Best Electrolytes For Horses Help Avoid Dehydration

Last updated on April 25th, 2020 at 06:50 pm

Are you wondering what are the best electrolytes for horses?

Just like humans, when a horse gets hot, it uses sweat as the primary means to cool itself from the effects of exercise and hot weather. In order to encourage a horse to drink more, thus helping to replace essential minerals lost from sweat, electrolytes can be supplemented.

For a horse to maintain a proper body temperature through sweating, it needs sufficient water and minerals in it’s body. Dehydration and heat stress can lead to serious consequences, such as heat stroke and reduced muscle performance.Furthermore, losing greater amounts of urine and sweat from exercise can even lead to colic. That’s why it is crucial to keep your horse well hydrated and use one of the best electrolytes for horses.

Our Favorites

1. Best Overall For 2020: Farnam Apple Elite Electrolyte
2. Cheapest Electrolytes For Horses: Horse Health Apple-Dex
3. All Natural: REDMOND Rock Crushed Loose Mineral Salt
4. Paste: Farnam Apple Elite Electrolyte Paste
5. Sugar Free: Finish Line Horse Products Apple A Day

Best Electrolytes For Horses Reviews

Farnam Apple Elite Electrolyte – Best Electrolyte For Horses 2020

 

Farnam Apple Elite Electrolyte is our number 1 pick for the best electrolyte for horses 2020.

We really like the short, simple, yet highly effective ingredient list of the Farnam Apple Elite Electrolyte. It has all of the things that your horse needs to recover on a hot day, without any of the fillers found in some other brands.

The apple flavor seems to be very well liked by most of the horses that we have seen try it. However, there is also an orange flavor, just in case your horse prefers orange over apple.

 

Horse Health Apple-Dex – Cheapest Electrolytes For Horses

 

Horse Health Apple-Dex is the cheapest electrolyte for horses that we have come across, and it also gets great reviews.

Horse Health Apple-Dex comes in a 30-pound pale and costs around $1.83 per pound. We haven’t found another electrolyte supplement that comes close to this price, at least not at this level of quality.

It is apple flavored and micro-blended for easy feeding. Equine seem to really love the taste of this product. There is also a cherry flavor available.

Our only gripe is that they added artificial color for some reason. Horses don’t care what color the supplement is, so the coloring isn’t really necessary.

 

REDMOND Rock Crushed Loose Mineral Salt – All Natural

 

REDMOND Rock Crushed Loose Mineral Salt is a great all natural electrolyte for horses that only has one ingredient: unrefined sea salt. That’s what we love most about it.

Redmond Rock Crushed Loose Mineral Sale is a pure, 100% natural unrefined sea salt sourced from a salt deposit in Redmond, Utah. This sea salt is perfect for when your horse has been traveling, working extra hard, or whenever you feel that you need to ensure that your horse is getting enough salt and other essential electrolytes that it needs. It provides all the natural electrolytes and trace minerals that are  found in Redmond Rock block salt.

This product encourages drinking, so be sure to supply plenty of fresh water.

 

Farnam Apple Elite Electrolyte Paste – Best Electrolyte Paste For Horses

 

Of our pick for the best electrolyte paste for horses is Farnam Apple Elite Electrolyte Paste. It is the same great simple formula of our top pick, only this in paste form.

The syringe that the paste comes in makes for super easy and convenient feeding. When you are on the go at a competition or other event, having these Apple Elite Electrolyte Paste syringes available helps to ensure that your horse stays hydrated.

They are also relatively inexpensive, which is another reason why we feel that this is the best electrolyte paste for horses.

 

Finish Line Horse Products Apple A Day – Sugar Free Electrolyte For Horses

 

Unlike a lot of other equine electrolyte supplements, Finish Line Horse Products Apple A Day
is both sugar and dye free. This is important to a lot of horse owners who try to avoid feeding sugar.

Finish Line Horse Products Apple A Day is one of the oldest supplements on the market, and it still continues to achieve great reviews. Great reviews come from a great product and great results.

If you are looking for a sugar free electrolyte supplement for horses, this is one that you should certainly try.

