Tag Archives: horse electrolytes

Horse Care

The importance of giving your horse electrolytes in the winter

Most of us horse owners recognize the value of electrolyte supplementation during the hot summer months.  After working one’s horse hard, or coming back from a long trail ride, or even bringing horses in on a hot day, we can see the sweat marks that indicate a horse may need electrolytes to replenish the lost salt and potassium.  However, electrolyte supplementation is at least equally important during the winter months.

Those of us who have access to an indoor arena are able to ride and work our horses year round.  During periods of hard work, regardless of temperature, horses will sweat and lose electrolytes.  By using a supplement such as Buckeye Nutrition’s Perform ‘N Win or Perfect Balance by Peak Performance, we can help our horses stay healthy by replacing valuable electrolytes lost.

Horse Electroloytes

A second reason to use electrolytes during the winter months is to encourage water consumption.  Many horses’ water consumption drops dramatically during the winter, and this can easily lead to impaction colic.  During the spring, summer, and fall, horses are able to graze and have access to fresh grass.  During the winter, when fresh grass is not available, horses have to rely on hay for their forage requirements.  The water content in grass is significantly higher, around 5 times higher, than that of hay.  Therefore, horses are able to ingest a good amount of their required water intake just by grazing on fresh grass.  Horses’ water consumption also declines when their water is cold.  So, during the winter, we have a situation where our horse is not getting water from forage, and is not inclined to drink as much from water troughs or buckets.  By adding a good, salt or sodium based electrolyte to their feed, we can help increase thirst, and improve water consumption, and hopefully avoid impaction colic issues.

When choosing an electrolyte, I tend to look for the ones that are low in dextrose or other sugars, and gravitate towards those that are sodium based.  If you have a horse with HYPP, you have to be careful about potassium intake, so look for an electrolyte that is specifically designed for horses with HYPP.

waterheater

Other ways to encourage water consumption include filling water buckets with warm water, or using heated buckets or water heaters if you are using a trough.  Ideal water temperature is around 40 degrees.  This year, I am making use of Eccotemp’s Horse Washer, which is a portable hot water on demand system.  I do not have access to hot water in my barn, and after a few years of lugging buckets of hot water down to the barn every morning and evening, I decided to make life a little easier on myself.  This system connects to my hydrant and to a propane tank.  I simply turn it on, and have instant hot or warm water to fill my water buckets with.

Combining these steps with electrolyte supplementation will hopefully lead to a healthy and happy horse this winter.  Most electrolytes can be added either to your horse’s feed or water.  If you add an electrolyte to water, you should also remember to put a second bucket of just plain water up as well.

Click here to shop a full selection fo Electrolytes

Click here to shop the Eccotemp Hot Water Horse Washer

This blog was written by Grant – one of Big Dee’s Showroom Managers

Giveaways!

Big Dee’s and Formula 707 Love Giveaways!

6 Comments
Horse Supplements from Formula 707
Enter to win this basket from Formula 707 & Big Dee’s

Giveaway time! Formula 707 has been making quality horse products in the USA since 1946! Legions of loyal user in the rodeo arena, in the show ring, on the track, around the ranch and on the trail.

Big Dee’s and Formula 707 have come together to offer an exciting basket giveaway!

Included in the $200 gift basket: 

  • 1 3lb. container of MuscleMx
  • 1 7lb. container of Weight Gain
  • 2 Restore Pastes (4 servings)
  • 2 Performance Mx Pastes (4 servings)
  • 3 Formula 707 chapsticks
  • 9 Formula 707 samples
  • 2 Formula 707 t-shirts
  • 2 Formula 707 hats

Click here to enter the giveaway!
Check out these great items –

* MuscleMx – a natural dietary supplement to support muscle growth!

Building muscle can be a tricky business.

A horse’s body tends to add new muscle cells at its own pace, which is sometimes slower than horsemen would prefer. Even young, growing horses receiving plenty of exercise often need a little help to pack dense muscle onto their limber frames. And as horses mature—especially horses recovering from the trauma of injury, disease, or severe stress—growing new muscle becomes an uphill battle.

Feeding extra protein—even protein rich in essential amino acids—does little to correct the problem, since you can only push so many nutrients through a series of progressively constricted metabolic pathways. To continue to add muscle mass, a way has to be found to retool the metabolism to remain in, or return to, muscle-building mode.

This is the rationale behind MuscleMx: to encourage the body to do what it already knows how to do with remarkable efficiency. To accomplish this feat, we’ve combined four natural nutrients that work synergistically to encourage the metabolic reactions required for muscle growth and development.

Lysine, the most essential of the 11 essential amino acids, lays the foundation for the formation of muscle-building proteins. Gamma oryzanol, a natural plant extract, assists in weight gain and muscle formation in all classes of the horse. Creatine, a naturally occurring organic acid, helps supply energy to muscle cells by stepping up production of ATP, the body’s energy-transport molecule. And Ornithine Ketoglutarate (OKG), an organic salt based on the amino acids ornithine and glutamine, bypasses the inhibitory metabolic processes preventing new muscle development. For all horses challenged in the task of adding or simply maintaining muscle mass, MuscleMx is the real solution for real results.

* Weight Gain – Safe, effective weight gain for underweight horses

Use to achieve and maintain a healthy weight in horses of all ages

Some horses are hard keepers. No matter what or how much you feed them, they have trouble keeping on weight. Often the problem can be traced back to the first stage of digestion, the teeth. If the teeth have grown uneven, it’s just a matter of “floating” them back to a uniform height to facilitate mastication. For other horses, however—horses with good teeth and no other digestion-related ailments—failure to maintain a healthy weight can be a combination of genetics, age and workload.

