I live in "cattle country" and the cowboys here
tell me the horse's tongue isn't as rough as the cows .... so they (the horses)
don't always get enough salt from a salt lick...I've been pouring loose salt in
their feed bins during this heatwave...some eat it, some don't.
Sometimes salt bricks/blocks just aren't
enough. The owner of the farm where my gelding lives alternates white
and mineral blocks outdoors for the horses, but my guy also needs loose white
salt in his grain/beetpulp meals.
Generally my horse is a good drinker. For
instance, on the few winter nights when they're in their stalls
because of really horrible weather, he drinks almost all of the water in his
bucket before it can freeze.
But in the fall of 2003, he had a mild impaction
colic. My normally voracious eater came in at dinner time and wasn't
interested in food. Giant red flag. After the vet had treated
my horse, he suggested that I add loose white salt to his supplement
baggies, and so far we've had no further problems.
