The Importance of Salt for Horses

While most horses require around two teaspoons of salt per day, your horse’s individual need for salt will often fluctuate, depending on factors such as diet, level of activity and time of year.

Your horse has a remarkable ability to seek out and regulate their salt intake — and our Himalayan Horse Salt Licks enable your horse to easily consume additional salt in their paddock or stall.

One of the most important minerals in your horse’s diet, salt is essential for hydration and countless functions within the body, including:

• Healthy weight
• Hormone balance
• Transmission of glucose
• Blood sugar regulation
• Hoof and coat health
• Body pH balance
• Optimum nerve and musculoskeletal function

While feed and forage contain varying amounts of salt, diet alone is usually insufficient to meet a horse’s daily requirement.

Most horse feeds contain only 0.5-1.0% salt and pasture soils throughout Australia are often low in sodium — providing horses with only half the recommended daily intake.

Supplementation with our range of Horse Salt Licks provides your horse with unlimited access to mineral-rich salt in a convenient, unbreakable block.

The Risk of Salt Deficiency in Horses

Without salt, your horse is at increased risk of dehydration, impaction and colic.

The potential for these problems rises as sodium and chloride are lost through sweat. However, in times of extreme heat, even horses standing idle in the paddock can become salt deficient.

Salt deficiency is often characterised by undesirable behaviours, such as licking or chewing objects that contain traces of salt — an abnormal appetite known as pica.

In cases of severe salt deficiency, the consequences can be dramatic, leading to:

• Incoordination
• Unsteady gait
• Difficulty chewing