The intense muscular activity associated with training and competition, whether it is racing, eventing, show jumping endurance or dressage, results in an increase in body heat. The only way a horse can get rid of this heat is through sweat loss.
Sweat also represents the main route of fluid and electrolyte loss, between 5 and 10 litres per hour can be lost during an event or race.
Rapid replacement of the fluid and electrolytes is important for a quick recovery. Failure to adequately replace lost electrolytes will lead to dehydration.
Saline drenching has always been the traditional method of ensuring rapid electrolyte replacement. Although effective, this method is often inconvenient and expensive as it usually requires the services of a veterinarian.
Now there is an alternative to saline drenching.
Quick-lyte paste is a combination of electrolytes and chelated minerals formulated in a single dose syringe. One 30ml dose syringe replaces the electrolytes lost in 2 litres of sweat. Because the electrolytes in Quick-lyte are present in a highly absorbable form, they are rapidly absorbed from the horse’s stomach. Quick-lyte uses a patented carrier that ensures the stability of the electrolytes and minerals during storage and also gives the product its free-flow properties that make it easy to use.
After taking Quick-lyte, horses have a strong desire to drink so it is important that fresh drinking water is made available. This makes Quick-lyte ideal to use before and after long float trips. How often do you hear of horses who won’t drink when they travel away from home?, Quicklyte will trigger a response to drink and often then to eat.
Some indications for using Quick-lyte include:
- 8 to 12 hours before intense exercise
- 1 to 2 hours after intense exercise
- Regularly during hot summer months
- When horses won’t take electrolytes in their feed
- Endurance Recovery Stops
- After transportation
Quick-lyte also contains Iron Gluconate as well as Zinc, Copper and Cobalt chelates, all essential minerals for red blood cell production. Chelated minerals are more easily absorbed than ordinary minerals as they do not compete with each other for absorption sites across the gut wall. In addition, chelated means the presence of iron in Quick-lyte has no effect on adsorption of the minerals.