Feed Your Steed

13/02/2026

🌿 Vitamin A in WA Horses & Ponies

☀️ WA reality check: A lot of our WA hay is cut around November. In hot, bright WA curing conditions, beta-carotene starts breaking down immediately after cutting. By the time we are 1-2 months into hay storage, most hays contribute very little meaningful vitamin A activity. Therefore, if your horse has no green pick or access to quality fresh pasture, vitamin A becomes something we need to actively account for. 🌿➡️🥕➡️🧡 (NRC, 2007; Harris et al., 2017)

Why WA is different and how to meet modern needs safely
Vitamin A supports vision (night sight) 🌙, immunity 🛡️, skin/airway lining 🫁, growth 📈 and reproduction 🐴.
In horses with regular access to green pasture, deficiency is uncommon, but a lot of Western Australia paddocks are not “regular green pasture” for much of the year. 🌞🌾

🥕 Where horses normally get vitamin A
Horses don’t eat vitamin A from plants directly. They eat beta-carotene from green pasture and convert it to vitamin A as required. Horses can store vitamin A in the liver for a while. (NRC, 2007; KER, 2019)
✅ Pasture beta-carotene is “self-limiting”: horses regulate conversion, so pasture doesn’t cause vitamin A toxicity. (NRC, 2007; KER, 2019)

🇦🇺 Why vitamin A is a WA issue
In many WA systems, horses have little to no green pick for 7–9 months, especially:
• EMS/IR/metabolic ponies 🧁 (managed off pasture)
• dry lot/track systems 🏜️
• performance horses on controlled diets 🏇

🌾 Hay ≠ pasture for vitamin A (especially in WA)
WA haymaking conditions are great for clean hay, but brutal for beta-carotene:
☀️ heat + 🧪 oxygen + 🌈 UV + ⚡ rapid curing = fast beta-carotene breakdown
Research shows up to ~80% beta-carotene loss can occur in the first 1–2 days after cutting, with continued losses during storage. By the time hay is a couple of months old, it may look green but contribute very little meaningful beta-carotene. 🌾 This is normal hay chemistry & not a quality issue & definitely not your hay supplier doing anything wrong. (NRC, 2007; Cheeke, 2005; Reid et al., 1970; Harris et al., 2017)

⏳ “Yeah, but the horse stores vitamin A, right?”
Yes, but not forever. Liver stores may cover roughly 1–2 months if intake is low/absent (varies a lot by individual & starting status). Horses which can go through stores faster include:
• young/growing horses 🐣
• pregnant/lactating mares 🤰
• performance horses 🏇
• long-term pasture-restricted metabolic horses 🧁
(NRC, 2007; KER, 2019; Lewis, 1995; Duren & Baker, 2012)

🎯 Minimum vs “modern optimal” intakes
Older advice focused on preventing obvious deficiencies. Modern guidance aims for better immune, growth, reproduction and performance support. (NRC, 2007:KER 2019)

Typical guideline ranges used clinically/industry:
• Maintenance: ~30–60 IU/kg BWt/day
• Growth / breeding / performance: ~80–120 IU/kg BWt/day

A 500 kg horse lands around:
• 15,000–30,000 IU/day (maintenance)
• 40,000–60,000 IU/day (higher demand)
(NRC, 2007; KER, 2019; Pagan & Harris, 1999)

⚠️ Toxicity: what actually matters
Vitamin A toxicity is linked to chronic excess preformed vitamin A, not beta-carotene. NRC’s upper guidance is expressed per kg dry matter intake; for a ~500 kg horse eating ~10 kg DM/day, that’s roughly ~160,000–200,000 IU/day, meaning there’s usually a big safety buffer when you’re targeting modern requirements sensibly. (NRC, 2007; McDowell, 2000)

🥕 The “two carrots a day” myth
Two carrots may provide roughly 3,000–5,000 IU vitamin A equivalents, helpful, safe, but often

11/02/2026

🌾 WA Hay Season Wrap-Up 2025–2026

What this year’s hay tests are telling us (and what it means for your horse)

This season’s results across WA aren’t mysterious or “odd” — they’re exactly what we’d expect from the weather we had.