 

Electrolytes For Horses Buyer’s Guide

Electrolytes, which are minerals that are present in the horse’s body tissues and fluids are involved in a variety of body functions, such as maintaining blood pH, regulating thirst, nerve function, and muscle contraction. Although hay, pasture, and commercial horse food all contain electrolytes, horses that partake in competition or performance often need added electrolytes in order to maintain proper health and optimum performance. Even horses that are traveling can benefit for added electrolytes, as the stress of travel can cause dehydration.

Importance Of Electrolytes For Horses

When a horse is depleted of electrolytes, it can experience fatigue and have trouble with muscle contraction, leading to poor performance. A deficiency in electrolytes can also cause nerve irritability which could lead to synchronous diaphragmatic flutter, whereby the diaphragm contracts in sync with the heart. Dehydration can also cause an exercise-related condition which causes reduced or slowed intestinal motility.

Sodium, calcium, chloride, magnesium, potassium and other trace minerals are found in horse sweat. Chloride and sodium are the two electrolytes lost the most when a horse sweats. Both of these are salt, so most electrolyte supplements are salt-based. Ten pounds of hay contains enough daily potassium, and five pounds of feed will supply about one ounce of salt.

The average horse, including performance, trail, and show horses that consume a typical diet of 5-10 pounds of feed along with 15-20 pounds of hay should only need 1-2 added ounces of salt each day. This equates to roughly 2-4 ounces of electrolytes, as most are 50% salt. Be sure to read the label, however, to confirm that you are providing the proper amounts to your equine.

When shopping for the best electrolytes for horses, sodium chloride should be among the very first ingredients, with potassium chloride being right behind it. Some supplements are sugar-based, while others are salt-based. If you buy a sugar-based one, you will need to feed more of it in order to supply your horse with enough salt.

There are several ways to administer electrolytes to your horse:

• via water for drinking
• mix with in with feed
• oral dosing with a syringe

There are some great electrolyte pastes for horses, and giving them via a syringe is just like giving some horse wormers. As you may know, this can be challenging, as some horses will try to spit it out, no matter the flavor. If you provide the electrolytes via drinking water, be sure to provide additional water without any electrolytes. One reason is to obviously provide more water to a dehydrated horse. The other reason is that if the horse doesn’t like the taste of the electrolyte water, he will avoid drinking it. This will naturally make the dehydration even worse. We find that mixing the electrolytes with the horse’s fed to be the most effective means of getting the horse to consume them.

Electrolytes For Horses Homemade Recipe

You don’t necessarily need to buy a horse electrolyte supplement, as you can easily make your own if you so choose. A solid electrolytes for horses homemade recipe is as follows:

• 1-2 ounces of salt or 2-4 ounces of electrolytes powder
• 1 cup of dry shredded beet pulp
• 1½ cups of water

First, mix the dry ingredients in a large bag or container. Next, add in the water. Allow the mixture to soak for at least 30-45 minutes. Now you can add it to the horse’s normal feed or give it to them as a treat separately throughout the day. If you are giving electrolytes often through the day, your horse could develop ulcers in it’s mouth. In order to help prevent this, add 1 tablespoon of corn oil into the electrolyte mixture.

Electrolytes are not just for hot weather. During the cold months, when horses are only fed hay and not pasture, the horse is consuming less water. This is also true if their water is not provided in heated buckets or insulated containers during colder temps. Though, you could always use a stock tank heater. Horses generally prefer to drink water when it is between 45 and 65 degrees. Too hot or too cold, and the horse will likely drink much less. The risk or dehydration and impaction colic is greatly increased during cold months when hay feeding only. When you supplement their feed with 2-4 ounces of electrolytes each day, the risk of impaction is much less.

Conclusion

Ensuring that your horse stays hydrated year round is critical for optimum health and performance. Using the best electrolytes for horses supplements is an easy way to ensure that your horse is drinking enough and getting adequate essential minerals. You could also follow our electrolytes for horses homemade recipe and make your own.

Last update on 2020-07-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API