To lick or not to lick?

[Walnut]

My horse has a stable lick (one of those respiratory ones in ice cream tub) and has been licking it in a normal fashion (I believe) as he has not used too much of it but definintely seems to enjoy a lick from time to time.

He wees for England and someone told me that it was because of the lick - it makes him thirsty, drinks then pees. I took it away for a period and he was drier but I felt mean and so wondered how bad it is for him to have the lick in the first place and to be drinking so much. He drinks most of a large tub trug of water - but he is a big, chunky boy!

Is it bad for him or shall I leave him to it? I don't mind the mucking out.

[puzzles]

Making him wee shouldn't be a problem - a foodstuff or mineral that encourages your horse to drink is not unlike adding salt/electolytes to your horse's feed (which are also designed to make him thirsty, and thus drink more).
It would be wise to mention it to your vet next time you see her/him, but if he seems healthy and happy then I wouldn't deny him the lick!

:-)

xxxxx

[Portia]

Not sure which make you have, but check the ingredients list as some are loaded with sugar (Likits come to mind) . Does he need/benefit from one specific to respiratory problems? You could try a simple himalayan salt lick instead, they're very good.

If he's only having a small amount then I can't really see that it would be a problem. Having said that, I've known horses to go mad for those things and would happily snorkle the lot but for a careful owner!

[Soot]

Didn't either the BHS mag or Horse &Rider have an article about sugar content in Likits recently? They said the high sugar content was a good thing as horses need loads of sugar or something like that!

[Portia]

Didn't either the BHS mag or Horse &Rider have an article about sugar content in Likits recently? They said the high sugar content was a good thing as horses need loads of sugar or something like that!


What?? :eek: OMG, NEVER heard that one before lol (perhaps they pay very good advertsing rates :D). I would be very interested to read the article, have searched both BHS and Horse&Rider for this but no luck, always good to learn something new!

[Soot]

LMAO That'll learn me to post when I'm sick and tired!!

I found the ADVERTISEMENT and it of course says that Horselyx contains little sugar. It talked about how much sugar is contained in grass and that horses are gppd at digesting sugar but already get soooo much in all their other feeds. So 250g of Horselyx only contains 82g of sugar ... which still looks like a lot.

So I remember it all the wrong way round. Thank you, memory!!

[Portia]

I've done that before, lord knows :).

[Jenny2502]

lol my ponies love their lick so much i have to take it away when i leave because it would be gone in 10mins if i left it! they are mad about it! the vit and mineral one

[Sophie..*]

Just to dad their not lickits their big block ones.http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gjwtitmussshop.co.uk/acatalog/1065111.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gjwtitmussshop.co.uk/acatalog/HORSE_PRODUCTS.html&h=160&w=120&sz=9&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=eYB_yMCiloxRZM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=74&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhorse%2Blicks%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

Click on horse licks and its 2nd one down, thats what dougie has :)