Electrolytes

[guest@endurance.net]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net

Lysane said:

> I am wondering how long electrolytes can be kept. Can they `spoil` the
way
> other things can, or can they keep for a long time (6 months, 1 year,
> longer...)?

Electrolyes are, in essence, salt.  And salt will pretty much
keep forever. It is "mined" out of the ground where it has been
in the same form for millions (or maybe billions) of years.
Because of this property, people have been using it for millenia
in order to preserve things that don't keep forever.

Many of the commercial preparations contain sugars as well as
salts, but sugar keeps pretty well too (honey has been found
burried with mummies in Egyptian tombs...still just honey).

If your electolyte preparation isn't just electrolytes but
contains vitamins too...vitamins oxidize when exposed to air
so they don't keep so well.  They don't spoil, so you can still
feed the mix without being concerned about it making your horse
sick or anything like that, but over time there will be less
and less of the vitamins in the mix so you will be left with
just the salts and the sugars.

kat
Orange County, Calif.