Please forgive my ignorance but do vitamin mineral supplements always contain salt in the ingredients? I am referring to chelated vitamin and minerals.
Thank you in advance!
In general I understand that vitamin mineral supplements do not contain significant salt, therefore you are advised to either add white salt to the horse’s feed, or at least supply a free choice salt block.
I just looked at a random few on the Smartpack site and they had salt in them. Depends how much you want though.
My horse has a history of ulcers. I had taken them off grain and only used a vitamin mineral supplement and low sugar forge with alfalfa and a slow feeder. Horse is a super easy keeper, a lovely dapple coat but ofeten has a brief period of grumpiness not eating after meals. I just started him back on a full tube of gastrogard but am wondering if the salt in his vitamin mineral supplement could irritate his ulcers and if I should change his management possibly to a ration balancer.
these are the ingredients
Oat Hulls, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Whey, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Oxide, Yea-Sacc1026, Bioplex Zinc, Vitamin E, Biochrome, Sel-Plex, Bioplex Manganese, Lysine, Ascorbic Acid, Bioplex Copper, Flax Oil, Allzyme SSF, Choline, Biotin, Niacin, Methionine, Threonine, Pantothenic Acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine, Vitamin A, Pyridoxine, Flavour, Vitamin B12, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin D, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Meandione
He does not have poor hoof quality I only realized tonight that his supplement contains biotin.When I read the ingredients in the past I didn’t awknoledge the biotin to that fact.
Horses need salt. Daily. Especially this time of year.
Ration balancers have sodium as well. Many (most?) also contain biotin.
I just read up on salt myself receently – a horse needs 2 tablespoons a day – that amounts to a 2 lb salt block a month. If your supplements don’t contain salt, and your horse isn’t using the salt block at that rate, consider supplementation.
Have you tried the nexium protocol for ulcers? I think it is a good check, and if it seems likely, then scope.
Sodium requirements are based on weight. An 1100lb horse needs between 10gm (lazy pasture puff) and 41gm (hard work) sodium per day. Chlorine (usually the chloride part of sodium chloride) is between 40 and 93gm for that same scenario.
1tbsp sodium chloride weighs a little over 30gm.
He is actually off the supplement at the moment as I ran out and he is perfect but it could be the chia/flax powder, or gastrogard. If he reacts when I add the supplement back in I will take it out again. I am wondering if he would prefer a less concentrated feed.
OP, what makes you think it is the salt in the supplement rather than some other ingredient? Horses need a lot of salt, and they don’t get high blood pressure from salt like humans do. Also their basic food (hay, grass) tends to be low in salt. I have never heard of a horse getting ulcers from salt. Salt is said to increase the activity the H.pylori stomach bacteria in humans and contribute to ulcers. But horses don’t get ulcers from H. pylori.
1 Like
In reading this study and others
RESULTS: Administration of hypertonic electrolytes resulted in a significant increase in mean ulcer number (P = 0.0174) and severity (P = 0.0006) scores in the nonglandular stomach. Mean ulcer number score was 3.6 and mean ulcer severity score 2.7 after hypertonic electrolyte treatment.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16295925/ I think we have to be careful with too much concentrated salt. I have heard of electrolytes making ulcers worse in horses. He needed the salt but maybe not first thing in the morning, maybe after some alfafa.
[I]I think electrolytes are important but I think this has merit also
For a horse with gastric ulcers or a history of gastric ulcers, the use of ordinary electrolytes may cause appetite and thirst suppression, pain and discomfort, and lead to the worsening of existing ulcers and development of new ulcers – think of rubbing salt in a wound! For these horses feeding a fat-coated electrolyte will be particularly beneficial. The fat coating is not dissolved by the stomach acid but only by enzymes called lipases in the alkaline environment of the small intestine – the main site of electrolyte uptake[/I]
OK, interesting! it does sound like those endurance horses are dosed at much higher rates than the mere nutritional requirements. Two tablespoons of salt in a mash would not have this effect, and I doubt the amount of salt in vitamin supplement used to top dress a mash or grain would, either.
I agree that salt is very imprortant and am thinking moderation is the key. I just wondered if his supplement was too concentrated in salt would irritate existing ulcers. I haven’t even scoped him for some time I’m just overprotective.
well, I expect the entire vitamin mineral dosage you feed is less than the salt dosage alone one of the electrolyte overdoses in the experiment.
1 Like