A cooler, wetter, longer spring 🌧️
followed by warm, dry curing conditions ☀️🌬️

= classic plant maturity + dehydration effects.

In other words…
just plant biology doing plant biology things. 🌱🔬

Here’s what we’re seeing consistently across samples:

🌿 Higher fibre (NDF/ADF)

Later cutting meant more mature plants:

-thicker stems
-more lignin
-fewer leaves

So naturally:
⬆️ fibre
⬇️ digestibility
⬇️ energy density

Great for:
✔️ good-doers
✔️ easy keepers
✔️ metabolic horses

Less ideal for:
❌ seniors
❌ performance horses
❌ poor dentition

Think:
👉 NDF = how much they can eat
👉 ADF = how much energy they get from it

🌾 Variable crude protein (totally normal)

Protein reflects leaf content + cutting stage, not “quality” alone.

Typical WA ranges this season:

🌿 Meadow hay → 6–9% CP
🌾 Cereal hay → 6–10% CP
🌱 Lucerne → 18–24% CP

All perfectly normal.

If hay drops below approx. 4-5% CP, it’s essentially a straw-like bulk fibre. Useful for chew time but low in nutrition, need to add protein/mineral support.

☀️ Higher Dry Matter (DM) — a big WA feature this year

This one showed up a lot.

Many bales were very dry and thoroughly cured this season.

Why?

Delayed cutting + warm temps + low humidity + good airflow
= hay acting like a giant solar dehydrator ☀️🌬️

Typical hay:
~85–88% DM

This season, many samples:
👉 90–93%+ DM

Higher DM doesn’t mean higher nutrition — it simply means less water in the bale.

But here’s the nerdy catch 🧪

Very dry hay can:

-concentrate lab values
-amplify tiny dust/soil contamination
-make ash, iron, or manganese look higher

DM helps explain some of the mineral “spikes” we occasionally see.

It’s physics, not a paddock problem.

🧂 Minerals — why some look lower (or occasionally higher)

Later maturity + more stem:
→ nutrients diluted across more fibre

WA sandy soils:
→ naturally lower background minerals

So many hays:
⬇️ slightly lower mineral density

Totally normal.

Balance with:
✔️ major minerals
✔️ trace elements
✔️ vitamins
✔️ salt
✔️Amino Acids (Lysine, Methionine).

Rather than expecting hay to supply everything.

🍌 Potassium (K) worth noting for EMS horses

Some hay tested higher in potassium this year.

High K can:

-reduce magnesium absorption
-affect electrolyte balance

So for EMS/IR horses:
👉 ensure adequate magnesium + salt + mineral balancing

Again — not “bad hay,” just something to balance.

🌾 Straw — helpful tool, not a free lunch

Straw can be great for lowering calories, but two important cautions:

⚠️ 1. Not automatically low sugar

Straw can still contain residual sugars/starch.
Always test — especially for EMS/IR horses.

⚠️ 2. Don’t overfeed

Too much straw:
⬇️ reduces intake
⬇️ lowers nutrition
⬆️ increases impaction risk

👉 Limit to ~25–30% of total daily forage

Think dilution fibre, not main forage.

🧠 Big WA Hay Takeaway

Don’t judge hay by:
❌ colour
❌ “low sugar” claims
❌ one number

Instead, look at the whole hay analysis:

✔️ Dry Matter%
✔️ Feed value/energy DE MJ or DE MCal/kg
✔️ NSC (sugar + starch) %
✔️ Crude protein + Lysine %
✔️ NDF/ADF%
✔️ Ash%
✔️ Minerals/trace elements & ratios

Then:

🧪 Test your hay and balance with major minerals, trace elements, vitamins, amino acids & salt accordingly.

Because your horse & ponies' forage is the foundation.
Everything else just fine-tunes their engine. 🐴💚

09/02/2026

🌾 Curulli Meadow Hay — Full Results & Explanation for Elevated Iron

The full laboratory analysis for Curulli Meadow Hay has now been posted, along with the updated hay results for WA horse owners.

We delayed publication slightly while we retested one subsample that showed a higher iron (Fe) value than expected.
The repeat test returned a lower result consistent with the other subsamples, confirming the hay itself is not genuinely high in iron. ✅

So what likely happened?

