Electrolytes

Yes, even in the winter.

We have been conditioned to associate electrolytes with the summer months. We sweat and our horses sweat. We drink beverages with electrolytes and we feed electrolytes to our horses.

What many of us don’t realize is an electrolyte supplement is just as beneficial in the winter as it is in the summer. The saltiness added to your horse's feed can keep him drinking well during the winter months.

Look for these to be in the top spots on the label of your supplement product

Electrolytes Are Essential

Our bodies and that of our horses are electrical. The water in our bodies carries electrical signals to help us function. Electrolytes can be thought of as the necessary catalysts for these signals to be sent efficiently.

Horses involved in any physical activity that makes them break into a sweat, during any time of the year, benefit from added electrolytes in their diet.

Skip the Sugar

Oh the joys of supplement shopping. Thankfully, electrolytes are pretty easy. Just follow one very important rule when browsing the aisle of your local Amazon store. Any supplement that has sugar as an ingredient should be passed up. Sugar is not an electrolyte. It is a very poor conductor of electricity.

A strong electrolyte dissociates in water, it does not just dissolve

So why do companies put sugar in their electrolyte products? Simply put, they do it for us. We have been conditioned by sugary sports drink companies to believe electrolytes need or should include sugar. They don’t. We see apple flavored electrolytes on the shelf and think our picky eaters would definitely like them over a salt mix.

Read the label and look for the 5 main electrolytes seen in the graphic above and you really can’t go wrong.

But my vet uses the sugar one!?

In cases of extreme diarrhea, your vet may use a sugar-based electrolyte during a gastrointestinal tubing procedure, or may recommend one. Do not dismay!

The small intestine loves sugar. It picks up sugar quickly, and along with it sodium and water. This is a hack for getting the body to rehydrate faster, and if there is a tube in your horse's nose, quick rehydration is usually the goal. Sugar electrolytes are a cheat for quick rehydration.

When mixing electrolytes into a water source for your animal, always provide another source of fresh water that has not been altered.

Do you have a favorite year round electrolyte that you feed your horses? Send us a link (Chelsea@pemfcowgirl.com) and we might feature it in our next newsletter! Comments or opinions? We like those too.