I am considering mixing up my own recipe of electrolytes and have seen many different things online as well as getting a recipe from a friend who has used the same one for a long time. This is just for an every day supplement so I don’t need anything super concentrated like I would use at an event.
Her recipe calls for light salt, brown sugar, baking soda, and either jello powder or gatorade powder for taste.
I am not sure about the brown sugar or baking soda…I would probably cut back the sugar a bit from her recipe and I know the baking soda has something to do with rebalancing other things lost in sweat besides salt.
Does anyone have any knowledge about this, other recipes, etc?
Thanks 
I would imagine this could be done, but I would run your “recipe” by a vet first. You would also want to consider if you are saving money and if so, enough to make preparing it yourself worth it.
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If I remember, it is one part salt, 2 parts salt light, plus some ground up tums. I think there was also some magnesium though.
My Recipe
This is the one I have been making for years. Vet School Prof helped me develop it.
26 ounces of NON-iodized salt
22 ounces of Lite Salt (potassium)
2 Tablespoons of Epsom Salt
I don’t use anything that has sugar since my horse is IR.
I feed 1 teaspoon of mixture am/pm. If really hot in summer and horse working really hard, may add a little more.
Electrolytes
horseshrink has got it!!
Been using that receipe for 20 years. Stay away from sugar and baking soda. No need to add extra sugar to a horses diet.
horseshrink
26 ounces of NON-iodized salt
22 ounces of Lite Salt (potassium)
2 Tablespoons of Epsom Salt
is this for in the water bucket or used as a top dress?
I just add it to the feed. I dump and scrub my water buckets every day, so not sure about putting it in the water.
If you make the whole batch (I sometimes only make 1/2) it makes A LOT and will last quite awhile.
I’ve been using almost the same recipe as horseshrink for years. I use iodized salt, though, and dropped the epsom salt some years back after a nutritionist gave me a hard time about feeding it.
Now, I don’t even remember why. I believe it was considered to be irritating, and tasted yucky.
But the salt and light salt has served me well – I do 1/2 teaspoon a.m. and p.m. mixed into feed. I feed it summer and winter – sometimes, if it is very cold, I might feed more in the winter to encourage drinking.
I have been using same recipe as Horseshrink for years. Got if from my vet way back when who vets for endurance races. As for using something everyday he says horses do not need it. They only need it when sweating alot. If you want to get your horse to drink more daily just at the non-iodized salt to his feed; 1/2 t per feeding. Doesn’t seem like alot but I totally see a difference in the amount of water my poor drinker intakes. In the winter I found I need to up the amount to a full t when the water is really really cold.
thanks guys I was really questioning the adding extra sugar and baking soda
I am going to use this for a top dress. The one that horseshrink said to use sounds much more reasonable to me!
Thanks so much everyone!
What I got at a seminar was close to horseshrink’s…
1 Container Iodized salt (mortons preferably)
2 Containers Light Salt (Mortons preferably)
8-10 Crushed up tums… multi flavored kinds. (I would thrown them in the coffee bean grinder then add to salt mix)
The tums were to add magnesium, as someone else mentioned. And the sugar in 8-10 tums is inconsequential given the amount of salt.
I use this and it works amazingly well.
Not sure about feeding epsom salt. Never done it.
~Emily
Hi
Can someone please help ?
I have an Arabian stallion, he is 5 years and 6 months old.
About 2 weeks ago he got tick fever and we gave him medicine but the tick fever medicine causes colic, he got colic but not very bad , lasted about a half an hour, he did have very bad diaree but within an half an hour he was fine again.
i rested him for about a week and then started to ride hm again very lightly
He didnt used to sweat a lot , he is an endurance horse and he had good pulse.
Now everytime i ride he sweats like a ton of sweat, he is wet all over, the sweat is clear though
Also when im done riding his bresthing is like sky high and it never was like that
His heart rate recovered fast and now it takes long for him to recover
But he also didnt sweat when we went to ride and no he sweats excessively like the sweat drips off him
Does anyone know as to why this is happeing ?
Excessive sweating and difficulty recovering after normal exercise is definitely reason for concern. I would call your vet. What was the treatment protocol for treating the tick fever? Did you complete the treatment protocol? Has any bloodwork been done?
Moving this into a new thread may generate more responses.
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