Did you know that a horse can sweat 10–15 litres per hour during physical exertion and at the same time lose up to 100 grams of salt from the body? Taking care of fluid balance is important, because it has a major impact on the horse's recovery and performance. Managing fluid and electrolyte balance is surprisingly easy when you have the right guidance.
The electrolytes a horse needs are sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. All of them have vital roles, and they influence the function of the whole body, including the horse's fluid balance, circulation, digestion, acid–base balance, muscle function, and performance.
Why does a horse need salts?
When a horse sweats, it loses significant amounts of salts and minerals, i.e., electrolytes.
If lost fluids, salts, and electrolytes are not replaced, the horse will quickly begin to suffer from dehydration. Dehydration affects the horse's performance. Too low an electrolyte level can cause muscle cramps and fatigue. That is why a sweating horse needs electrolytes to replace the salts and minerals lost during exertion.
5 tips – How to take care of your horse's fluid balance:
1. Salts are not all the same
A salt lick is not enough as the horse's only salt source. You should always add salt to the horse's ration—such as sea salt or rock salt, which are pure sodium chloride.
For a horse that sweats a lot, it is also worth giving mineral salt or a ready-made electrolyte product. This helps ensure your horse gets enough potassium and magnesium as well.
Also note that popular Himalayan salt contains more minerals than sea salt, but its mineral content alone is not sufficient to meet the needs of a heavily sweating horse.
2. Salt, salt, more salt
A horse's sweat is saltier than plasma, meaning sweat contains more dissolved substances than plasma does. For this reason, a horse loses relatively more salts and electrolytes through sweating than a human, whose sweat is more dilute than blood plasma.
Through urine and manure, a horse loses 20–25 grams of salt per day. In heavy work, a sweating horse can lose even more than 100 grams of salt in a single hour (1 dl of coarse salt weighs 115 g). Therefore, the amount of additional salt required can be quite significant, for example after training, competition, or transport on a hot day.
3. Water is the oldest remedy—but salt has its place too
If fluid loss caused by heavy sweating is corrected by offering the horse only plain water, the salt content of the fluid outside the horse's cells drops significantly in a short time. Then water moves into the cells and the cells swell, which can lead to muscle cramps and even heart rhythm disturbances.
That is why water—the oldest remedy—is not enough on its own to restore the fluid balance of a horse that has been sweating heavily.
The fastest way to correct dehydration at home is an isotonic saline solution. An isotonic saline solution has the same salt concentration as the body, and it is made by mixing 9 grams of sea salt or rock salt into one litre of water. This means that for 10 litres of water you add about ¾ dl of salt.
It is best to offer water as soon as possible after sweating or a performance, because the horse's thirst sensation disappears fairly quickly. You can also encourage drinking with CdG's Mash the Pony product, which makes an easily palatable "milkshake," or with After Work porridge. However, on their own they are not enough to restore the salts lost through sweating.
4. A horse does not benefit from sugar
In humans, sugars and amino acids in recovery drinks enhance sodium absorption. In horses, however, too much sugar has been shown in studies to even slow down the restoration of fluid balance. For this reason, a sugar-free electrolyte product is best for a horse—also with teeth in mind.
Chia de Gracia's Electrolyte Up is a 100% natural, completely sugar-free, and palatable electrolyte product. It helps restore the horse's electrolyte and fluid balance after a hard performance or sweating.
Beetroot, dandelion root, and dandelion leaves are excellent natural electrolytes. They contain plenty of potassium and magnesium, among other things, which help replenish the body's electrolyte balance. Beetroot adds sweetness, so Electrolyte Up is palatable without unnecessary sugar.
5. You cannot "load" electrolytes into storage
You cannot stockpile electrolytes in the body. However, if you feed electrolytes before a demanding competition or a long transport, you can help ensure your horse's fluid balance is in good shape for the competition situation or the journey.
At the same time, you can also accustom your horse to the taste of a particular electrolyte product. Then correcting an electrolyte deficit during competitions or transport is easier, because the taste and smell of the water is already familiar to the horse. Using familiar flavoured waters can help encourage many horses to drink, even in stressful situations.
