Electrolytes For Horses – What’s The Big Deal?

Whether you have a companion or competitive horse, electrolytes are vital to that horse’s overall health. What’s even more important is finding a supplement that gives your horse fast-absorbing electrolytes for rapid replacement so they can start recovering right away.

At Vetline Equine, we know how important it is to have electrolytes for horses. That’s why we developed our own formula — Equilytes®. It is also available as a Equilytes® Paste, depending on how you want to use our electrolytes for horses.

Our Equilytes®, along with our other horse supplements, were carefully created by equine veterinarian Dr. Larson to help both race horses and pasture horses right when they need electrolytes. Shop our horse health products today.

What are electrolytes?

Electrolytes are responsible for the balance and regulation of body fluids. Without these electrolytes, the body cannot maintain the right amount of fluid in and around cells. In essence, you can think about this in terms of cell hydration. If these cells lose too much water, they die.

This makes it extremely important to ensure that your horse has enough electrolytes in their body, especially if they are actively competing or being ridden consistently. When horses exercise, electrolytes are released through their sweat. The minerals lost can include:

• Sodium
• Chloride
• Potassium

That’s why you might notice a gritty residue left on your horse’s skin after the sweat has dried — you’re seeing the dried electrolytes. So, the more your horse workouts out, the more electrolytes they lose.

HOW DO HORSES GET ELECTROLYTES?

Horses can get electrolytes through a normal diet. But some commercial feed, or giving your horses a salt block, can reduce the number of electrolytes your horse gets.

This lack of electrolytes becomes a problem when horses start sweating. If the electrolytes they are using are not replenished through their food, they can start to experience different problems from the lack of those electrolytes, including:

• Poor performance
• Slower recovery time after workouts or races
• Muscle problems including contractions, tremors, and weakness

BEYOND SWEATING

There are other reasons your horse might need electrolytes that go beyond sweating. This happens when your horse is:

• Under unusual amounts of stress
• In a high heat, high humidity situation
• Working longer or harder than normal

When it comes to electrolytes, don’t wait! If you know your horse has been sweating, they’ve also been losing those valuable electrolytes. Give them a supplement that works quickly and replenishes those lost minerals.

What About Fast Absorption?

What makes Equilytes® from Vetline Equine unique is that our electrolytes are fast-absorbing. While other electrolytes for horses can take up to eight hours to be absorbed, our recipe starts absorbing immediately. In fact, our electrolytes are in your horse’s bloodstream within four minutes and fully absorbed within 15 minutes.

Rapid electrolyte replacement is increasingly important for race horses. If your horse is racing hard and sweating, you want to give your horse a competitive edge by replenishing their electrolytes. If you have electrolytes for horses on hand, you don’t have to:

• Wait for your race horse to recover
• Worry about their health
• Pull them out of the race

Electrolytes also prevent race horses from “tying up,” which is a form of colic that happens after extreme exertion, like racing. This is common if your race horse is taking Lasix — a drug that is used to treat bleeding lungs — because it depletes all electrolytes in your horse’s body.

Find the quickest absorbing electrolytes for horses with Vetline Equine’s Equilytes® so you can give your horse the electrolytes they need when they need them.

Vetline Equilytes®

When you use Equilytes® for your horses, you can help prevent fatigue and symptoms of muscle cramps right when your horse needs it.

At Vetline Equine, we are proud of our fast-absorbing electrolytes for horses and horse health. If you know your companion or competitive horse needs a boost of vital electrolytes, make sure you have Equilytes® or our Equilytes® Paste on hand!