Mineral/salt lick for horse with ulcers

HeyMich

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 October 2015
Messages
1,998
Location
Sunny Stirlingshire
Visit site
Hello lovely HHO'ers!

I'm looking for recommendations for a mineral/salt lick for a (greedy guzzle-guts!) horse with ulcers.

Are the Protexin Gut Lix ones any good? The Himalayan block in the stable doesn't get touched. I have bought the Horslyx ones before, and not only have they disappeared ridiculously fast, but I'm trying to go sugar-free...

Any suggestions/reviews gratefully received!

Thanks.
 

supsup

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 January 2015
Messages
758
Visit site
The Gut Lix looks like it also has no sugar (according to webpage), and is about 90% regular salt (with the rest a prebiotic and some minerals). I suspect that if your horse is not keen on a Himalayan salt lick, it won't be keen on any other type of salt lick either, whether Gut Lix or Rockies, because the taste will be overwhelmingly just salty (and any additives probably hard to detect, taste-wise). Sometime, salt licks like Rockies/the pressed block form will be eaten more quickly simply because it takes less licking action to dissolve compared to the Himalyan licks, so something like Rockies might still be a better option.

The Horselyx probably got eaten because it's mostly sugar.

But if you are worried your horse is not getting enough salt (which, if it won't touch the lick, could be the case), I'd simply add some bog standard salt from the supermarket to his bucket feed. About a tablespoon per day (you can build up slowly if your horse isn't a fan of the salty taste). Works out cheaper than any salt lick on the market today. Decathlon has a very cheap deal on licks though, I think just under £10 for 4 5kg blocks.

As for mineral licks - do not rely on these to provide the essential vits and mins. First of all, if your horse doesn't like salt and licks only very little, he won't get anywhere near his daily dose. Even if he did lick his daily dose of salt, the levels of minerals in these licks are usually much lower than the amount you'd get e.g. in the recommended dose of a balancer. The reason being that intake isn't controlled, and no feed company would want to risk overdosing a horse that is particularly salt-greedy and crunches up their lick within a few days. So, by all means, provide a salt lick. But if you want to cover vits&mins, you'll be better off feeding a supplement or balancer.
 

HeyMich

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 October 2015
Messages
1,998
Location
Sunny Stirlingshire
Visit site
The Gut Lix looks like it also has no sugar (according to webpage), and is about 90% regular salt (with the rest a prebiotic and some minerals). I suspect that if your horse is not keen on a Himalayan salt lick, it won't be keen on any other type of salt lick either, whether Gut Lix or Rockies, because the taste will be overwhelmingly just salty (and any additives probably hard to detect, taste-wise). Sometime, salt licks like Rockies/the pressed block form will be eaten more quickly simply because it takes less licking action to dissolve compared to the Himalyan licks, so something like Rockies might still be a better option.

The Horselyx probably got eaten because it's mostly sugar.

But if you are worried your horse is not getting enough salt (which, if it won't touch the lick, could be the case), I'd simply add some bog standard salt from the supermarket to his bucket feed. About a tablespoon per day (you can build up slowly if your horse isn't a fan of the salty taste). Works out cheaper than any salt lick on the market today. Decathlon has a very cheap deal on licks though, I think just under £10 for 4 5kg blocks.

As for mineral licks - do not rely on these to provide the essential vits and mins. First of all, if your horse doesn't like salt and licks only very little, he won't get anywhere near his daily dose. Even if he did lick his daily dose of salt, the levels of minerals in these licks are usually much lower than the amount you'd get e.g. in the recommended dose of a balancer. The reason being that intake isn't controlled, and no feed company would want to risk overdosing a horse that is particularly salt-greedy and crunches up their lick within a few days. So, by all means, provide a salt lick. But if you want to cover vits&mins, you'll be better off feeding a supplement or balancer.

Thanks supsup for your reply.

Yes, I already feed a balancer, so all basic vit/min requirements are covered. I also add in a bit of table salt to her feed in the summer when she works hard or gets sweaty.

All the horses have ad-lib hay/haylege. However, all the other horses on the yard also have some form of lick/treat when they are stabled. I guess I'm just wanting to make sure she has something healthy to do if/when bored - she can crib, and I'm wanting to offer alternatives! I'm not really wanting to introduce the hanging veg idea or treat balls etc, as she doesn't need the extra calories!

I'll maybe order one of the Protexin Gut Lix and see how we go. Thanks x
 

supsup

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 January 2015
Messages
758
Visit site
I've read about a study (I think this one maybe? http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2746/042516402776250450/full) that shows that offering many different types of forage is a pretty effective way to keep the horse interested and foraging for longer, and show fewer stereotypies. I understand the point about weight management, but if you're feeding ad-lib, you don't have control over intake anyway. Unless your alternative forage has a higher energy density (or is made artificially tasty e.g. with molasses), hopefully the overall intake wouldn't change that much even if you offered alternatives. If your yard has both hay and haylage, maybe you could try to offer some of both, plus some low-calorie chaff (in a tub trug with large stones, to make it a slow-feeder), or maybe hang up some branches with foliage? I guess the challenge would be to pick additional forage products that are similarly tasty to your normal hay/haylage, so the horse keeps rotating between what's on offer, rather than guzzling down the tastiest first and then be bored. I've tried hay cobs, for example (bought from zooplus, or kramer.co.uk). Unlike grass nuts, they are just pressed hay, so less nutritions than most grass pellets harvested at peak. My boy actually found them to be so boring that they didn't make a good base to hide his supplements in, but they made a good filler for his treat ball. Interesting enough to work for when bored, but not tasty enough to stuff himself on.
 
Top