🔍 Most probable causes

• Surface soil or dust contamination on the forage or hay probe during sampling
• Particulate contamination introduced during handling or shipping (including extra overseas handling)
• Very high dry matter (DM 91.5%), which concentrates nutrients and amplifies the effect of even tiny amounts of dust or soil

Here’s the quirky bit of plant science:
A speck of soil can contain hundreds of times more iron than plant tissue, so even a small amount can dramatically skew one subsample’s mineral reading.

In dry WA harvest conditions, this is surprisingly common.

🌬️ Contributing factors

• Low cutting height
• Dry paddocks
• Dusty baling conditions
• Probe contact with soil
• Extra handling or freight movement

All of these can raise ash, iron, and manganese values artificially.

🧪 Our testing approach

This is exactly why we:
✔️ Take multiple subsamples
✔️ Compare patterns across results
✔️ Question outliers
✔️ Re-test anything that doesn’t make biological sense

Because numbers should match the plant, not the paddock dirt.

✅ Bottom line

Curulli Meadow Hay remains consistent and suitable for horses.
The elevated iron reading was a sampling artefact, not a true forage issue.

References (APA 7th)
Ward Laboratories, Inc. (2025). Is soil contamination an issue in your hay? Ward Laboratories Blog.
DAIRY. (n.d.). Minimising soil contamination in forages. DAIRY guidance.
AHDB. (n.d.). Understanding forage analysis. AHDB.
Deepak, D. (2015). Causes of contamination of laboratory samples and their prevention.

27/01/2026

🌾 Curulli Meadow Hay Season Results 2025–2026

This year’s Curulli Meadow Hay is looking fantastic. The long, late season has produced clean, soft‑stemmed, highly palatable hay with solid protein levels, useful lysine, and stable dry‑matter values across all farms.

All key nutritional markers have tested safely, and Curulli Meadow Hay continues to reflect Phil and Paul’s commitment to producing consistent, horse‑friendly forage under WA’s challenging and variable growing conditions.

We’re still waiting on an Equi‑Analytical retest, and the raw data will be shared as soon as it arrives. This won’t change the sugars, starch, protein, or fibre values already listed — those results remain accurate and representative of the 2025–2026 tested batches.

If you’d like help interpreting your horse’s hay results or adjusting their ration, feel free to reach out.

12/01/2026

Limerick Hay Results for the 2025-2026 season are now available.
Please follow the link

Limerick Farms deliver high quality, cost effective meadow hay direct from our farms to your door.

21/11/2025

🌾 NIR vs Wet Chemistry — Why WA Hay MUST Be Tested Properly
(And Why Some Reports Can’t Be Taken at Face Value)

🎯 WA horse owners — if you’re relying on NIR hay reports, you may be making feeding decisions on numbers that aren’t real. WA hay is unique, and because it’s not in national calibration libraries, NIR often produces misleading results.

I’ve had a few of our WA hay producers ask why I send so many of our hay samples over to the USA for testing, and I completely understand the question. From the outside, it can look unusual, or like we’re being awkward or making things harder than they need to be.

The truth is much simpler. We use overseas labs because they give us the most accurate numbers for the unique chemistry of WA hay — especially for sugars, starch, and minerals. Our goal is never to complicate anything; it’s to protect horses, give producers honest data, and make sure the results we’re using are scientifically reliable. There are very real reasons why we choose these labs, and why it matters for equine health in WA.

☕ Settle in with a cuppa or a tipple of whatever takes your fancy. This Facebook post is for every WA horse owner, hay producer, and equine professional.

🔍 The Two Testing Pathways
🔬 Wet Chemistry (WC)
• Chemical digestion + combustion + enzymatic assays for sugars
• Proper mineral testing via ICP-OES or ICP-MS
• ⏳ Slower & pricier
• ✅ Globally the gold standard (Williams & Norris, 2001)

🌈 NIR (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy)
• ⚡ Quick, cheap, repeatable
• ❌ Does not measure nutrients — it predicts them using calibration libraries (Saha & Lumburg, 2016)

⭐ Why WA Breaks NIR
Most commercial NIR systems were built using east-coast forages such as ryegrass, lucerne, clover, vetch and east-coast oaten hay (Jeong et al., 2024).

