will follow.

 

[wiglet]

No it's dry type but of course it's higher moisture than hay I don't soak it he did not like it and that's the worse thing for him not eating because your forcing him to look at net of something he does not like , changing to hay did seem to be a really bad move for him he was on box rest ( broken rib ) and we swopped to lovely meadow hay because he was gaining weight it not thought hay caused the problem but it certainly did not help .
We also don't give any chopped products alfalfa , chopped straw hay blocks anything like that now.
He gets haylege oats bran linseed and a little bit of speedibeet we have him on the supplement Eugsin SLH and a good balancer and of course electrolytes and the ES .
It's working for him fingers crossed but we have to watch him very carefully .
The next hurdle will be spring not sure if it will be best to keep him stabled with turnout or turn him with the others at night and in during the day

My mare also dislikes proper soaked hay/haylage but my vet suggested just wetting it with the hose, letting it drain then serving. This way the goodness and flavour stays but it's still wet for her. Seems to be working - for now anyway! Not heard of Eugsin SLH but I've just looked online and it looks very interesting stuff. May give that a bash. Thanks for your input.