Anyone who raises performance horses is familiar with the problem of keeping weight on their horses. Intense exercise and the stresses of boarding, hauling, and competing all take their toll. Feeding more hay and grain is not always a satisfactory solution. That’s because healthy weight gain is intimately tied to energy metabolism, which in turn is dependent upon the availability of certain nutrients. It’s not enough just to feed more calories if the calories being fed are not properly utilized.

Formula 707 LifeCare Weight Gain is a highly palatable, calorie-rich supplement specifically formulated to help all types of horses gain and maintain weight. Vegetable fat provides concentrated and easily digestible calories in a form that also increases a horse’s overall energy. High-quality protein provides all the essential amino acids a horse needs to rebuild lost muscle, and fiber keeps the digestive machinery working smoothly. Calcium and phosphorus have been added to assist in the important task of skeletal maintenance and, along with zinc and copper, energy metabolism.

Does it work? In informal studies, Formula 707 Weight Gain was shown to have a visible effect on underweight horses in just a few days, and a return to normal weight within weeks.

 

* Restore Paste– working horses need a balanced electrolyte to restore lost minerals after workouts
Human athletes have come to understand the importance of replacing electrolytes to restore minerals lost in a vigorous workout. Because the same is true for equine athletes, we designed Formula 707 LifeCare Restore to replace the sodium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium lost in a liter of sweat. Use Restore electrolyte paste during intense workouts, when you are travelling, or when feeding isn’t practical.

 

* PerformanceMX Paste– A powerful iron-rich supplement for peak performance in equine athletes
Performance horses are burdened with demands that nature never intended. The nutritional demands of a performance horse can be several times those of a horse grazing in the pasture. Apple flavored Formula 707 PerformanceMx Paste provides quick energy and supplies nutrients that are readily available for the equine athlete, even under demanding performance conditions. The easy to administer oral syringe provides an energy boost when feeding isn’t practical.

Click here to shop Formula 707 products!

Good luck and thank you for participating in our basket giveaway!

Click here to enter the giveaway!

 

 

Horse Supplements

Keep Your Horse Hydrated with Electrolyte Supplements

Imagine this:

It’s hot. You’re sweating, your mouth is as dry as the Sahara desert. You just whizzed around a course in the heat of the day. You reach over grab a Gatorade and sloshes down like you are barreling down a luge in the Olympics. So here’s the thing. By taking that swig of Gatorade you replenished most of what you lost while cooking in the sun… But, what about your horse?

What is an electrolyte?

Electrolytes are positively and negatively charged ions that are formed when minerals and other salts dissolve in water. Similar to the ocean, the body’s fluids (blood, plasma, saliva, etc.) are full of salts and minerals. They are important because they are what the cells use to maintain voltage stability across cell membranes. Electrolytes carry electrical impulses such as muscle contractions & nerve impulses across themselves and to other cells. Without electrolytes, the cells in the body couldn’t properly communicate with each other and perform essential functions.

Horse Electrolyte SupplementsHow do we lose electrolytes?

Electrolytes are typically lost through sweat. The three main salts that need to be replaced are sodium, chloride and potassium. Calcium and magnesium can also be lost through sweat but typically on a much smaller scale than the other three. Each salt plays an important role in the body. Sodium helps to maintain blood pressure and balance water levels in the body. Chloride balances the alkalinity (acids and bases) of the body fluids. Potassium helps balances the cellular fluid and is vital for optimal muscle, heart and kidney function.

When should I use electrolytes?

Electrolyte supplementation is not necessary for every horse, every day. As long as the horse has access to fresh water and free choice minerals/salt, the horse’s electrolytes should be in balance. Conditions in which you would want to consider the use of electrolytes would be:

  • Heavy workload/training in which the horse sweats considerably much
  • Long trailer hauls (especially in the heat)
  • Endurance events such as racing, cross-country/eventing, competitive trail or other long riding/driving events

Ideally, if you know you and your horse will be engaging in activities like those mentioned above electrolyte supplementation would occur before, during and after the event. However, there are times when those activities are not foreseen.

A few signs that your horse may be in need of electrolytes:

  • Excessive sweating
  • Lack of thirst
  • Increased capillary refill time
  • Loss of skin elasticity
  • Poor performance
  • Abnormal heart rhythm or rate
  • Lethargy
  • Diaphragm spasms/thumps

What types of electrolytes are out there?

There are typically 3 types of electrolytes on the market. The recommended time of administration on these electrolyte supplements can vary greatly, so it’s important to read the manufacturer’s instructions to find the one that is right for you.

  • Powder/Granules: Electrolytes that come in the form of powder or granules are typically given as a top dressing to feed or put in the horse’s water. Oftentimes these come in flavors appealing to the horse such as apple, orange or cherry. This form of supplement would be ideal for those horses that are less picky of eaters.
  • Liquid: This form of electrolyte is often put directly in the horse’s drinking water or as a drench. Drenches are ideal for those horse owners that are practiced in drenching. Otherwise, we recommend contacting your veterinarian regarding the correct procedure. The liquid that is given through the horse’s water is good for a horse that will still drink water, but needs an electrolyte boost.
  • Paste: Paste electrolytes are administered to the horse orally. By giving the paste, you know that the horse is getting most, if not all, of the electrolytes.