Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Salt block question

From: Monica

Dear Jessica, HORSE-SENSE is the greatest! When are you going to put all of this great information in a book so that we can read it when we're offline? I'd buy it in a heartbeat and I'd buy copies for all my friends, and I'll bet that all your other subscribers feel the same way. If you haven't thought about doing that, please start thinking about it!!!!

I'm having a salt block problem. Have you ever heard of "salt toxicity"? I just realized that my mare wasn't getting any salt at my boarding barn (I moved a month ago, and at the last place, they provided salt blocks, so I kind of assumed that all barns did), so I bought her a two-pound block and put it in her feedbox. Well, she just ATE THE WHOLE THING. I thought maybe somebody took it or something, so I bought her another one, and she ate it too. I thought that horses are just supposed to eat like an ounce or something a day. The barn manager says too much salt will kill horses from "salt toxicity". What should I do? It's true that she's drinking a lot more. Is that bad?

Monica (a major HORSE-SENSE fan!)

Hi Monica! Thanks, and yes, I've thought about doing a book or two of HORSE-SENSE questions and answers. It'll have to wait -- I've got four books in the pipeline right now, which is about all I can handle. But I'll get around to it eventually. ;-)

Don't worry about your mare -- she's reacting like a perfectly normal horse that just hasn't had a salt block in a while. Horses need full-time access to water and salt, and a horse that is salt-deprived is going to be very preoccupied with eating salt when it finally gets some. She'll calm down after a while, and as long as she's drinking enough, she won't suffer any ill effects (YOU, however, will be cleaning a VERY wet stall for a week or two).

Why not just buy her one of the big 50-pound blocks and let her take it down at her own speed? If she has constant access to salt, she won't eat it in two-pound chunks. ;-)

Jessica

Materials from Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE, The Newsletter of Holistic Horsemanship® may be distributed and copied for personal, non-commercial use provided that all authorship and copyright information, including this notice, is retained. Materials may not be republished in any form without express permission of the author.

Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org

Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.