WA forage grows under completely different conditions:
• 🟤 Iron-rich sands
• 🥉 Low copper & zinc soils
• ☀️ Hot, dry Mediterranean climate
• 🌾 Different cereal cultivars
• ⏱️ Rapid curing due to dry air + strong sun, which increases:
– bleaching (UV)
– leaf shatter (legumes & soft oaten cultivars)
– loss of soluble carbohydrates
– higher fibre from leaf loss
• 🌱 Variable ryegrass presence depending on paddock history

➡️ The spectral fingerprints don’t match.
NIR begins guessing outside its experience — and accuracy collapses.

📊 Calibration Reality
A valid NIR model requires:
• 800–1,000+ wet-chemistry samples per forage type (Saha & Lumburg, 2016)
• 200+ new wet-chem samples per year to stay accurate (AFGC, 2019)

❌ No Australian NIR system has this for WA hay.
➡️ NIR numbers drift — badly.

⚠️ Typical WA NIR Distortions
• 💪 Crude Protein → +15–20% too high
• 🍬 WSC + Starch → 20–30% too low
• 🌾 Fibre → underestimated
• 🧪 Minerals → not measurable
👉 This is why hay that “looks laminitis-safe” on NIR can still spike insulin.

❌ Why NIR Cannot Measure Minerals
NIR only detects vibrations of organic molecules — chemical bonds like
C–H, O–H, N–H.

What does “C–H, O–H, N–H” even mean?
These are the tiny chemical bonds inside plants that NIR can detect:
• C–H → found in carbohydrates, fats, fibre
• O–H → found in water, sugars, cellulose
• N–H → found in amino acids & proteins

When NIR light hits these bonds, they vibrate.
That vibration is what the machine “reads.”

But here’s the important part:
Minerals don’t have ANY of these bonds.
No C–H, O–H, or N–H bonds =
❌ no vibration
❌ no absorbance
❌ nothing for NIR to detect

Minerals like sodium, iron, zinc, copper iodine, selenium & cobalt are inorganic (Williams & Norris, 2001; Meyer & Coenen, 2014).
They cannot be measured by NIR under any circumstances.

👉 Only ICP-OES or ICP-MS can measure minerals accurately.
🧪 ICP Explained — Plain English

ICP-OES
The sample is vaporised in a plasma flame (~10,000°C).
Each mineral glows with its own colour.
The machine reads the colour spectrum → mineral levels.

ICP-MS
Same plasma, but the machine weighs each mineral ion individually.
Ultra-sensitive — parts per billion.

If your minerals were tested with ICP → they’re real.
If they came from NIR → they’re predictions, and for WA usually wrong.

🟡 The Elephant in the Room — Marketing Bias
Many WA hay producers avoid sending hay to USA wet-chemistry labs because those results often show:

• 📈 Higher NSC %
• 📉 Lower crude protein%
…which is the true chemistry of WA hay, but not ideal for marketing.
So some hay buyers are shown NIR results because they look “prettier.”

⚠️ The Cut-and-Paste Problem

• Over the years we’ve seen:
• 📑 Copied hay & ARGT reports
• ✏️ Numbers altered
• 🔤 Fonts altered in results
• 📄 Word docs pretending to be lab reports
• 🏷️ Samples rebranded
• ❌ Missing lab headers / sample codes

➡️ Always demand the ORIGINAL PDF, showing:
✔ Laboratory name
✔ Sample code
✔ Method (NIR vs WC vs ICP)
✔ Full carbohydrate panel (ESC, WSC, starch)

If any of that is missing — it’s not reliable.
This is why I now watermark all hay results being posted on social media or that are sent out to customers.

🐄 Ruminant vs Equine Reports
Many hay tests are designed for cattle/sheep, not horses.
Some Equine-unsafe reports may:
• ❌ Omit starch
• ❌ Omit WSC
• ❌ Omit ESC
• ❌ Use ME instead of DE

👉 Horse nutrition requires DE, starch, WSC and ESC — non-negotiable for EMS/IR horses.

