Horse Electrolytes - Yah or Nay?

[faniefiets]

So I have been reading the forum and I am amped to make my own carb dinks. I would like to add electrolytes though, but I cannot find bulk powder in South Africa.
I did however find this - Horse Electrolytes - Which led my down a rabbit hole and it seems horses sweat a lot and its very similar to humans. Less protein and 10x more electrolyte loss.
Anyone who can form and opinion if it will work?
Composition - Potassium 260g/kg, Sodium 196g/kg, Chloride 538g/kg, Magnesium 1.44g/kg

[KWcycling]

Just buy horse steroids and call it a day

[splash]

Surely it’s yay or neigh.

[toyman]

I’ll say neigh to this, looks like way too much potassium (like 10x more than needed) compared to sodium.
This looks primarily like a mix of Sodium Chloride + potassium Chloride.
Sodium chloride is table salt, and you can find potassium chloride in ‘low sodium salt’ (at least in the USA).
I would look at trying to find some sodium citrate powder and go with that, my current take after making overcomplicated DIY electrolytes is that sodium is all that likely matters, at least for the vast majority of situations.

Edit: Here is a discussion of how to tell if you are getting enough sodium:

DIY sweat composition testing

Couldn’t agree more. There is a better way! Read the literature as you did. Make a guess. Aim on the slightly high end for sodium replacement. Be quantified in your approach, but listen to and observe your body’s own feedback. No training interruption needed. Far more time efficient, as you noted! For those reading: If drinking lots, peeing lots, and losing weight → intake more sodium. If drinking lots, not peeing, and losing weight → intake more fluid and more sodium in direct propo…

@Dr_Alex_Harrison has a lot of posts on the forums regarding electrolytes as well as carb intake in drinks. Lots of good information there.

[JT_34]

I’d suggest sticking to nutrition designed for human consumption.

[mwglow15]

You could probably just get away with adding some regular old table salt to your mix. Some people have some gut issues at higher amounts so they go to Sodium Citrate. It has more sodium per molecule = less total molecules needed = less molecules to interact with your gut. But you could probably get 80+% of the way there with just regular salt

[conorthinks]

Are you a horse?

[faniefiets]

Thnx for great answer…
Helped a lot!

[smlring]

Ok people. We are officially run out of things to ask here.

[jsweeten79]

My uncle had a horse farm. They just put salt licks out all the time and the horses…and deer…loved them. Maybe the solution is to strap a salt lick to our bars and call it a day.

[jball843]

a lot of people drink cows milk and they arent baby cows.

[SaffaSurfer]

[DarthShivious]

@jsweeten79

Maybe the solution is to strap a salt lick to our bars and call it a day.

That would be the triathlon forum thread. Two doors down on the left.

[GeordieMullet]

Way to stirrup controversy.