When we see that our horses have foamy, dripping sweat - we can be sure that this fluid loss is rich in electrolytes.
We can also see the evidence of a horse that is appropriately utilising it’s in build system of thermoregulation - cooling, when required, to prevent damage to the tissues of the body. With a poor balance of electrolytes, the horses body can actually start to compromise on this innate response to cooling or warming, and ‘malfunction’ and this is when ‘survival’ can lead to consequences.
Electrolytes play an important role in nerve function, muscle function, cell activity, and fluid balance. Too little can cause issues with not enough fluid being available to the various cells and tissues, and not enough chemical compounds to generate the electricity to make the nerve cells work, or force for the muscle cells to contract and glide past each other - and too much can cause too much fluid being drawn into areas of the horses body, also resulting in dehydration of tissues. So it is a balancing act.
The horses sweat, and electrolyte needs are made from a balance of sodium (31%), chloride (55%), potassium(16%), magnesium (0.005%), and calcium (0.012%).
The table or pool salt you have at home is predominately (90-95%) Sodium Chloride.
For your horses needs, an electrolyte that is primarily Sodium Chloride, and potassium chloride is essential.
500kg horses can loose approximately 10 grams of electrolytes per litre of sweat, and when this occurs consistently for 1 hour a horse can loose anywhere from 5-12 litres depending on the environment, and how long they have been sweating for.
The biggest key indicator is to be aware of how long they have sweated for - this will tell you how much they need. For example, a non endurance/working horse on an average schooling routine may spend a total of 60 minutes being ridden. If 15 minutes if warm up, and 15 minutes is cool down, 30 minutes would potentially be moderate sweating time so therefore the horse could loose approximately 2.5-6 litres of sweat, or 2.5 to 3.5 in ambient temperatures (not to hot, not too humid, not too dry, not too cold.) The best way to judge this is by using a sweat score.
Sweat Score 1: Under the saddle is a combination of dry, dark, sticky, or moist. The throat (under the jaw and down the neck) is sticky or moist, and the flanks are darker than normal.
Potential Total Sweat loss*: 1-4 litres.
Sweat Score 2: Under the saddle & the throat are both wet, there are small area’s of foamy white patches at the edge of the saddle blanket, and foaming may have started at sites between the throat latch of the bridle, reins and between the fore or hind limbs.
Potential Total Sweat loss*: 4-7 litres.
Sweat Score 3: There is white, grey or dirt coloured foam around or on the leather of the bridle/strapping, the flanks and belly of the horse are clearly wet, and the area under the saddle blanket/ saddle and girth are consistently wet.
Potential Total Sweat loss*: 7-9 litres.
Sweat Score 4: The throat (under jaw and neck) and flanks (under abdomen/belly) are completely wet, above the horses eyes on the eyelids are moist and have dark creases, and there is clearly visible foaming between the limbs.
Potential Total Sweat loss*: 9-12 litres.
Sweat Score 5: The horse is actually dripping fluid above the eyes (eyelids - it will be blinking the drips of sweat away) and under the belly, or from the sides of the saddle blanket.
Potential Total Sweat loss*: 12-18 litres.
*The duration of sweat inducing physical activity will also indicate how much the horse has lost.
So, for your average horse, on an average day, this could be a loss of from 25 to 35 grams of electrolytes in a hard schooling session. Now, the trick is, we don’t want to replace ALL of this potential loss, only 50% as the horse will easily gain the other 50% from its diet, and environment. Proving all of this loss orally, for the horse to digest can create issues with digestion, and hydration.
Horses usually only tolerate concentrated consumption of up to 62% of their dietary ‘salt’ (inclusive of electrolytes) needs.
So, that comes down to 12.5 - 17.5 grams of balanced electrolytes on an average day or work.
Electrolytes are vitally important to be at appropriate levels, before exercise is undertaken to have primed the body for ideal performance as well as the needed recovery DURING and after exercise has completed. Giving the full electrolyte requirements after exercise, can actually place stress on an already stressed and depleted nervous system and body. We want to provide this to the horse regularly, to keep it topped up, so we don’t need to ‘catch up’ so to speak.
So providing a horse that is undertaking performance or sweat inducting physical expectations, with a regular, moderate level of electrolytes to keep the system topped up ready for the heavier days is ideal management. Plan to have the electrolytes in the horse, for when you need them, you can always top it up later. So if we are talking about the horse mentioned above, then.....
A daily electrolyte ‘bank’ = 12.5 - 17.5 averaged.... = 15 grams of balanced electrolytes daily.
Approx. 2 Teaspoons.
Feeding salt can be important, but it really should only be considered as a part of the horses normal diet, and not to replace lost electrolytes from sweat. Horses can have dietary requirements of 20-100mg per kg of salt - but be aware that this provided in a large amount in a feed can create issues with over drinking, or the horse being reluctant to eat it’s concentrated feed. Research has shown, that providing free access to salt gives the horse the best opportunity to self source this as they will tend to chew wood, eat bark, and undertake other forms of non nutritive chewing to assess salt.
A daily sodium chloride/salt requirement for a 500kg horse is (50grams) x 62% = 31grams Sodium Chloride salt.
That is approx. 1 x tablespoon (with horses not fed a concentrated pre mix feed), but must be provided with an electrolyte in performance horses, and can cause issues with over drinking during feed consumption leading to potential poor digestion of feedstuffs and rapid passage through the digestive tract.
Many feed stuffs (pellets, mixes, concentrates) have salt in them at quite high levels, averaging at 40-50 grams per average feed provision (based on 4-5 kgs of recommended rate of feed with a ratio of 1% of added salt), so check your numbers first, provide the free access to salt (lick or trough), and also always always provide a regular electrolyte for your working or performance horses that undertake sweat inducing work daily.
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