NUTRITION
Horses for courses Maintaining an appropriate body weight is important to equine health and nutrition. It can help minimise the risk of serious conditions and assist with overall health. Excess body condition and obesity are common in certain breeds and can increase the chance of developing hormonal imbalances, leading to insulin resistance, equine metabolic syndrome and laminitis, as well as causing decreased athleticism. Underweight horses can experience several health problems also, including increased risk of malnutrition and anemia, poor-quality coat and hooves, increased likelihood of infection, fertility issues and musculoskeletal injuries. Early winter is an ideal time of the year to assess body condition in horses and ensure they are in optimum condition before the colder months. Various tools can be used to routinely determine body weight and condition including weigh tapes, scales, body condition score charts and even online calculators or well-focused photographs to evaluate changes. Whichever tool you select, it's important to use it correctly and frequently in order to accurately assess condition over time. This means you can adjust the diet accordingly, to consistently achieve ideal body condition. Body condition scoring serves as both the fastest and more economical method among the many options for measuring body fat. There are two body condition charts used for horses, a 1 – 9 chart commonly used in the USA and Europe and a 0 – 5 chart displayed here that is more common in New Zealand. Both charts are used to describe the amount of fat and muscle a horse is carrying, with either 0 or 1 signifying extreme emaciation and 5 to 9 indicating obesity.
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Body Condition Score Chart How to score your horse: 1. Evaluate the horse by feeling the neck, back, and ribs from side on, and visually assess the rump from behind; 2. Select a base score for the rump, with half scores for intermediate grades; 3. If the back and ribs or neck score differs by 1 point from the rump score adjust by half a point up or down.
Body Condition Score Chart
How to score your horse:
0 Very Poor • Very sunken rump • Deep cavity under tail 0 Very Poor tight • • VerySkin sunken rumpover bones • • Deep cavitypromiment under tail Very • Skinbackbone tight over bones and pelvis • Very prominent backbone and • pelvis Marked ewe neck •
1. Evaluate the horse by feeling the neck, back and ribs from side on, and visually assess the rump from behind; 3 Good 2. Select a base score for the rump, with half scores for intermediate grades; 3. If the back and ribs or neck score differs by 1 point from the rump score adjust by half• a point up or down. Rounded rump
• Good Firm neck, no crest 3
except for stallions • Rounded rump Noneck, gutter along back •• Firm no crest except • stallions Ribs just covered • Nobut gutter along back easily felt • Ribs just covered but easily felt
Marked ewe neck
4 Fat 4 FatWell-rounded rump • • Well-rounded rump • Gutter along back • Gutter along back and rump and rump • Ribs and pelvis hard to feel • Ribs and pelvis hard • Slight crest to feel • Slight crest
1 Poor
1 • PoorSunken rump
• Sunken rump Cavity under tail • • Cavity under tail • • RibsRibs easily easily visible visible • • Prominent backbone and croup Promiment backbone • Eweand neck croup
•
Ewe neck
2 Moderate •
5 Very Fat
rump both sides of the 2 Flat Moderate backbone • • RibsFlat just visible rump both sides • Narrow but firm neck of the backbone • • Backbone Ribs well justcovered visible
Very bulging rump 5• Very Fat • Deep gutter along back and rump • Ribs and bulging pelvis buried • Very rump • Marked • Deepcrest gutter along back • Folds lumps of fat andand rump • Ribs and pelvis buried • Narrow but firm neck • Masked crest • Areas Backbone well covered of emphasis for body condition scoring: thickening of the neck, fat covering the withers, fat deposits along backbone, fat deposits on flanks, fat deposits on inner thighs, fat deposits around tailhead, fat deposits behind shoulders, fat covering ribs, shoulder blends into • neck. Folds and lumps of fat
1800 772 | advice@ker.com Version 0920 Areas of emphasis for body scoring: thickening of the neck, fat covering the withers, fat198 deposits along the | ker.com backbone, fat deposits on the flanks, fat deposits on the inner thighs, fat deposits around tailhead, fat deposits behind shoulders, fat covering ribs, shoulder blends into neck.
Body condition scoring takes time and
eventing, polo and racing should score
practice and involves feeling areas of
2.5 to 3. Hunters, jumpers, dressage
the horse with the fingers or hands,
mounts, broodmares and stallions in the
as well as visual assessment. Due to
off season should score 3.5 to 4.
conformational differences, it is often recommended to body condition score the horse in three sections; neck, barrel and rump, taking the average of these sections to achieve an accurate score. Assessing weight changes and altering diets accordingly can be challenging for various reasons, including a lack of
Because each horse is an individual with regards to metabolism, workload and temperament, owners should consult a veterinarian or an equine nutritionist to evaluate their horses and recommend suitable feeding plans. Keeping a horse at its optimum body
knowledge regarding appropriate body
condition can decrease its risk of
weight or condition, conformational
developing various diseases related to
differences and the appearance of
feed management, as well as helping to
weight changes based on breed and
ensure the horse can perform the work
higher calorie diets — due to widespread
that is required.
availability of quality feed and forage year-round. Depending on their discipline and use, horses will have different optimum body condition scores. For example, using the 0 – 5 chart, horses used for endurance,
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For further advice on body condition scoring and selecting the correct diet for your horse, consult a credible equine nutritionist. Article supplied by Luisa Wood, Equine Nutritionist
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