EQUILYTES® is an orally administered, fast electrolyte replacement.

The need for rapid replacement of serum electrolytes becomes increasingly urgent, as they are lost in the sweat of exercising horses. Electrolytes conducted in the impulses for muscle contraction and sweating horses can lose up to 50 grams of electrolytes per hour. Lost electrolytes include calcium, potassium, magnesium sodium, and chloride.

Sweating with the resultant loss of electrolytes produces increasing levels of fatigue and conditions know as "thumps", "cramps" and the "exhausted horse syndrome" follow. Nervous pre-race sweating by horses can drain serum electrolytes and cause them to "wash out" before the stretch; they don’t win races! Prevention of electrolyte loss by pre-event manipulations to "load" extra electrolytes via feed or I.V. jugs do little good since excess serum electrolyte levels are too rapidly eliminated by the urine to affect the horse. Electrolyte replacement is attempted by oral administration of electrolytes salts of various kinds. However, the highly competitive digestive process required before absorption of these salts takes time (several hours). Therefore, oral electrolyte salts have little effect if rapid electrolyte replacement is the goal.

EQUILYTES® contain Chelatrex, which is the amino acid chelate of the ions K, Ca, and Mg. When given orally, absorption begins in a few minutes and continues for over an hour. This allows electrolyte absorption even during the athletic event. The ingested Chelatrex forms a "ready reserve" tank for serum to obtain new electrolytes even as they are being spent!