SHould i give him electrolytes?

Question

I have a 10 year old draft/arabian/tb cross and i was wondering if he needs electolytes.

More info- We live in Colorado where it is hot and humid. He is ridden 5 days a week and 2 of those 5 are in a very long lesson. He does sweat a lot and after his lesson he soaks his saddle pad and girth with sweat.

Answer 1

If it was my horse-No. By the sounds he doesn't need them. Just a lot of fresh water. Electrolytes are for hard working horses. Give him a salt block.

Answer 2

It depends on the horse. Mine goes fine in any weather without electolytes but I know know of some that need them. If you are doing really hard stuff (x-country for a couple hours) I would do what Tom M said and offer two buckets.

Answer 3

if he doesn't drink much,then defiantly give him electrolytes. if he does drink a lot, keep his bucket full at times and always rinse him good after riding.i cant say where I live, but at where I ride they always give electrolytes.we also have antisweaters, so they defianlty need them. if hes an antisweater, and its on a very hot day, rinse his neck,shoulders,and butt before you get on and you can do it during your ride.

Answer 4

My TB sweats from nervous anticipation in cold or hot weather and often froths up before we even get out the driveway, he loses alot of salts because of this and water alone is not enough on advice by my vet I give him 2 tbsp of prepared electolytes in his bucket feed every day and 1 tbsp extra in hot weather. It wont hurt to give him any but if your not sure call your vet after all every horse is different.

Have you got a salt lik in his stall?? this could help too.

Answer 5

A good practice is to put two water buckets in your horse's stall. One with plain water and one with electrolytes. Your horse will drink it if he needs to. I live and louisiana and many of my horse will drink both buckets on very hot days. Some will drink only plain water and some will drink the electrolyte soloution.

http://www.allivet.com/Horse-Dehydration...

Answer 6

We actually give our horses gatorade mixed in with their water. A regular 5 gallon bucket but with a small bottle of lemon-lime gatorade mixed in. It has electrolytes in it and normally the horses like it. Or whatever flavor they seem to prefer. But like someone already said, put two buckets in, one with plain water and one with gatorade in it. It always seems to keep our drafts hydrated. Ours never liked the electrolyte solutions. Just try and see what your horse does!!! Hope I helped!

Answer 7

Does he drink? If he's drinking and his breathing recovers quickly, then I don't think he's in danger. Big horses (and it sounds like yours is) tend to sweat more and have a harder time b/c they carry around more weight.

If he does drink, there are electrolytes you can put in his water. Otherwise, you can give him the oral kind but unless he acts out of it or breathes hard for a long time after working hard, then it might be a waste of money.

It sounds like he's in pretty good shape so I suggest monitoring his behavior after hard rides, right down anything unusual and then ask your vet next time you see him or her.

Answer 8

My thoroughbred in is Georgia and he gets electrolytes. He will be drenched in sweat just standing there and has the hardest time keeping weight on in the summer. I make sure he has plenty of water and a salt block but he does get electrolytes also. I give him his electrolytes in his feed and he eats it all up fine. Heres a pretty good article about horse dehydration and how and when to use electrolytes.

http://www.tufts.edu/vet/sports/dehydrat...

Hope this helped