Talk to me about Electrolytes...

[Sprat]

I’m probably late to the party here and a bit of a poor owner because of it, but up to now I haven’t been feeding electrolytes.

I’d like to start, what with the boiling weather and continuing work with my mare, but I don’t know where to start.

Bean is generally worked 5 times a week, a mix of schooling jumping and hacking, she sweats up a fair bit during hard work but overall she is coping well with the heat.

I’m worried that she may be missing out on something but as I’ve never fed electrolytes before I don’t really know where to start.

Would salt be sufficient, or a supplement more suitable?

 

[milliepops]

Sodium and chloride are the main electrolytes, so feeding table salt would be a good and economical start. Mine are having 2 tbsp a day at the moment. Horses aren't like people, too much salt won't cause them high blood pressure any excess is excreted.

David Marlin put out a useful overview today https://www.facebook.com/DrDavidMarlin/posts/862960753908147

 

[Sprat]

Sodium and chloride are the main electrolytes, so feeding table salt would be a good and economical start. Mine are having 2 tbsp a day at the moment. Horses aren't like people, too much salt won't cause them high blood pressure any excess is excreted.

David Marlin put out a useful overview today https://www.facebook.com/DrDavidMarlin/posts/862960753908147

Yes it was actually the David Marlin post that got my brain whirring! Perfect, sounds like table salt is the way to go. Thanks!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Second David Marlins posts. They are sensible and informative and based on trials rather than Chinese whispers.

 

[Chinchilla]

Following.
They lose 4x more ions in their sweat than we do and I also read that salt licks don't actually provide a terribly accessible source of electrolytes ..... so how are people getting electrolytes into horses with as little feed as possible? Could you literally do a tablespoon of salt in a tiny handful of food or...?
(Sorry for hijacking the thread lol).

 

[Surbie]

Getting him to eat it is my issue. If I put more than a teaspoon in it he won't touch his food. And his feed is small.

If this isn't awful hijacking, any tips for getting salt into them?

 

[Goldenstar]

Feed a little bran .
If you are going to use table salt you might want to mix it with potassium salt , that’s the losalt they sell for people with high blood pressure .

 

[TreeDog]

I give mine a bucket with loose table salt in the field, near the water trough. (Tesco have 3kg bags for £1.10) I bring it in if it's going to rain, but haven't had to worry about that much lately...

 

[TreeDog]

If you are going to use table salt you might want to mix it with potassium salt , that’s the losalt they sell for people with high blood pressure .

Why potassium salt? I've read the opposite, that only sodium chloride should be fed, because they get plenty of potassium in grass

 

[SEL]

I feed a small feed morning and night to get salt in. Right now they are both happy with a tablespoon in each feed so long as wet beet hides it. I've got normal salt plus iodised one. Can't remember why I bought the iodised stuff - must have been written about somewhere.

 

[Goldenstar]

Horse electrolytes that you buy are normally sodium chloride potassium Calcium magnesium they often have glucose added as well which I think is something to do with speed of uptake .
Some will have other stuff as well trace electrolytes if you like thing horses lose very little of.

 

[Sprat]

So would you recommend slowly introducing the salt, up to a tsp per feed? Bean isn’t a hugely fussy eater so may be fine but I don’t want any adverse effects of feeding too much too quickly (I’ve heard it can upset hindgut)

 

[WelshD]

I always feed salt all year round but have found that since I switched to electrolytes a few weeks back my ponies have definitely got a lot more get up and go.

When I started feeding salt i just used salty water to mix up some speedibeet for a few days so they'd get used to it slowly but to be honest they took to it pretty readily

 

[Nari]

I find mine is more accepting of electrolytes (a brand with no sugar included) in a small feed than he is of salt.