Monitoring your horse’s bodyweight and condition

Keeping a close eye on your horse’s bodyweight and body condition is the best way to gauge the effectiveness of a feeding program. If your horse is maintaining bodyweight then it is a clear indication that they are receiving enough energy for the work being done. If they are losing weight then an increase in energy intake is required. Equally if they are looking too well it is time to act!

How to monitor a horse’s weight and body condition

There are two parameters by which a horse can and should be monitored which are body weight and body condition. Body fat scoring is the term increasingly being used to replace body condition scoring as it more accurately reflects what is being measured.

Bodyweight can be measured using a weigh bridge or a weigh tape. Weigh tapes are not as accurate but do provide a means of measuring relative changes in your horse. If their weight is going up and they are overweight your weight loss plan clearly isn’t working and further changes are required!

Weigh tape your horse every 2 weeks

• Use the same weigh tape each time you assess your horse
• Make sure your horse is stood square on a flat surface when taking a measurement
• Use the weigh tape at the same time of day
• Weight loss of 0.5 – 1% of bodyweight weekly is realistic. This equals 2.5 – 5kgs a week or 0.5 – 0.75kgs a day for a 500kgs horse

Body fat scoring is generally considered a better indication as to whether your horse is at a healthy weight. If you find assessing your horse difficult, ask for help from a professional. Ultimately, all you need to determine is whether the horse is overweight and needs to go on a weight loss plan.

Condition or fat score – every month

• Choose a scale (0 – 5 or 1 – 9)
• Score your horse in the key areas where fat is stored and then calculate an average
• Use a pictorial guide to help you, click here to download the Dengie Fat Score Chart.
• Why not work with a friend and score each other’s horses to see how you compare?
• For an average horse it is estimated that to change ½ a condition score (0 – 5 scale) requires weight losses of 20 – 30kg which will take 4 to 6 weeks to achieve

Record your horse’s data

Recording your horse’s data and progress is really useful. Apps such as the University of Glasgow’s Equi-BCS app which is free to download, can be used to record body weight, fat scores and photos of your horse all in one place. The information can also be shared from the app so you can send it to the Dengie nutrition team.

Alternatively you can plot your horse’s weight on a graph like the one below. Time needs to go along the x axis and bodyweight on the y axis and the weight can be added each time you measure it. Adding data year on year can help you to see how your horse’s weight fluctuates throughout the year. If your horse is holding but not gaining weight in the summer months, that may be considered a success and then the winter months are usually when further weight loss might be easier to achieve.

An example of how a horse’s bodyweight can be plotted and compared year on year