🧪 Our Own Comparison
We sent the same bale:
• 📦 To an east-coast lab
• 🌍 To a USA wet-chemistry lab

Results? Wildly different.
👉 NIR smoothed out the sugars
👉 Wet Chemistry showed the truth

✅ WA Truth in One Line
🌈 NIR = screening only 🔬 Wet Chemistry = truth 🧪 ICP = the only way to get real mineral values 🐴 Horse reports must include starch, WSC, ESC, and DE — not ruminant figures.

📌 Summary
WA hay is chemically and environmentally unique. Because calibration libraries don’t include WA forage, NIR consistently produces inaccurate — and sometimes dangerously misleading — results.

For safe equine feeding decisions:
• Use Wet Chemistry for sugars and NSC (WSC, ESC, starch).
• Use ICP OES / ICP MS for minerals.
• Treat NIR as screening only, never decision making.
• Ensure reports are equine specific — not ruminant reports missing starch, WSC, ESC, or using ME.

WA hay is fantastic — but unique. When we use the right testing methods, we protect our horses, support honest hay producers, and keep the whole WA horse community better informed. Horses first, always.





📚 References (APA 7th Style )

American Forage and Grassland Council. (2019). Forage analysis by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) vs. wet chemistry: Proceedings of the AFGC annual meeting. AFGC Press.

Forage & Feed Testing Consortium. (2013). Accurate analysis: NIRS versus wet chemistry. Rock River Laboratory.

Harris, P. A., Ellis, A. D., Fradinho, M. J., Jansson, A., Julliand, V., Luthersson, N., Santos, A. S., & Vervuert, I. (2018). Review of the equine digestive system and associated nutritional implications. Animal, 12(8), 1727–1740.

Jeong, E. C., Lindquist, A., & Kallenbach, R. L. (2024). Application of near-infrared spectroscopy for hay evaluation at the farm level. Animals, 14(7), 122848.

Kellon, E. M. (2020). The importance of accurate forage testing for horses with insulin resistance and laminitis. ECIR Group Technical Bulletin.

Meyer, H., & Coenen, M. (2014). Forage analysis and calibration challenges in arid regions. Equine Veterinary Nutrition Review, 9(3), 44–51.

Saha, U. K., & Lumburg, R. K. (2016). Development and validation of NIRS calibration models for forage quality analysis. Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, 24(5), 421–430.

Williams, P. C., & Norris, K. H. (2001). Near-infrared technology in the agricultural and food industries (2nd ed.). American Association of Cereal Chemists.

12/11/2025

🧲 Feed Smart, Not Fast — Why Small Hard Feeds Matter (Even on Low-Starch Diets)

Even low-starch feeds can trigger insulin spikes if they’re fed in one big hard feed. Here’s why smaller, more frequent hard feeds keep your horse’s gut — and metabolism — calmer 👇

🐴 Horses are trickle feeders by design
Their stomach produces acid constantly — even when empty. They’re built to graze, not gorge.

🧪 Small intestine: can only handle limited starch and sugar before overflow to the hindgut.
🌱 Hindgut microbes: need a steady fibre flow to stay balanced and prevent acidity.

🍽️ Large hard feeds = insulin spikes
📈 Larger hard feeds mean faster glucose absorption → sharper insulin curves.
Even low-starch feeds can overload the system if fed in one bolus.

🌾 Fibre first, starch last
🐎 Continuous forage = slow-release energy (VFAs)
⚖️ Stable gut hormones (GLP-1, GIP) = calmer metabolism
🧬 More small hard feeds = healthier hindgut pH + reduced endotoxin leakage

📏 Practical guide for easy keepers / EMS horses
✅ ≤ 0.1 g starch per kg body weight per meal (≈ 50 g starch max for a 500 kg horse)
✅ ≤ 1 kg concentrate per 100 kg BW (dry matter basis) — less is better
✅ Base feeds on forage, beet pulp, soy or lupin hulls, and low-NSC balancers
🕑 Split into 2–3 small hard feeds/day + ad-lib forage (1.5-2% BWT. intake per day)

📚 Science behind the feed bin
Bamford, N. J., Potter, S. J., Harris, P. A., & Bailey, S. R. (2015). Effect of increased meal frequency on plasma glucose and insulin responses to concentrate feeding in Thoroughbred horses. Journal of Animal Science, 93(3), 1504–1510.
Borer, K. E., Bailey, S. R., Harris, P. A., & Menzies-Gow, N. J. (2012). Insulin and glucose responses to meal frequency in horses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 44(S43), 130–134.
de Laat, M. A., & McGowan, C. M. (2016). Insights into the pathophysiology of hyperinsulinemia-associated laminitis in horses. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 30(3), 831–838.

