Ensuring Your Horse Has the Proper Electrolyte Balance

The Last Ride Arizona discusses electrolytes for your horse

Caring for your horse involves providing it with all of the things it needs for good health. In addition to food, water and shelter, this involves ensuring your horse receives the proper amount of electrolytes.

Electrolytes, which are minerals found in your blood and other body fluids, carry an electric charge that affects hydration, blood pH and many body processes. Among these are muscle contraction and conduction. While there are several different types of electrolytes, sodium, potassium and chloride are the ones that are of the greatest concern to horses because these are the electrolytes that are lost in sweat.

To replace the electrolytes that your horse loses, the minerals must be included in the horse’s feed. This means it is often necessary to supplement the feed. Access to a salt block can be helpful, but some research shows that horses do not consume enough salt to meet their daily requirements when a salt block is their only source of supplementary sodium. This is partially due to the fact that salt blocks were actually designed for cows, who have rougher tongues. As such, a horse will have to lick significantly longer in order to obtain the necessary amount of salt. To ensure your horse gets enough salt, many experts recommend providing 50-75 grams of loose salt to the horse’s diet each day spread over two feedings.

Of course, even with the proper care, the day will come when your horse will pass and need to be removed from your property. When that day comes, you can trust The Last Ride to remove you horse in a respectable manner.