08/10/2022
My colleague Samantha McCormack has pointed out some very important facts about mineral and salt supplementation this time of year!!!
Thanks Sam for the timely reminder 🐴🐴🐴🐴
I can't stress enough the need to supplement minerals at this time of year. When the grass enters high growth it is VERY HIGH in potassium which depletes sodium and throws electrolytes out of balance. This is what causes a lot of the spooky agitated "grass affected" behaviour in spring. If there is one supplement that is a priority it is salt, not a salt block, it needs to go in the feed. A client's horse recently presented with staggers type symptoms. Blood work came back normal except for "very high" potassium. Once put on a hay only diet and supplemented with magnesium and salt the symptoms went away. I've been trimming a few horses and ponies at another property who are always a bit agitated/uncomfortable being trimmed. Since my last visit the horses have been supplemented with salt and Carol Laytons mineral. They are still on pasture but fed hay as well to keep up their fibre intake. Horses evolved to eat a high fibre diet but spring grass is very low in fibre so hay needs to be fed even if there is plenty of grass. The agitated/uncomfortable behaviour these horses exhibited previously had completely gone. Our pastures are not balanced for horses. Look into a good balancer such as Balanced Equine, Missys Bucket or Inside Out Equine Health which are the only ones with adequate copper and zinc to balance the high iron in our pasture and hay and go invest in a big bag of salt which costs about $10 for a 20kg bag. Before and after photo of horse once supplemented with Carol Laytons minerals.