07/11/2025

🌾 You’d think WA’s dry summer would be kind to older horses.
But when the lush, moist grass disappears and hay takes its place, seniors face the hardest digestive shift of the year — tougher fibre, less water, and more work for ageing, worn molars.

🦷 Transitioning from Pasture to Hay Season for the Senior or Dentally-Compromised Horse

Fibre isn’t just “roughage” — it’s the engine, buffer, and ballast of your horse’s hindgut.
When fibre intake drops — whether from poor teeth, limited hay, or restrictive slow-feed nets — the entire system begins to unravel within hours (Harris et al., 2017; Julliand & de Fombelle, 2016).

1️⃣ Why Seasonal Change Matters
As WA pastures dry off in late spring, horses shift from fresh, moist C3 and C4 grasses to hay or conserved forage.
For horses with normal dentition, this mainly alters water and sugar content; for senior horses or those with Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis (EORTH) or worn molars, it can mean the difference between maintaining weight and rapid condition loss (Collins et al., 2018).

🌱 Fresh pasture = 70–80 % water, soft fibre, easy to shear.
🌾 Hay = < 15 % water, lignified fibre that takes effort to chew and lessens salivary buffering.

When chewing efficiency drops, so does fibre fermentation — leading to lower volatile-fatty-acid (VFA) energy, higher hindgut acidity, and reduced hydration (Julliand & de Fombelle, 2016).

💧 Hydration & Fibre Moisture
Fresh pasture provides 20–30 L of internal water daily to a 500 kg horse (Geor & Harris, 2020).
Switching to hay removes this silent hydration source — meaning older horses must drink more just as the weather dries out.

Encourage water intake with multiple buckets, soaked hay or fibre cubes, and adding salt or isotonic electrolytes (Sykes et al., 2014).

🪶 Practical Tips for Seniors in WA’s Hay Season
• Offer soaked hay or fibre cubes/pellets for easy chewing.
• Feed smaller, wetter feeds more often.
• Keep fibre available at all times to maintain hindgut motility.
• Ensure vitamin A and E supplementation, since hay loses these fat-soluble vitamins quickly after cutting.
• Regular dental checks — even minor uneven wear compounds fibre inefficiency.



📘 References available in the first comment below.

05/11/2025

🐎 Let’s talk about how WA’s crazy spring weather quietly affects hydration, forage moisture, and electrolyte balance.

💧 When WA Weather Can’t Make Up Its Mind
Hydration, Pasture Moisture & Electrolyte Balance for Horses

🌦️ Western Australia’s late-spring weather swings from warm winds to cool nights and patchy rain. Grasses aren’t quite dry, but they’re slowing down — and that subtle shift can quietly tip horses toward dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and digestive unrest.

🌾 Pasture Moisture: Hidden Water Loss
Fresh pasture = 70–80 % water, supplying 20–30 L/day to a 500 kg horse (Geor & Harris, 2020).

As the season dries, the moisture content is 30–50%. Hay only 10–15 % (Walthall & McKenzie, 1976; NRC, 2007).

💡 When that water disappears from forage, horses must drink it instead — but most don’t.

🩸 Less moisture = thicker digesta, slower gut movement, higher impaction-colic risk (White, 2021). Horses can quietly lose 5–10 L before you see signs.

🧠 How Horses “Decide” to Drink
Thirst relies on blood osmolality (saltiness of plasma) + blood volume (Sosa-León et al., 2019).

Cool nights blunt both signals → horses may not feel thirsty even as body water drops.

