is it true that horses can manage on salt water if they have no access to fresh drinking water? ( posts in horse chat re abandoned hores will explain why I am asking.)

I have certainly never heard this. Horses do need salt in their diet (the same as us) but I have never given mine anything but fresh water to drink, & provide salt in a block which they have free access to.

Never heard of it myself either! Read it on the net earlier and thought I'd run it past horse savvy people.

No! Like any mammal if they take in excess amounts of salt it pulls the water out of their cells via osmosis and will dehydrate them and can kill them, with a horse I would have thought that would increase the chances of colic too. The only way mammals can have salt water is rectally as the body can remove salt via the gut - not sure how many animals will be drinking via their butt though!!!! I have heard of sailors at sea surviving this way though in survival situations when the water has run out!!!!!!!!!

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ya its a new to to me that salt is very much essential to the horses .

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Horse classifieds

ive never heard of it.

i would imagine that if a horse was really thirsty it may drink salt water, but that doesnt mean that its any good for it!

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