From: Dani
Hi Jessica!
I know you will articulate the right answer here. I was recently reading one of those horsey message boards, you know they can be so informative especially when they are local. There was a discussion about bucket heaters and we all expressed our delight with our heaters to encourage a new owner to get one (especially after the last winter). However, One person wrote in that she salted her water tubs in winter to melt the ice. I was struck - i know horses won't drink as much water as they need if it's too salty. How many times have i dumped some poor fool's water bucket in the morn with half a salt block in it and had him guzzle for clean water!
Yet she brings up the point that it's no different than putting electrolytes in summer and her 22 yr. old is fat and sassy and she knows no reason not to do this. It's absurd to me. We all know how important it is for us to encourage our horses to drink good water for their health - did her horse just get used to this? I'd hate to look back on those 10 years of axing tubs before heaters and have been wrong. So please answer my question - to salt or not to salt. I'll be sure to message board her.
Dani
Horses often drink less in winter, although they need water just as much as they do in summer. Many horses drink considerably less when the water is just this side of frozen. For those horses, warmed water (not bathwater warm, but cool rather than icy-cold) can make all the difference between proper hydration and good health - and dehydration and diminished kidney function. Horses that don't drink as much when the water is cold may actually be thirsty and just not realize it. Sometimes horse-owners don't realize that their horses ought to be drinking just as much in winter as they do in summer - and they rationalize the change by saying "They're not moving around as much, they don't need as much water" or "It's cold out, they don't need as much water". The problem is that the horses DO need as much water - and if they aren't given enough drinking water, or if the water is too cold or too dirty, they may cut back on their drinking to the point at which they stop processing their feed properly. This is how a lot of impaction colics develop. In winter, it's especially important to take the time to ensure that horses have plenty of clean water. The initial signs of incipient colic may be difficult to detect when the horse-owner is cold, uncomfortable, and in a hurry to feed and water the horses and get back into the warm house. Even signs of dehydration may go unnoticed when the horse has a heavy winter coat and the owner isn't looking very closely, or is dressed for very cold weather and consequently can barely see anything at all. When someone is peering through a quarter-inch slit between a frosty scarf and a frosty hat-brim, it may be a major challenge just to count noses and ears.
It isn't always convenient to scrub and refill water tanks in the winter - but that obligation is all part of the lovely fun of owning - and being responsible for the welfare of - horses.
Horses need salt in winter - that's perfectly true. Most probably need about two ounces of salt each day. Some horses can get what they need from a salt block, especially if the owner is careful to keep the top of the block wet so that the salt softens and the horses can lick it up. Since horses have smooth tongues, and salt blocks were designed for cattle with raspy tongues, many horses simply can't manage to lick enough salt to meet their own daily needs. If a horse is fed a complete or processed feed of any kind, the owner should check the label to find out the feed's salt content. If it's insufficient, or if the horse is fed only hay, as many horses are, then supplementary salt will be necessary. Loose salt is very practical for horse consumption - top-dressing the horse's feed with an ounce of loose salt will allow the horse to consume what it wants. Horses that get enough salt will be more likely to drink enough to stay healthy in winter - and horses that get enough salt AND are given constant access to clean, warmed water are MOST likely to drink enough to stay healthy.
Now, as for salting the horse's drinking water - DON'T. That's a shortcut for the owner's convenience, not something that's being done for the good of the horse, or even with any real understanding of how the horse's body functions. As all horse-owners find out sooner or later, a horse that is desperate for salt and has been deprived of salt for days, weeks, or even months can go through an immense amount of it in a short time when it is finally provided, perhaps consuming a sixteen-ounce salt block in just a day or two. On the other hand, a horse that gets enough salt in its daily diet may elect not to eat the extra salt that a caring owner sprinkles on its feed; that owner may well come out after the horse has been fed and discover a neat little pile of salt crystals in the bottom of the manger or feed tub. A horse that is given salted water may choose to drink it out of desperation - or it may refuse to drink. In either case, it will be getting too little water for its needs - either too little for the amount of salt it's consuming, or too little because it simply won't drink salted water. If someone is convinced that a particular horse will ONLY take salt in the form of salted water (highly unlikely, by the way!) then it would be perfectly acceptable to offer that horse a bucket of salted water, but ONLY if the horse also had unlimited access to clean water WITHOUT salt or other minerals added.
The "salt in the winter is like electrolytes in the summer" argument is actually a very good one - horses need to maintain a certain level of mineral salts in their bodies. But just as salting a horse's only source of water in the winter (or at any other time) is a very bad idea, adding electrolytes to a horse's only source of water in the summer (or at any other time) is an equally bad idea. If a horse is sweating so profusely for such a long time every day that it is losing tissue salts and truly NEEDS supplemental electrolytes, they should be offered to the horse as top-dressing on the feed, or dissolved in a SEPARATE bucket of water, or (occasionally, as needed) administered in paste form, but they should NEVER be added to the horse's ONLY source of water.
Do you remember the saying "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature"? Trying to save time by mixing the horse's salt ration with his drinking water is an attempt to fool Mother Nature, and in the long term, it won't work. If you're acquainted with the person who is doing this, you might point out to her that even though spending the necessary time to clean and fill buckets and tanks on cold winter days may be onerous, it will take much less time, effort, and money to care for her horse properly than it will to deal with the consequences of NOT caring for it properly. Yes, it's possible to get very cold whilst scrubbing and filling a horse's water tank or buckets in cold, windy weather! But once those tasks are accomplished and the horse has been visually and manually checked for condition and dehydration, the horse-owner can safely return to the house and warm up with a clear conscience. That's a much better plan than devising imaginary time- and effort-saving "shortcuts" for which the HORSE will suffer the consequences.
If you're dealing with an owner who just doesn't care much about the horse, s/he may need to be reminded that owners suffer some consequences too - they don't suffer as much as their horses, but they do suffer. Just ask any owner who has ever spent a long, worried day or night waiting for the vet and trying to manually hydrate a dehydrated, impacted horse! Trailering a horse to the vet clinic for a medical colic on its way to becoming a surgical colic is stressful at any time, but it's much more stressful to be making that drive in winter, possibly over icy roads or in a snowstorm. And, of course, vet calls and vet clinics and surgery are all expensive. For the price of one emergency vet call and a treatment and possibly some pain-relieving drugs, a horse-owner could purchase a water tank de-icer AND a bucket heater, and pay for the electicity to run both of them (around the clock!) for several months.
Right, that was the long answer with detailed explanation and orchestral accompaniment. ;-) If you're passing this along to someone else and want a shorter version, here it is:
In winter, make clean, warmed water available to the horse at all times. Also make salt available to the horse, but don't put the salt in the horse's drinking water.
If the horse's bucket freezes, use a heated bucket or dump the ice and scrub and refill the bucket with warmed water. If the water tank freezes, use a water tank de-icer, or plan to go out and break the ice for the horses several times a day.
In the summer, make clean, cool water available to the horse at all times. Also make salt available to the horse, but don't put the salt in the horse's drinking water.
In re electrolytes: IF the horse is sweating so much that it's losing more mineral salts than it can replace by consuming its normal daily ration, THEN make electrolytes available to the horse, but don't put the electrolytes in the horse's drinking water. If you want to put them in water, mix them with water in a separate bucket so that the horse will always have a choice. A horse that doesn't have a choice because all of its drinking water is laced with electrolytes may choose to drink less, or may choose not to drink at all.
Jessica
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