🧂 Plain salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) keeps thirst switched on (Meyer et al., 2013).
👉 450kg–500 kg horse at rest: 25–30 g/day.
👉 Warm/windy weather: 40–60 g/day, split between feeds.

🐴 The Hindgut: Nature’s Water Tank
Large intestine = over 60 L fluid reservoir (Frape, 2010).

Less water intake → smaller reservoir → slower fermentation → less energy + higher hindgut acidosis risk (Dougal et al., 2014).

🪣 Soaked hay, lupin fibre cubes, and beet pulp = safe ways to restore moisture (Longland et al., 2011).

⚡ Electrolytes: The Horse’s Electrical Grid
Electrolytes are charged minerals that keep the body’s “wiring” running:

🔹 Sodium (Na⁺)
🔹 Chloride (Cl⁻)
🔹 Potassium (K⁺)
🔹 Calcium (Ca²⁺)
🔹 Magnesium (Mg²⁺)

They power nerves, muscles, and pH balance (Meyer et al., 2013; NRC, 2007).

🌿 WA pastures/hays = high potassium (K), low sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) (DAFWA, 2023; Geor & Harris, 2020).
👉 Horses can’t balance sodium:potassium from forage alone. Grains don’t help (Frape, 2010).

💦 Sweat: Salt Leaving the Building
Moderate work @ 25–30 °C = 5–10 L sweat/hour (Geor & Harris, 2020).

Each litre ≈
🔹 3.5–4 g sodium (Na)
🔹 6–7 g chloride (Cl)
🔹 1.5–2 g potassium (K)
🔹 traces of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) (McCutcheon & Geor, 2008; Sosa-León et al., 2019).

➡️ 10 L sweat = 40 g sodium + 70 g chloride lost.

👉 Rule of thumb: ≈ 60 g salt (NaCl) per feed (~120 g/day total) for working horses.
⚖️ Split doses over feeds = better absorption, less gut upset.

🧂 When to Use Electrolytes (Not Just Salt)
Salt = sodium (Na) + chloride (Cl) only. Sweating also drains potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and calcium (Ca).

Ideal electrolyte mix:
🔹 Sodium + chloride ≈ 60 %
🔹 Potassium ≈ 20 %
🔹 Magnesium ≈ 2–5 %
🔹 Calcium ≈ 1–3 %
🔹 Sugar < 15 % (carrier only)

🚫 Avoid sugar-heavy mixes — they can slow rehydration (Geor & Harris, 2020).

🚱 Golden Rules of Rehydration

🪣 Always offer two buckets when using electrolytes:
🔹 one with plain fresh water, and
🔹 one with electrolyte water.

Some horses prefer plain; others like the salty mix first. Offering both lets them self-regulate and prevents over-concentrating the gut (McCutcheon & Geor, 2008).

💧 For fussy drinkers, let them sip the salty bucket first — it triggers thirst — then provide plain water right beside it to encourage ongoing drinking.

🚫 Never offer only electrolyte water.
If the horse is already dehydrated, concentrated salts draw water out of the hindgut and bloodstream into the intestine, worsening dehydration (Sosa-León et al., 2019; White, 2021).

Start rehydration with plain water + soaked fibre (lupin fibre cubes, beet pulp, hay cubes, wet chaff). Once drinking resumes, reintroduce electrolytes to maintain balance.

☀️ Shade troughs — black troughs in WA sun can hit 30 °C (DAFWA, 2023).
🔍 Watch early signs: dry gums, reduced manure moisture, skin tent > 2 s.

🧩 Behaviour & Metabolic Ripple Effects
Even mild dehydration (2–3 %) = ↑ cortisol, ↑ heart rate, ↓ and work tolerance by 10–15 % (McCutcheon & Geor, 2008).

Cranky or “off” horses may just be dehydrated, not difficult.

🌾 WA Twist
Sandy soils drain fast; low humidity = higher water loss.

Drying grasses = ↑ potassium (K), ↓ sodium (Na) → worsens Na: K imbalance (Jacobs et al., 2020).
✅ Daily salt + balanced electrolytes = simple antidote.

