Horse not eating salt

From: Jennifer

In contrast to the horse that was eating too much salt, my gelding has 24 hr access to a 50lb block of salt (the brown, mineral type), but he hasn't taken one lick! Is this also something I should worry about, or will he lick it when he wants to? Again, I am another reader who really appreciates your sound, objective advice to various equine related problems and questions.

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer! Your gelding may have tried to lick his salt block and been unable to get any salt. Those blocks were originally designed for cattle, and the ones that we buy for our horses are formulated for horses but are just as hard as the ones for cattle. This isn't a problem for the cattle, since they have very harsh, raspy tongues that scrape across the surface and lift off salt easily. It CAN be a problem for our horses, as horses have softer, smoother tongues that sometimes interfere with licking salt.

If your horse has difficulty with his salt block, try this: take a handful of water and drop it on the top of the block. The water will soak in and soften the top layer of salt, and the next time your horse attempts to lick the salt block, he'll get some salt. If he's given up and isn't interested in trying, you can drop a handful of grain on top of the softened salt just to get his attention focused on the salt block, and he'll figure it out very quickly.

Jessica

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