Knowing Your Horse's Body Weight

Being able to accurately estimate the body weight and condition of your horse can help in the way you manage and feed them. The amount of feed horses need depends on their weight, activity, growth or stage of pregnancy or lactation, and the body condition they are in. Body condition score is closely related to the amount of fat they carry.

Knowing your horse’s body weight will allow you to:

• fine tune how much to feed the horse to match their workload or breeding status
• more accurately give medications whose dose is based on body weight.

The weight of the horse is influenced by his height, length and girth, reproductive stage, gut and water fill and the body condition score.
The Australian system of condition scoring uses six different scores to describe the amount of fat on the horse. The system goes from Score 0, describing horses in very poor condition, to Score 5, describing very fat horses. It is a simple, repeatable system that can be used accurately with a bit of practice.

Horses are accurately condition scored by combining visual assessment with feeling the horse for fat cover.

The horse is visually assessed in areas that fat is laid down. The neck (the size at the base and the amount of crest), the withers and shoulders, the top line along the whole body from behind the shoulders through to the tail head, and the ribs should all be used.

As the horse fattens each of these areas fills out and becomes smoother.

Fat is laid down over the ribs and along the backbone. Feeling for softness over the ribs with the palm of the hand, gives a good guide to the horse’s condition as any softness here is not confused with muscle tissue.

Target Scores
Growing horses  1.5 to 2.5
Breeding horses 1.5 to 3
Equestrian horses 1.5 to 3
Leisure / pleasure horses 2 to 3
Racing horses 1.5 to 3