💧 Hydration & Electrolytes for EMS / IR Horses

When WA weather swings hot–cool and pastures dry off, hidden dehydration creeps in.
As grass moisture drops from 70–80 % to under 20 %, horses can quietly lose 15–30 L of daily water (Geor & Harris, 2020).

🥤 Tempt the picky drinkers
For EMS / IR horses, skip sugary mixes. Instead, add a trace of no-sugar raspberry cordial (e.g. Bickford’s No Sugar with Stevia). Just enough flavour boosts drinking without spiking insulin (Elzinga et al., 2017; Harris et al., 2017).

⚗️ DIY isotonic electrolyte — light-sweat days
Mix ≈ 9 g plain salt / L water (0.9 % saline) to match body fluids.
Add 1 g KCl (LoSalt) + 0.5 g MgSO₄ per L for a balanced 90 % sodium blend (Sykes et al., 2014).

🚰 Always offer choice
Provide:
✅ One bucket with the electrolyte or flavoured water.
✅ One plain bucket.
Never give only electrolyte water to a dehydrated horse — it can draw more fluid from the hindgut (Geor & Harris, 2020).

⚠️ For EMS / IR horses
Sweeteners are for taste, not sugar loading. Hydration first, glucose last.

🧮 🔑 Feed-Room Recap
🧂 Add loose salt (NaCl) daily (25g–60 g).
💧 Provide shaded, fresh water always.
🥣 Split salt across feeds.
🍃 Soak hay or fibre cubes.
⚡ Use low-sugar electrolytes for sweating horses.
🚫 Never replace water with electrolyte solutions.

👉 Hydration = foundation of gut health, calm behaviour, and performance.

💬 If your horse’s water bucket looks untouched tonight, add a tablespoon of salt tomorrow — it’s the simplest dehydration insurance you can buy.

🏷️ Suggested Hashtags


📚 References
DAFWA. (2023). Seasonal horse management guide for Western Australia. Department of Agriculture and Food WA.
Dougal, K., Harris, P. A., Edwards, A., Pachebat, J., Blackmore, T., Worgan, H., & Newbold, C. J. (2014). A comparison of the microbiome and metabolome of different regions of the equine hindgut. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 93(3), 1–11.
Elzinga, S. E., Rohleder, B., Schanbacher, B., McQuerry, K., Barker, V. D., & Adams, A. A. (2017). Metabolic and inflammatory responses to the common sweetener stevioside and a glycemic challenge in horses with equine metabolic syndrome. Domestic Animal Endocrinology, 60, 1–8.
Frape, D. (2010). Equine nutrition and feeding (4th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Geor, R. J., & Harris, P. (2020). Equine applied and clinical nutrition: Health, welfare and performance. Saunders Elsevier.
Harris, P. A., et al. (2017). Dietary glycaemic index and insulin response in horses with equine metabolic syndrome. Equine Veterinary Journal, 49(4), 507–514.
Jacobs, J. L., Ward, G. N., & McKenzie, F. R. (2020). Pasture non-structural carbohydrate dynamics and implications for equine feeding. Animal Production Science, 60(1), 37–45.
Longland, A. C., Barfoot, C., & Harris, P. A. (2011). Effects of soaking on water-soluble carbohydrate and crude protein content of grass hays. Veterinary Record, 168(23), 618.
McCutcheon, L. J., & Geor, R. J. (2008). Thermal and cardiovascular responses to dehydration in horses. Journal of Applied Physiology, 104(1), 76–83.
Meyer, H., Coenen, M., & Hintz, H. F. (2013). Horses: Nutrition and feeding (2nd ed.). Blackwell.
NRC. (2007). Nutrient requirements of horses (6th rev. ed.). National Academies Press.
Sosa-León, L. A., Valenzuela-Medina, M., & Romero-Solís, D. (2019). Water and electrolyte homeostasis in equids. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 79, 102–110.
Sykes, B. W., et al. (2014). Electrolyte supplementation and hydration strategies in exercising horses. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 34(5), 576–584.
Walthall, B., & McKenzie, R. A. (1976). Water content changes in pasture and implications for horse hydration. Australian Veterinary Journal, 52(3), 145–149.
White, N. A. (2021). Equine colic: A practical guide to diagnosis and management (3rd ed.). CRC Press.