Horse hates salt! How to sneak sodium into her diet?

Spyda

Spyda

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 October 2005
Messages
5,148
Location
U.K.
Visit site
I really must increase the sodium level in my mare's diet (chloride level is okay) but she loathes salt for some reason. She wont touch a salt block and will refuse to eat any feed with salt added. Even 5g of salt added will be enough to stop her eating up. If pushed to eat, she'll leave as much as she can at the bottom of her feed manger.

So.... any ideas of how to sneak a palatable 13g worth of sodium into her daily diet? :)

Suggestions appreciated!!
 
Sometimes they won't touch pure salt blocks. No idea why.

Try another type of salt block, one with added minerals. Usually has a high sodium content but they will actually take it.
 
Spyda said:
I really must increase the sodium level in my mare's diet (chloride level is okay) but she loathes salt for some reason. She wont touch a salt block and will refuse to eat any feed with salt added. Even 5g of salt added will be enough to stop her eating up. If pushed to eat, she'll leave as much as she can at the bottom of her feed manger.

So.... any ideas of how to sneak a palatable 13g worth of sodium into her daily diet? :)

Suggestions appreciated!!
Click to expand...

I've just bought some mint to encourage one of mine, haven't tried it in yet though
 
Start with a small amount and be persistent ie. don't go back to leaving it out. Once she is eating it regularly start to increase. Make sure it is sprinkled on and then mixed well. If her feed is a soaked one dissolve it in the soak water first. Have you tried loose salt?
It's the same with mineral mixes, many horses refuse to eat at first but starting with a small amount and being persistent works. My lot lick their buckets clean these days. I only have one that wasn't keen on salt but he eats it fine now.

ps. Often they don't get enough from licks and if you have gone the bespoke mineral route you will need to try to get her up to the measured dose to balance the rest of her diet. Be prepared to take the time it takes.
 
Last edited:
I know a Spanish lady who eats her apples sliced and dipped in salt.....

Maybe try it?

Otherwise there is always tequila :D.
 
It could be that she doesn't need it in her diet as is getting enough from other sources. The one thing about animals is that they KNOW when they need something and she wouldn't refuse it if she needed it.
 
Oberon said:
I know a Spanish lady who eats her apples sliced and dipped in salt.....

Maybe try it?

Otherwise there is always tequila :D.
Click to expand...

amandap said:
Apple slices dipped in salt is lovely. ;) My Mum used to always eat them that way.
Click to expand...

This post from you two made me laugh... in Malaysia most people eat fruit dipped in salt... comes from the time where they were occupied by the Portuguese...
 
She's always got a Himalayan salt block hanging in her stable. It just collects dust :rolleyes: I have to wash it regularly to keep it clean. She doesn't touch it. Back along I tried putting it into the bottom of her corner manger, hoping she'd pick up some salt as she ate her feed around it. Nope, she just left the feed that was in anyway touching the salt block. I ended up chucking away so much feed. I was such a waste I couldn't carry on.

Have also tried various of the oblong mineral/salt blocks over the years. Nope, doesn't like those either.

She's also had a large block available out in her paddock. The cattle used to break in to get to it, but she never touched that either. Just as well the cows used it in the end. :rolleyes:

I already feed her bran mixed with Timothy chaff and Hi Fi but she'll just leave it - even if I feed it wet and warm with grated carrot and apple in it. She left 3/4 of last night's meal because of the 8g of salt I'd added. I chucked it away this morning. :mad:

I'm not sure how adding it to her water supply would work as she's out during the day with shared access to a cattle trough. At night she has a giant rubber trug in her stable. I'd have to add heck of a lot of salt to get a decent dilution and who's to say how much she would drink over night, if any? I have a feeling she'd just decline and drink from the trough in the morning instead.

I'll try a salty apple later, though. Who knows. It might work.

I've just looked up the tasteless salt (http://shop.horserequisites.co.uk/epages/Gagar.sf/en_GB/?) but with shipping it works out at £30.77 for 2.1kg: it sure is expensive :o :(
 
Sounds just like my hubby :mad:.

He is diabetic and I get him magnesium tablets, krill oil tablets and supergreen tablets alongside his medication.....

I left them in the kitchen cupboard and he ignored them.
I left them next to the coffee and he ignored them.
I left them on the toaster and he ignored them.

I have to dish them out into a cup and thrust them at him every evening to get him to take them :rolleyes:.

I guess your mare just doesn't feel the need for salt :D?
 
Dolcé;11286776 said:
It could be that she doesn't need it in her diet as is getting enough from other sources. The one thing about animals is that they KNOW when they need something and she wouldn't refuse it if she needed it.
Click to expand...

Nope, doubtful. She's homebred and I've had the grass and hay analysed plus her diet carefully balanced. Her diet for the past 5 years has definitely been very low in sodium. I didn't worry so much when she was younger, but now she's clipped and sweating regularly in hard work - I really feel I need to find a way around the problem.
 
tallyho! said:
Spyda, your horse is truly weird! :D
Click to expand...

ff7209b4.gif


Now tell me something I DIDN'T know!!! :D

She just wants me to spend another £30+ buying her a special supplement. I think it makes her feel important!!!
 
You know what they say... money's for spending... not for saving!

(esp when the general interest rates are 2.8%!!!)
 
8 gms is quite a lot if she hates it that much. I'd try just 1- 2 gms to start with and have you thought of giving a new feed such as fast fibre and adding salt from the start? Personally I wouldn't put it in her water as she probably wont drink as well. lol Perhaps give her a small amount of FF with just salt in extra to her other mineral feed?
 
My mare won't touch salt or electrolytes, and sweats a lot. When she was eventing we used to feed a supplement called Blood Salts, which smelled lovely and she ate quite happily. I can't remember the make, but they weren't so expensive. Cosovelin Blood Salts perhaps - google?
 
Mine's already on 40g of the Kossolian Blood Salts per day but there's still the deficite I need to make up. She's not currently fed hard food, but is fed forage with vit, mins and trace elements added as required to balance her diet. Whilst I am pretty certain she's getting a very balanced diet ATM I am leaning towards feeding her Topspec Comprehensive balancer, her joint supplement and linseed meal next year as this will provide her with a similarly balanced diet but at a financial saving of several hundred pounds a year. And if the Topspec balancer helped with the sodium issue, that would be a bonus. I'll have to check to see whether the balancer diet still needs salt added though.
 
Cobrastyle said:
Ooh can I ask why? Curious diabetic over here! :)
Click to expand...

There's some mutterings on the internet that it may help diabetics.

It doesn't do him any harm - so I persist :o.

I might add that he does not and will not eat a healthy and balanced diet :mad:, so I have to do the best I can with supplements :rolleyes:.
 
My gelding is the same, I've had him nearly eighteen years and he has never touched a salt or mineral lick.
Being PPID I have to carefully control his diet and add vits and mins micronised linseed and salt. He is everso picky and I had terrible trouble getting him to eat the V+Ms when I added them dry. I would start with just a pinch of each, but once I got the level up to nearly half the dose he should have, he would stop eating his feeds - that was until I started putting all the supps V+M and salt in the water before I add the carrier. I use Ready Fibre Mash which is supposed to be good for picky eaters. Since I started soaking with the addatives plus two tablespoons of salt, he licks the bowl clean!! Don't know why but it worked for my lad :rolleyes:
BTW, beware the himalayan salt licks, they're high in iron ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top