Electrolytes? How, When, and What?

[RoyalRain42]

I am starting to prep for the 2018 endurance season, and i am reading a bunch of stuff online. One thing that i still struggle with are electrolytes.

I read that some people make their own, others buy and mix. There are so many ideas on when and how to give them. My mare is normally one that drinks in her own time, when she wants. But normally will make the most of any water we find.

So what brands are ones to look into? She is not a picky mare, so i do not worry to much on flavor. I see many use a paste during rides? Some soak apples in a mix as a treat?

I am curious as to what tends to be the most effective “During ride” method. One that is easy to have in packs, and give to them.

[silverdog]

I am a total newbie but in general I am trying to keep it simple. I add electrolytes to my horse’s feed for 5 days pre-ride, give her a dose of electrolytes once she is settled at the ride and then another dose in the morning. I am only doing LD’s now so I would give her a dose at the midway vetting after she has rested, eaten and drank water and then another dose once she is eating and drinking after the ride. Depending how hot it is, I might give her some the next morning in her feed. I use any electrolyte without bicarb as a feed additive and Lyte Now as a paste. I would also consider making my own by mixing powder electrolyte with pepto and apple sauce. Not convenient on the trail for longer rides but not a prob generally in camp. My confusion comes when I see people making up these concoctions of e lytes and calcium. I will find out about that before my first 50.

[gothedistance]

Perform 'N Win. Excellent ratio of salt and sugar to maintain optimum balance in a working metabolism.

Mix with applesauce and put in syringe. Horse will LOVE it. Mine will try to suck the sweet, flavorful mixture out of the syringe before I can get it in their mouths.

[dog_lady]

@silverdog

I am a total newbie but in general I am trying to keep it simple. I add electrolytes to my horse’s feed for 5 days pre-ride, give her a dose of electrolytes once she is settled at the ride and then another dose in the morning. I am only doing LD’s now so I would give her a dose at the midway vetting after she has rested, eaten and drank water and then another dose once she is eating and drinking after the ride. Depending how hot it is, I might give her some the next morning in her feed. I use any electrolyte without bicarb as a feed additive and Lyte Now as a paste. I would also consider making my own by mixing powder electrolyte with pepto and apple sauce. Not convenient on the trail for longer rides but not a prob generally in camp. My confusion comes when I see people making up these concoctions of e lytes and calcium. I will find out about that before my first 50.

A horse needs 2 tablespoons of salt each day, vitamin E help prevent tie up, calcium helps prevent bleeding out /bleeders, blood hemorrhage out the nose. leave out the pepto. Dac is a nice electrolytes to use as it also contains minerals and chelated minerals.

[AshleyandAnnabel]

This will be my 3rd season in Endurance. I have a lot of friends who pre E-lyte and I did it because they did. But I am trying to understand the rationale. E-lytes are meant (both horse and human) to replace salt lost through sweat. If your horse is resting up the week before a ride I’m not logically understanding the benefit in pre-elyting. Instead, I’ve added a daily salt supplement to my mare’s grain. I will E-lyte every 2-4 hours, usually at the end of every vet check after my mare is done eating and drinking. I E-lyte according to how much she’s sweating, the humidity, temperature, elevation, and if she happens to be showing any signs of being tired. In addition to E-lytes I also add water to her daily grain to make it mashy. At vet checks, I give her a beet pulp based grain and add water. I usually use Farnam Apple E-lyte paste, or SmartLytes by Smartpak (because I can buy them in bulk). With the SmartLytes paste I generally give 1 full tube for an LD during the vet check, and for a 55 I’ll do two tubes throughout the day. But like I said, it all just depends and I use my best judgement. Ideally, I’d prefer not to shove paste down her throat unless I feel it’s necessary.

[phantomhorse]

@dog lady

calcium helps prevent bleeding out /bleeders, blood hemorrhage out the nose.

Can you link to any studies or info on this? Thank goodness I have never seen (or even heard of) horses at endurance rides having issues with pulmonary hemorrhage, so its not a use of calcium I am familiar with.

I don’t think there is a one size fits all protocol for electrolytes. We have 3 competing horses and have needed to experiment to find what worked best for each. Things like weather and pace of the ride play a factor in the protocol, too.

In general, we use perform n win before and immediately after competitions and endura max powder mixed with generic Pro CMC and then an additional mixture of No Salt and applesauce during the ride itself. We use a syringe to assure the horse gets the intended dose. The horses get dosed the night before, the morning of, every hold, and then at least once after the ride. One horse (the heaviest muscled) may get dosed mid-loop depending on the mileage of the loop, while another never gets dosed where I can’t thoroughly and repeatedly rinse his mouth as even the buffered elytes must burn his mouth and he won’t eat or drink for hours after as a result.