We use our horses and they sweat almost each time. So I give them loose salt, one Tablespoon daily in their grain mix. They also have access to salt blocks, but I don’t think they get enough salt daily, licking hard white salt. I do think the small salt addition to grain helps them have enough salt, gets them drinking more water in staying hydrated.
Our heat index is not nearly what you have now, but the humidity can get kind of intense for working horses in. So keeping ours hydrated is my biggest concern.
I KNOW the horses are each getting enough salt with the daily addition. I no longer believe that horses “will lick enough salt to keep body supplied” as is reported by so many “experts”. Mine still lick the blocks with added salt in grain, so not overdosing them. At times they actually seem to crave salt, will consume a 4# block in short order, need another. And not all of them want to eat their blocks at the same time! I raise the daily serving in winter to 2 Tablespoons to keep them drinking well and MAKES a difference in visible daily consumption. Helps them avoid colic.
I have heard that giving Electrolytes daily over longer times, makes them ineffective in helping the horse. So Competitors needed to time giving Electrolytes with the activity if they wanted to use it. This is older information, I have not read up on more recent information using Electrolytes. I don’t use them myself, so no first hand knowledge. Not really recommended in particular, in what I have seen for conditioning horses to go long and hard over distances. We do conditioning, have to get the horses VERY FIT for their distance work in our humid area on hot days. We want them to be able to self-cool, with building their breathing and a developed circulatory system removing heat, since no one can be pouring water over them every time they get warm or hot.
Your horse situation is different than ours, but I think adding salt to your horse’s grain daily, might be more helpful than Electrolytes given sporadically will. She may start drinking even more, always helpful to a horse.
Our horses are larger, 1400-1500 pounds, given a heaping Tablespoon. You could go with a level Tablespoon if your horse is smaller. I use that quantity for the 2yr old, he is only about 900 pounds.
Husband went to Texas to look at a horse in mid-summer heat and sun. ALL the horses in the pens were coated with dry salt just standing around. They had not been worked, but the high temps there cause horses to sweat hard to try cooling themselves each day. Those horses definitely needed extra daily salt to keep healthy.
Does your mare have dry salty, sweat patches on her in these kind of days? She may need the extra salt to keep enough salt in her body, help her drink better. At least she has a tree, whatever breezes that happen blow over her to aid cooling. Is her mane short, exposing more skin for body cooling? That can help a bit too.
Good luck with the heat and your girl.
