Does my horse need Electrolytes?
So, the weather is slowly warming up and you keep hearing friends at the yard mutter about feeding their horses electrolytes, but what exactly are they and should you be feeding them to your horse too?
Electrolytes, or body salts as some people refer to them as, are essential for muscle contractions, nerve transmissions and maintaining the pH in the horse’s body. This is because they are compounds that become charged ions that conduct electricity when they’re dissolved in a solution. The most common electrolytes are sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium and calcium, and these are lost when the horse sweats. The horse sweats as a method to reduce the heat generated by contracting skeletal muscle cells during exercise and can produce approximately 6 litres of sweat per hour of moderate exercise. Daily supplementation of electrolytes is therefore recommended to maintain a normal balance.
What happens if the electrolytes lost in sweat are not replenished?
An electrolyte imbalance within the horse’s body can significantly impact almost every bodily system within the horse. Fatigue is often the first and most likely result following a loss of electrolytes that have not been replenished. However, other problems can occur such as exertional myopathy (tying up) and heat stress, further information on which can be found here.
The amount of electrolytes your horse will lose per day through sweat depends on several factors, including the intensity of exercise and environmental factors such as humidity, but essentially, the more your horse sweats, the more electrolytes he will lose.
My horse gets adlib forage, doesn’t that provide everything he needs?
If your horse has access to good quality forage it is likely he will be receiving a sufficient level of potassium. However, the levels of sodium and chloride are often lacking in forage, and so supplementing the diet with electrolytes will greatly benefit the horse.
How often should I feed electrolytes to my horse?
Lots of horse owners believe they only need to feed electrolytes before or after a long ride or competition, if the horse is likely to be particularly hot and sweating excessively. However, this is not the case.
Electrolytes need to be supplemented daily to be utilised effectively by the horse and maintain a normal balance. If the horse isn’t receiving the correct level of electrolytes his body requires on a daily basis, then the body will try to conserve electrolytes for a limited time period before an imbalance occurs.
Can a horse be over supplemented with electrolytes?
Yes, an excess of electrolytes in the horse is possible, but it is very unlikely if you are following the feeding guidelines. An excess may occur when feeding more than 200g per day to an average 500kg horse but to put it into context, this is more than double the feeding rate of Feedmark’s Replenish.
Most horses are deficient or under supplemented electrolytes, so the risk of overloading the horse’s body is very low, and occurrence is rare. In the unlikely circumstance, signs of excess electrolytes can include increased water intake and hind gut disturbance. It is generally recommended to feed a slight excess of electrolytes to help the horse’s kidneys regulate what the body needs and excrete what it doesn’t, to ensure a correct balance is maintained.
Why do electrolytes encourage horses to drink?
A horse’s desire to drink relates to the level of sodium in the blood. The more sodium circulating in the horse’s blood, the more likely they are to want to drink, and vice versa. Therefore, ensuring your horse has adequate levels of sodium in the diet is vital for their hydration.
If you are concerned about the amount your horse drinks and currently use an automatic trough or drinker in the stable, try filling up large buckets and monitor how much the horse is drinking. As an estimate, the average horse should drink approximately 25-35 litres per day, so it is crucial you’re your horse has access to clean water at all times.
I feed my horse a vitamin and mineral supplement; do I still need to add electrolytes to the diet?
This comes down to the vitamin and mineral supplement you are feeding and the rate per day. Some balancers will provide a small ration of electrolytes but seek advice from an equine Nutritionist to find out if your horse could benefit from electrolytes in addition to his vitamin and mineral supplement.
Feedmark’s Replenish
Replenish provides all the essential electrolytes, potassium, sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium to help maintain a normal electrolyte balance, even during times of hard work or humid environmental conditions. Replenish can be either added to the horse’s daily feed or added to water to make an isotonic oral solution.