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  Discussion on Drinking only saltwater
Author Message
Member:
tdiana

Posted on Monday, Jul 25, 2011 - 9:55 am:

I have a question in regards to electrolyte supplementation. The article on HA mentions the potential weakening or loss of the body's ability to self-regulate if given electrolytes on a daily basis. For my own understanding I would like to know about the following case. This is what my friend is doing who lives near Phoenix AZ with two horses that are only trail ridden once a week for a couple of hours.

As soon as temps get warm in her area, she supplies the horses with only salty water. There is no access to untreated water for the entire warm season. The water is additionally treated with vinegar in order to keep bees out of the water.

She argues that the horses will not drink enough if the water were untreated (or not salty) and therefore would colic because of the heat.

She also says that because her horses get only hay, there is no way for them to replace the electrolytes they loose because of the heat via food. Upon my pressing her, she left the electrolytes out of the water recently for 24 hours and one of the horses did colic (coincidence?).

She has been doing this for years and says her horses have never had a problem with or due to the salt water.

I would like to understand better what possible health consequences horses like this might face.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Monday, Jul 25, 2011 - 11:09 am:

Is she adding just salt or an electrolyte mix to the water? I have offered a mix of table salt, low salt, and baking soda to water as an electrolite replacement when a horse has been worked hard and it is hot. Normally, Imo and experience, if a horse has plenty of clean water and a plain salt block they will get plenty of both. They seem to be very good about drinking enough and seem to get enough salt. I have also bought loose minerals and left them in a tub hanging on the fence for horses that are pastured. They seem to self regulate on the minerals also. I've never heard of just offering salt water to a horse on a regular basis. We'll see what the doc has to say.
Member:
frances

Posted on Monday, Jul 25, 2011 - 12:52 pm:

I'll be interested to hear DrO's thoughts too. This summer my vet told me to give electrolytes in the feed on a daily basis. I bought the Farnham product, and it recommends a daily dose of 2 oz. Several other horses here are receiving it too.
Member:
tdiana

Posted on Monday, Jul 25, 2011 - 1:38 pm:

The product she uses is an Electrolyte Product. Although I do not know the brand or exact name of it.
Member:
tdiana

Posted on Monday, Jul 25, 2011 - 1:44 pm:

I live in a very hot climate also and my horses do have mineral salt blocks available and seem to enjoy them and use them regularly. We keep their water clean and fresh and they drink a lot of it. As far as I can tell none of my horses is having a problem that would prompt me to add a supplement.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jul 25, 2011 - 8:22 pm:

Millions of years of evolution to evolve the horses natural ability to regulate their salt ad water intake of the humans brief and incomplete understanding of the horses need for salt... I do not find it hard to choose between the two scenerios.

By providing a salt block (or if you prefer a salt containing solution) and clean fresh unsalted water you provide the horse with the ability to meet both its needs for water and salt and adapt to different conditions. Forcing salt on the horse whether it may be needed or not prevents adaption to stressful environments. Instead the horse must adapts to the salt he is forced to drink. As long as she does not force too much salt into the horse and as long as she does not vary significantly this may work for her but less than ideal.
DrO
Member:
frances

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2011 - 6:49 am:

There's been a lot written on the internet about salt licks not really being suitable for horses as they were initially designed for cows, which have much rougher tongues. Seemingly horses cannot get sufficient salt from a block without scraping their tongues raw.

Don't know if this is the case?
Member:
tdiana

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2011 - 10:05 am:

My horses are nifty with the salt blocks. I place the blocks right next to their water tank. They take some water from the tank, hold it in their mouths and release it onto the salt block. Because the block has concave top a puddle builds atop the salt block and makes a salty soup. They then enjoy licking the "salt soup". The process is then repeated many times
Member:
mrose

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2011 - 10:51 am:

I've always had salt blocks and have never noticed any signs of sore tongues. The horses chew on them sometimes and at other times lick them. I use the white salt blocks made for horses, not the yellow or red supplemented ones. I know folks who use the red salt chunks and they don't have tongue problems either.
Member:
frances

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2011 - 2:03 pm:

I like the salt soup!

Mine has never had a sore tongue either (that I've noticed) but I think the meaning of it is that they will stop short of making their tongues sore and therefore not get enough of the salt.

Mine is quite erratic in its use - often ignores the block in hot weather, and then suddenly wears it right down when it's cooler. Go figure.

In this case the vet wanted her to have electrolytes in the feed due to muscle injury. She always has two buckets of fresh water at her disposal, so I'm hoping it's ok.
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2011 - 9:49 am:

I used to use a colored mineral block and a plain salt block but switched to free choice mineral feeders (4 sections) in each stall containing a variety of things that may be selected from several years ago. I understand that many don't believe horses have the capability to choose from a variety of things but find my horses do seem drawn to certain items seasonally while ignoring some stuff most of the year. One of the choices that I offer is loose coarse kosher or sea salt. If it turns into a hard block due to humidity I just break it up with a hard instrument. There is also one of those Himalayan mineral salt things hanging in each stall. They love those. The horses go for both the plain loose salt and the hard stuff. One of my horses who has always also consumed a lot of water used to stand at the plain salt block for very extensive periods of time working and working. Now he doesn't do that any longer. I think that in FL where it is so hot all summer it is harder for certain individual horses to adequately meet their needs in a timely manner with only blocks, plus some like my one boy would then dominate the block so those lower in the pecking order may not get enough. Everyone is happier with my present arrangement. Perhaps it is "over-kill" but it works in my barns quite nicely.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2011 - 4:17 pm:

I am not sure there ever was any "design elements" in the making of mineralized salt blocks and I have not seen a problem with horses and these blocks, they seem to do fine using them and I have never examined a horse for a problem with his tongue that could remotely resemble something caused by excessive licking of a mineralized salt block. I do think it is important to use the mineralized (red or blue if your area is deficient in Se) rather than white and we discuss this and the use of loose mineralized salt in the article on minerals and electrolytes.
DrO
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