Why would you put a tea spoon of salt in your horses feed everyday?

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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I was just posting on a post about buying a horse with a vice.

And i remembered that when i brought my schoolmaster on his instructions was to give him a tea spoon of salt in his dinner and breakfast.

I did not - i brought him a salt lick and he has never touched it

So why would you give a horse this much salt everyday ?
 
I think some horses can be salt deficient - a horse I used to share was, and became ill as a result. His owner put a pinch of table salt in his dinner every day on the vets recommendation and (touch wood) he never has had a problem again yet.
 
If their diet is balanced etc then added salt should not be needed,usually salt is added to encourage them to drink more!I wouldnt add salt on a daily basis unless recommended by a vet!You have done right by adding a lick,if he needs salt he will use it
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Competition horses are different as they require salts to replace the natural salt they have lost via sweating excessively
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in the summer if its hot which is not very often i put some salt in my girls dinner only to encourage her to drink more because shes really bad for not drinking enough x
 
I occasionally put a sprinkle of salt in my horses feed.
Especially if he has been sweating a lot, is in hard work, been on a very long hard ride etc or its been snowing heavily and he cannot get to the soil. Would never do this regularly, just by feel and intuition.
f you think your horse may be salt deficient try sprinkling a little on a wet palm and offering it to you horse.
He will soon let you know if he has a need for it.
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I prefer to offer a salt lick.

i do add electrolytes if we have been eventing in the heat and the horse has been excessively sweaty.
 
Somebody i know who works for a vet said they advise this if the horse is prone to colic to make sure he drinks enough to wash down his food.
 
I add ground seaweed to my horse's feed - it gives them sodium btui a lot of other minerals and amino acids etc., as well.

Salt is generally low in comound feeds - it's hydrophilic, attracting moisture, so tends to be kept low so the food won;t go stale or mouldy

Giving horses salt to encourage them to drink is very irresponsible in my opinion
 
Mine get salt ( and Electrolytes if they've worked hard)added to their feeds in the summer. and I've also been feeding it lately in the cold weather to encourage them to drink, personally I don't think it's necessary for them to have it very day though as most feeds/supplements are balanced and already have salt in it and they have the salt blocks as well.
 
i would not give mine salt to make them drink, whatever the weather.

mine are currently eating very sloppy speedibeet AM and PM instead.
 
[ QUOTE ]
i would not give mine salt to make them drink, whatever the weather.

mine are currently eating very sloppy speedibeet AM and PM instead.

[/ QUOTE ]

mine are on sloppy feeds too! , re the salt, it doesn't harm them and encourages them to drink which obv. keeps them hydrated when they are snowed in up to their eyeballs! and this can help lessen the chances of colic developing due to dehydration.
 
If you have a talk by a feed manufacturer they always say to add salt to the horse's feed every day, as they cannot put salt into manufactured feeds as it attracts moisture and would make it go off (I think that is the reason).

I suppose we are told to put salt in to make sure any salt lost in sweat is replaced, and a horse does not always use a salt lick even if offered. My horse does use his salt lick and he he doesn't sweat much (at all?) so I don't add any extra.
 
You would add salt to satisfy its everyday salt requirements. Horses like any animal require salt for correct muscle functio. It will encourage drinking if used at higher levels but a teaspoon is not a high level. Any compound feed you buy will not contain enough salt to satisfy your horse's requirements. They cannot add enough salt as it is very aggressive to vitamins when in storeage so would rapidly deplete the levels of vitamins present in the feed (before you got to use it).

Salt licks are not ideal as horses are not "intelligent feeders" who is, and most horse's that lick salt licks do so because they like the flavour (and what a variey of flavours they come in!!) in fact some horses will lick way more than their daily requirement and not because they need it, they also will not lick it when they need it if they don't like the flavour.
 
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I was advised to put a spoon of salt in my girls dinner after she suffered an impaction a couple of weeks ago, to encourage her to drink more.

She is drinking much, much more, as in before she'd only drink an inch or so off the top whereas now she has a good half a alarge tubtrug full...However she also has a D&H salisel salt lick hanging up and I put a kettle of boiling water in with her cold in a morning which also seems to encourage her to drink. So maybe more of a combinaton than just the spoon of salt?
 
This time of year my lads won't drink the very cold water - It's cold enough to act as dental anaesthetic.
I find if I warm the trough up with some boiling water they are keen to drink it.

Just need to take the chill off
 
talk to any feed manufacturer or read the back of many bags and it will say they recommend you add salt every day to the diet - they cant add it to the feed as it attracts moisture. this is esp important for any horse sweating but i think it's important for every horse.
 
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