Folks often become confused over the difference between salts, minerals, and electrolytes. In the most general sense salts and minerals are very similar and represents mixtures of atoms, some of them metalsl, combined together to form solids. Consuming salts and minerals would be the way your horse gets his essential minerals for good health. Electrolytes are the form these salts and minerals take when dissolved in the blood and fluids of our bodies.

From a nutritional standpoint we tend to pull out "salts" from minerals to mean the specific compounds of sodium chloride and potassium chloride and there is a good reason for talking about these seperately. These three elements, sodium, potassium, and chloride are the main electrolytes that support the blood and cellular characteristics of life. This does not mean the other minerals are not essential but unlike the other minerals these "salt" elements do not have a resevoir to pull from yet are in large concentrations everywhere and can rapidly change based on the balance of intake and output. These salt derived electrolytes are lost in urine, sweat, and feces. Sometimes there is not a net loss of the electrolytes that causes disease but shifts in the relative concentrations in the various compartments of the body.

Take for instance the large stress on the horse's ability to maintain correct temperature, hydration, and electrolyte balance during long rides during hot humid weather. In an effort to keep cool, the horse sweats losing water and electrolytes. Whether this becomes serious enough to cause disease not only depends on the net loss but the relative loss of these substances. Too much water and the animal becomes dehyrated but other complications can occur if the electrolytes become concentrated, deficient, or relatively unbalanced.

Even at maintenance horses may have trouble getting the proper amount of salt in their diet. This article deals with salts and electrolytes in the horse's diet with an emphasis on maintaining hydration and electrolyte balance in a horse during maximal prolonged exertion, like endurance riding, during hot humid conditions.

See Also:

• Minerals in the Horses Diet
• First Aid for Overheating and Exhaustion
• Summertime Care

NRC estimates that a horse (500 kg or1100 lbs.) at maintenance would require about 8 to 10 g of sodium per day, 30 to 160 g of chloride per day and 25 to 50 g potassium a day, all depending on the amount of sweating the horse does. However no one feeds just sodium, potassium, or chloride, we feed salts so lets break this down to something more practical. But first there are some things that should be noted about NRC ranges. First, some feel that the maintenance range may be a bit low for sodium and chloride. As a result we will give higher than the 1989 NRC suggestions below. Second, the actual amount required by the working horse varies with the amount the horse sweats. Not only will this be determined by the type work and environmental conditions, but healthy horses vary tremendously in the amount they sweat even under the same exercise regimens. So individual variations should be taken into account.

Sodium and Chloride

Potassium