Re: Salt in Summer

[Gayle Ecker <gecker@uoguelph.ca>]

Hi Carrie,
For most horses, providing loose salt in a container either inside the
stall, or out in a sheltered area of the paddocks is adequate for the
summer months.  Providing loose salt allows the horse to get the amount of
sodium it needs, whereas many horses cannot get enough sodium from a salt
block.  Some of the salt blocks also contain other minerals that are not
needed in the same quantity as sodium, so if the horse is spending a lot
of time licking the salt block to get the sodium, it may be getting more
of the other trace minerals as well when they are not needed.
Occassionally you need to break up the salt in the container with a
screwdriver or something to get it back in loose form, but it works better
than blocks when horses need more sodium.
Ordinary salt is fine for horses in the field, don't bother with the more
expensive commercial supplements for providing sodium on a daily basis to
horses in pasture.  Exercising horses are a different matter of course,
especially in the hot conditions that are prevalent in many areas now.

All the best,
Gayle Ecker

On Tue, 14 Jul 1998, Craig W. Hadley wrote:

> Hi, just a quick question??  When you all talk about adding salt to your
> horse's diet, what kind of salt are you using?  I'm not sure if I should go
> out and buy a special kind or just use normal table salt?  Also, how much?
> when? why?
> Thank you so much,
> Carrie and the gang
> 
>