Everything in the feeding plan is dosed by your horse's weight, so this is where you start. You don't need horse scales or expensive equipment: a weight tape and your own hand go a long way.
Place the weight tape around the horse at the girth, and read the weight directly off the tape.
Always dose according to your horse's current weight, not its ideal weight.
Feel the body condition over the rear ribs
Body condition
How the ribs feel
Feel again
Normal
Can't be seen, but easily felt under the skin
In a month
Over
Can only be felt when you press hard
Every week
Under
Can clearly be both seen and felt
Every week
At least once a month. Every week during weight change, feed changes, rehabilitation and illness.
How to measure the same way every time
The horse is standing on level ground, square on all four legs
Head and neck in a neutral position
The tape starts behind the withers and goes round the body, just behind the front legs
Pull it snug without tightening hard, and take the reading when the horse breathes out
Get a weight tape, for example: it is an ordinary tape measure with the numbers converted to kilos
Neither: feel the rearmost ribs
Whatever the method: measure in the same place every time, otherwise you cannot track progress
Want to know more?
Why weight decides the feeding
If you don't know the weight, you risk feeding too little, so your horse lacks energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. Or too much, so it puts on weight, gets too much sugar and starch or becomes too heavy for its work.
You also risk missing the small changes. A horse can lose or gain 20 to 30 kg without it being visible. When you know the weight, you can dose precisely, adjust to workload and needs, and spot changes in time.
How to position the weight tape accurately
Start just behind the withers, run the tape down around the body, and measure just behind the front legs, behind the elbow, where the girth naturally sits.
The tape should sit at a slight angle, not completely upright. It should lie flat against the body, and you pull it snug without tightening it hard. Take the reading when your horse breathes out. If you don't measure in the same place every time, you can't use the numbers to track progress.
A weight tape, for example from Land & Fritid, is the most widely used method and is practical if you want to track progress over time.
Body Condition Score: when weight isn't the whole picture
Weight alone doesn't tell you how the horse is built. Body Condition Score assesses the fat deposits at the neck, ribs, back and tailhead and gives a more accurate picture of the horse's condition.
The scale comes in two versions: 1 to 9, used in the USA, and 0 to 5, used in Australia. You can find free charts from Kentucky Equine Research under Body Condition Score Chart.
Weighbridges, and when they're worth the effort
A proper horse weighbridge or livestock scale is the most accurate method. It is especially relevant during illness, when changing feed and with larger changes, where you need an exact figure rather than an educated guess.
For day-to-day monitoring, a weigh tape and the formula are plenty, as long as you measure the same way every time.
Want to keep working on weight and body condition?
If your horse needs to lose weight, see Lighter Saturday and read about straw as a solution when the forage contains too much sugar. If it needs to gain weight, we have two articles on weight gain without compromising health, including nutritional strategies and inflammatory risk.
Sources: Kentucky Equine Research, Body Condition Scoring in Horses · Henneke et al., 1983 · Carroll and Huntington, 1988 · The British Horse Society, guidelines on weight monitoring and body condition scoring.
