The supplement needs of different horses, in different sports and different weather conditions will vary – and they will also be different on competition days compared with training days and rest days. Even the stress of travel will change what electrolytes and vitamins your horse will need. That’s why the Virbac range of equine electrolytes and supplements provide different solutions for your individual circumstances.
For example, to neutralise acidity and cleanse to refresh and recover after hard work, Neutradex® contains citrate as an acid buffer and a mild diuretic. This will fight the way that acidosis results in fatigue, muscle soreness, lack of stamina and ‘tying up’.
Both Stressalyte® and Humidimix® are daily maintenance electrolyte supplements. Humidimix® has been designed for heavily sweating horses – usually because of prolonged duration of work, or work in warmer weather, as this will lead to loss of bicarbonate and alkalosis. Gallopers usually work for short periods of time at high intensity. For these horses Stressalyte® is the ideal electrolyte supplement as it contains citrate and bicarbonate to neutralise the lactic acid produced from anaerobic exercise.
Liquid electrolytes such as Recharge® are ideal for use after prolonged exercise or long distance transport. In addition to rapidly replacing lost body salts they also encourage drinking to replace lost body fluids and correct dehydration. This is very important as dehydrated horses often lose their thirst response and do not drink adequate amounts to replace their fluid losses. Dehydration also leads to a loss of appetite, which makes it even more difficult for horses to replace their electrolyte losses.
Electrolytes play a vital role in the horse’s body function and nsupplementing with a complete electrolyte which contains the right balance for the requirement of the horse is crucial. The proven and trusted Virbac Equine Rehydration range offers the highest quality premium formulations, free from fillers, and gives you the advantage as they are designed to complement each other to meet the exacting needs of all performance and pleasure horses.
For more information about these products please go to www.virbac.co.nz.
