Horse's Salt Intake

I've had salt blocks in my horses stalls and one in the pasture for about a month, but they're still whole like when I bought them and I've never seen them mess with 'em. Are the horses not touching them because they don't feel like they need any salt? Maybe they just don't like it in block form? Should I put salt on their grain? Any ideas?

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Out of the 7 Horse I had, two of them licked the salt/mineral block a lot, the others almost never licked the block.

They were all on the same feed, hay and grass. We did add a small scoop of mineral and salt supplement to their feed for the morning and evening snack, I guess the two needed more than we gave in the snack.

Every Horse is different, but some Horses seem to prefer eating dirt for their minerals I have heard

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Some horse don't like to lick salt blocks, while others do.

It won't hurt to add loose salt to their feed pans as long as they have a bucket of water in their stall. Regular table salt works and just for the record Kosher salt is excellent. I use Kosher salt on new hay, when we stack it in the barn, to help wick any moisture.

A horse should have 10 grams of salt daily; that equals two tablespoons.

You can start out one teaspoon at a time, working your way up to at least one tablespoon daily. If the horse develops loose manure, it's getting too much; there is some salt in hay

Okay, thanks! If I start feeding them salt on their grain, should I take the blocks away? Could they possibly get too much salt? (Not that they gobble the block down, but just in case)

I would leave the salt blocks out for them. They won't overdose on salt.

I have one horse that I should make him a knap sack to carry the salt around. He is insulin resistant, drinks a lot of water and is a very heavy sweater during the summer. He never gets sick or has diarhea so I figure he needs all that salt. I don't add anything to his feed pan as he enjoys licking the blocks. When I have to syringe meds down him, he asks to lick the syringe afterward-P

Aw! Well, thank you! That's been bugging me for a while! Lol

My horse never eats the straight salt lick but, she'll chew threw a mineral block at times... I did notice though when I had them in her stall, when I mounted them too far from the ground about waist hight she wouldn't touch. Good luck!

hmm maybe I have to try different placements in their stalls. Thanks!

^^^Ditto that with my mega salt eating horse. I had the 4 lb block in one of those metal holders on the wall and he wouldn't touch it.

I ended up putting the block in a floor container for 50 lb blocks - I hate that because it's clunky and takes up space but he now licks the block all the time, so I have to put up with it.

Fortunately he is a horse who is neat and leaves things in place. He doesn't paw the salt block container, he doesn't throw his hay out of the tub, and most of the time he keeps his re-cycling events at the back of the stall

I add regular iodized table salt to my horse's feed and have a plain salt block available for him. (Iodized salt because his feed profile on FeedXL.com indicated he was getting less than 50% of the recommended amount of iodine!) He doesn't seem to care for the blocks- it took him months to go through the partial block that was already in his stall when he moved in, and I'm still not convinced he didn't just break it in half and then the stall cleaners picked it up with the soiled bedding because it looked the same until it suddenly disappeared . If he's touched the replacement block I put in for him, I can't tell. I've been thinking of moving the holder down on the wall to see if it appeals to him more since reading about that in a previous thread, but haven't gotten my drill out to the barn again yet