Post by tierra madre on Jul 24, 2008 5:19:29 GMT -8
It’s Summer. Got Salt?
Salt.
Couple things to say about salt this morning: in the Summertime (& all through the year) horses need it. In the Arizona Summertime, they also get rid of it.
Salt with trace minerals should be a very important component of horses' diets. The composite comes in two forms - either those dark red salt licks or in 50-lb. bags of loose, scoopable granules. I use the granules because not every horse partakes of a salt lick & I want to make sure they all get it.
For one thing, the salt makes them thirsty. Makes 'em drink water. And, like I've said before, in the Summertime, water is more important than food. A healthy hrose can go three days without food, but only three hours without water. Plus, the trace minerals are important elements that horses need but don't get very much from not being in open pastureland.
Here's what I do.....I put a scoop of it in everybody's grain in the afternoon. BTW - I only use about a cup of grain for everybody because they get most of what they really need from hay. They don't really need the Strategy or Equine Senior. I use it more as a delivery vehicle for the salt & electrolytes & any medications they might need.
Here's the problem with putting a scoop of the dry salt in everybody's grain: it falls to the bottom of the bucket & stays there. Oh, you'll see horses going back & licking the bottoms of the buckets now & then, but it's still a waste & you're not certain everybody's getting what they need. Here's the solution: wet the salt. Put some water in it & stir it around 'til it's the consistency of a grainy paste. Then add it to the grain & stir it all around. Problem solved.
During July & August (at least), I give everybody a scoop of electrolytes, too, to guarantee their thirst. Electrolytes you buy at the feed store are impossibly expensive. So here's a recipe given to me by a vet:
1 part Lite Salt
3 parts regular (un-iodized) salt
4 parts baking soda
Simple. And cheap, too. No reason to pay $30 for five pounds of the manufactured stuff when you can make your own for under $10, right? No reason to give it any flavoring, either, like the manufactured stuff. That's just a marketing gimmick.
Now - about the horses getting rid of the salt, at least in the Arizona Summer.....Several of my guys - not all of them, but a number of them - often have salt on their backs or kind of running down their flanks.
It's from sweat. 'Round here it's so dry that when they sweat the water evaporates & leaves only the salt left in the sweat (sort of like underarm sweat stains to humans). That salt can really cause skin irritation, as you can imagine. It can cause problems with the hair in that area (like making it fall out) & can be really, really itchy to them, eventually burning the skin.
So, every morning &/or evening, I walk around & scratch & brush the salt off Venture, Bentley, Kiss, Suze, Mr. Bernie Rivers, Tarzan, M'Stor & Charlie. And, occasionally, John & Ted-d-d. They love it. Absolutely love it. I do, too. Except for one thing: if you have one or more little cuts or scrapes on your hands, it stings like hell. Really stings. Like salt in a wound. Which it what it is. I don't use a brush for two reasons: first, brushes don't really work all that well on it & second, the horses love the scratching (which is really the first reason!)
I don't know if horses in other parts of the country have that issue (we used to in Southern California every once in a while), but we sure have it here.
So - for today, it's salt in/salt out.
Jim
Salt.
Couple things to say about salt this morning: in the Summertime (& all through the year) horses need it. In the Arizona Summertime, they also get rid of it.
Salt with trace minerals should be a very important component of horses' diets. The composite comes in two forms - either those dark red salt licks or in 50-lb. bags of loose, scoopable granules. I use the granules because not every horse partakes of a salt lick & I want to make sure they all get it.
For one thing, the salt makes them thirsty. Makes 'em drink water. And, like I've said before, in the Summertime, water is more important than food. A healthy hrose can go three days without food, but only three hours without water. Plus, the trace minerals are important elements that horses need but don't get very much from not being in open pastureland.
Here's what I do.....I put a scoop of it in everybody's grain in the afternoon. BTW - I only use about a cup of grain for everybody because they get most of what they really need from hay. They don't really need the Strategy or Equine Senior. I use it more as a delivery vehicle for the salt & electrolytes & any medications they might need.
Here's the problem with putting a scoop of the dry salt in everybody's grain: it falls to the bottom of the bucket & stays there. Oh, you'll see horses going back & licking the bottoms of the buckets now & then, but it's still a waste & you're not certain everybody's getting what they need. Here's the solution: wet the salt. Put some water in it & stir it around 'til it's the consistency of a grainy paste. Then add it to the grain & stir it all around. Problem solved.
During July & August (at least), I give everybody a scoop of electrolytes, too, to guarantee their thirst. Electrolytes you buy at the feed store are impossibly expensive. So here's a recipe given to me by a vet:
1 part Lite Salt
3 parts regular (un-iodized) salt
4 parts baking soda
Simple. And cheap, too. No reason to pay $30 for five pounds of the manufactured stuff when you can make your own for under $10, right? No reason to give it any flavoring, either, like the manufactured stuff. That's just a marketing gimmick.
Now - about the horses getting rid of the salt, at least in the Arizona Summer.....Several of my guys - not all of them, but a number of them - often have salt on their backs or kind of running down their flanks.
It's from sweat. 'Round here it's so dry that when they sweat the water evaporates & leaves only the salt left in the sweat (sort of like underarm sweat stains to humans). That salt can really cause skin irritation, as you can imagine. It can cause problems with the hair in that area (like making it fall out) & can be really, really itchy to them, eventually burning the skin. So, every morning &/or evening, I walk around & scratch & brush the salt off Venture, Bentley, Kiss, Suze, Mr. Bernie Rivers, Tarzan, M'Stor & Charlie. And, occasionally, John & Ted-d-d. They love it. Absolutely love it. I do, too. Except for one thing: if you have one or more little cuts or scrapes on your hands, it stings like hell. Really stings. Like salt in a wound. Which it what it is. I don't use a brush for two reasons: first, brushes don't really work all that well on it & second, the horses love the scratching (which is really the first reason!)
I don't know if horses in other parts of the country have that issue (we used to in Southern California every once in a while), but we sure have it here.
So - for today, it's salt in/salt out.
Jim