Salt (also known as sodium chloride or NaCl) plays an important role in normal nerve and muscle function and can help encourage your horse to drink, making it critical for his well-being. Adult horses in no work need at least one ounce of salt per day, and that need goes up with exercise and warm weather. If your horse’s daily requirements for salt aren’t met, he may not be in optimal health nor able to perform at his best.
Pasture, hay, and fortified grain provide very little sodium chloride, which means many horses’ diets come up short. Providing a salt lick can help, but some horses use their licks frequently, while others don’t use them at all. Luckily, there are two types of supplements that can help meet your horse’s salt requirements consistently, day in and day out: salt supplements and electrolyte supplements. Read on to learn more about each, and how to choose the right type for your horse.
Salt supplements help ensure that daily nutrient requirements are met
Your horse’s diet may be coming up short
Salt plays a key role in the health and well-being of your horse, so it’s important to ensure that his daily requirement is being met. Unfortunately, according to our survey, 60% of horses aren’t getting enough sodium! A salt lick can help, but some horses don’t lick them at all and others lick them excessively or bite off chunks, so you never know if they’re getting the correct daily amount. Salt supplements provide the two macro-minerals that make up salt (sodium and chloride), ensuring that your horse is always getting a consistent amount to help meet his daily requirements.
In addition to supplying the salt your horse needs, a salt supplement may help encourage normal drinking. Many horses drink less in the winter because they don’t like cold water, but proper hydration is essential to your horse’s digestive function and overall well-being no matter what season it is. Supplementing with salt during the winter is a smart way to help ensure your horse stays happy, healthy, and hydrated.
Our Top Pick
• Helps your horse meet his daily salt requirements
• Encourages normal drinking
Electrolyte supplements replenish minerals lost in sweat
Sweat isn’t just water
When your horse sweats, he loses salt and other key minerals that are essential to normal nerve and muscle function, including potassium, calcium, and magnesium. If these macro-minerals aren’t replenished, your horse could be left with a nutritional imbalance and won’t be in optimal health.
Electrolyte supplements are carefully formulated to mimic the mineral losses in equine sweat, helping to bring your horse back into balance. Along with replacing the minerals your horse loses in sweat, the salt in these supplements may also help encourage your horse to drink, which is critical to healthy digestion and normal fluid balance throughout his body.
Electrolyte supplements are a smart choice when your horse is sweating. While sweating is most common during the hot days of summer, horses that compete heavily throughout the winter or live in warm climates may benefit from a comprehensive electrolyte supplement all year round.
Our Top Pick
• Helps meet a portion of your horse’s daily salt requirement
• Encourages healthy hydration
• Supplies key electrolyte minerals lost in sweat
If I normally feed loose salt year round (1 TB), should I add an electrolyte additionally during the times of the year my horse is most prone to sweat (Summer and Fall – he is a foxhunter)? Or should I replace the loose salt with an electrolyte (and how much?) during those months?
He is an 1100 pound Dutch Warmblood and generally an easy keeper.
Thank you!
Kelly
Hi Kelly – Thank you for asking this great question, and it’s awesome to hear that you feed salt all year long! The National Research Council (NRC) states that adult horses in no work need at least one ounce of salt per day, and that need goes up with exercise and warm weather. Given this information, I’d keep feeding the loose salt daily and add an electrolyte to your horse’s diet during the months where you find him sweating. A balanced electrolyte will help to replenish the minerals he’s losing as he sweats and the extra salt will help meet his increased requirement while encouraging healthy hydration. You can follow the feeding instructions on the label of the electrolyte you choose to find the proper serving size for your horse. – Dr. Lydia Gray
Did you get an answer? I have the exact same question.
If I feed my horse loose salt does it matter if it is iodized salt or plain salt?
I use Hymalain salt. Read somewhere not to use iodized.
Spelled Himalayan
Last year I had a horse tie up and the vet indicated i should use iodized salt. There are salt blocks with iodine but of course its hard to monitor intake so i used iodized table salt.
1 tablespoon of Iodized salt typically contains 1 mg of iodine. Read feed labels carefully. Do not exceed 6 mg of iodine daily
I give Celtic Sea salt from Selina Naturally. It has minerals in it. they have an ag bag on their website.
I read somewhere that salt could possible aggravate or bring on ulcers is that true? I had been feeding my horses 1 tablespoon of loose salt x2 a day but after I read about the ulcers I stopped.
I have never had a problem with salt causing ulcers. I would continue to feed it year round.
I feed 1 scoop of electrolytes daily year round. My horse mainly just gets daily turnout but does work up a sweat once in a while. Should I be feeding regular salt instead or is the electrolyte mix enough?
Hi Elke, thanks for reaching out and kudos to you for being on top of your horse’s sodium chloride requirements! We wish more horses received sodium supplementation year-round. The rule of thumb is to feed a straight salt supplement year-round to fulfill their nutrient requirements and then add to this a balanced electrolyte when the horse is sweating more. If your horse is just getting daily turnout and not ‘in work’ a plain salt supplement would be appropriate. If you started working them and they are consistently sweating then I would consider also adding an electrolyte to replace the minerals being lost. – SmartPaker Kristina
As a reminder to everyone, if you give your horse electrolytes, make sure he has access to water afterwards — i.e. don’t give them & then take him out for a 2 hour ride with no opportunities to drink. 🙂
-from your friendly neighbourhood biologist