DIY: Emergency Electrolytes for your horse

 

Hi everyone 

This is the first real post on this Horsieherbs blog. Today we are going to talk about electrolytes. 

So why do we give out horses electrolytes? First of all we want to help our horse right?! So everytime we have a hard ride and the horse has been sweating really much, we ad a bit of electrolyttes in their feed. We can give them in their mash, which most horses likes. Some horses don't actually like the taste of electrolyttes if you put it directly in the water for the horse. So in able to hide the taste, you can put it the feed for the horse. The thing is electrolyttes only really works, if they are given every day. Why is this? 

Well electrolytes are actually minerals (salts), the horse needs to keep a healthy fluid balance in the horse's body. The electrolytes binds the fluid to the body, which helps the horse to have that balance of fluid in their body, if the horse have been sweating the minerals out, if it has had a hard training. It's best if the horse always has acces to salt, like a liking stone in their stall, and giving the horse some extra electrolytes. 

The thing you must remember though, is that you can actually give horses an overdose of electrolytes. But it rarely happens. It's much easier for the horse to be in a deficit of minerals/electrolytes, than having an overdose of them. Some signs of an overdose of electrolytes are: The horse's poo is very loose and watery. it pees a lot and don't eat that much. It wouls also be very thirsty. 

Remember: using electrolytes does not mean the horse wont dehydrate, it just means that it makes your horse more thirsty and wanting to drink more, to get the fluid balance okay again. 

If you don't use electrolytes on a daily basis, or you're out and a horse dehydrates, then I have a recipe for you on how you can make your own in case of an emergency ( especially thinking on the up and coming summer) 

Recipe: 

You will need: 

2 cups of boiling water  

2 cups of honey 

1/2 cup of sea salt 

4 liters of water  

What you are going to do: 

Bring water to boil ( at least to cups). Dissolve the seasalt and honey in the boiling water. Ad this solution to 4 litres of water. let your horse drink 1 cup of this every half hour.  

 Here you go. Hope you find this useful