(Also see Electrolytes) In horses, salt is mainly lost through sweating and it contains two essential electrolytes (sodium and chloride). As the majority of plants do not provide sufficient sodium and may also lack adequate chloride, salt supplementation is essential. Providing him with a salt lick is the easiest way to meet his requirements and is a good way of supplying other less palatable nutrients.

Seaweed is normally fed to horses who are or have been on poor grazing as it is rich in minerals such as calcium, iodine and potassium. It is also thought to improve arthritic and rheumatic conditions and is a good coat and hoof conditioner (it can help to promote the loss of a winter coat).

Simple carbohydrates such as sugar and starch are derived from cereals, molasses, spring and autumn pasture. Starch and sugars are typically digested by specific enzymes in the small intestine but in cases of high cereal diets and flushes of pasture, the small intestine is overloaded and simple carbohydrates will pass undigested into the hindgut. The microbial fermentation of sugars and starch in the hindgut lowers the pH, this change in environment results in the death of beneficial bacteria and the release of endotoxins which can lead to many health problems from ERS to laminitis. When the horse's energy requirements cannot be met by a fibre-based diet it is necessary to feed cereals. If this is the case we want to make simple carbohydrates as easy to digest as possible through micronisation, all the cereals included in our Fibremix range are micronised.