Salt Blocks for Horses - Not Just a Summer Concern

In hot, summer months as we reach for our Gatorade we are likely to remember that our horses need a salt block or even electrolytes if they are performing hard. However, horses are just as much in need (or perhaps even more so) during the cold winter months. When water sources are cold, horses tend to drink less. Keeping free choice salt blocks or bricks available at all times can encourage horses to keep drinking in every season. If you have a way to offer your horse warmer water that is ideal, but if not make sure that the water is fresh and clean. Extremely athletic horses who loose salt and other electrolytes due to sweat might need an electrolyte. Most electrolytes are given to horses as a powder disolved in the drinking water, though this can be problematic in the winter when even a yummy flavored cold water doesn't seem very tasty to your horse. Instead, these vital nutrients can be very easily fed in a pelleted form with your horses's grain or even dosed with a syringe to make sure your horse is getting enough to meet his needs. If conditions are extremely cold, it could get too cold for horses to enjoy licking a frozen salt block. On those days it is a wise choice to provide them about one ounce per day of loose salt with the daily grain ration. Most quality grain rations do contain some salt, so you can read the tag on your feed and adjust for that if you want to, but giving a horse extra salt is not at all harmful as long as they have access to water. For our local Amarillo, Texas customers you can order your blocks, bricks, and bags of salt here on our website for local delivery (small fee applies) or you can select our free in store pickup option to have those ready and waiting to be loaded along with all of your normal feed, hay, or bedding. If you are outside of the Amarillo area, be sure to check in with your local feed store. All of our Coolhorse friends and customers can shop for electrolyte powders, pastes, and pellets along with our other horse supplements. As always, if you have any questions about the best regimen for your horse please give us a call or drop us an email! We would love to visit with you about your horse's needs.