Last
summer we compared two herds of 5 horses each. One herd had the usual mineral
salt block in the pasture. The other had granulated salt in their pasture
pan. The horses given the granulated salt ate 5 times more salt than
the herd given the block salt. We are thinking that the horses "on the
block" get their tongues sore from licking the rough block - which would
raw their tongues and sting - and therefore quit licking before they had
enough salt in the diet. Or, perhaps, the "granulated" horses ate too
much salt for a good dietary balance.
About 5 years ago we started have a high incident rate of
colic in our
older horses in our dude string , two horses and a mule all in
their
late 20's colicked on us in a two month time period . They had
been
eating the same grass hay that they have always been fed and
had
access to heated water plus a running creek at all times
.After trying
to figure out what was going on other than the older horses
not
chewing/digesting their hay as well as the younger ones we put
the
whole herd on loose salt which they ate more of and then would
drink
more water and no more problems with any in the herd .We have
not
had one colic incident since then . I believe the loose salt
really
does make a difference and even if it gets wet and kinda
hardens it
