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  Discussion on Calculating a horses Weight .How to?
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 17, 2002 - 3:47 am:

I have a 15.1 6yr old 3/4 thorobred:1/4 warmblood that we almost lost to parasites(worms) she is fine now and been clear for 18 months but trying to get weight on is hard> cna any one advise me how to calculate what weight she should be so I can determine if she is eating enough

thnx in advance

Posted on Sunday, Mar 17, 2002 - 9:00 am:

Hello Peter,
You do not determine whether a horse is eating enough by weight calculation. Though this type information can give you a crude idea of where to start, you tell if a horse is getting enough food of a good enough quality by looking at its overall condition. See "Care for Horses: Nutrition: Nutrition for the Horse: an Overview of Feeding Horses" for more on this.

We do have an article on weight calculation and also on estimating a horses condition at "Care for Horses: Disease Prevention and Health Care: Weight, Condition, and Eventual Height Estimation".
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 9, 2002 - 10:51 pm:

The article says that the weight calculation method "is useless on miniature horses and foals" and is also innacurate on high withered horses.

I have 4 miniatures, a foal, and a high withered Thoroughbred.

How can I accurately estimate their weights to administer the correct dosages of worming and other medications ??

Posted on Friday, May 10, 2002 - 6:39 am:

I am sorry Kenneth where do you see this admonishment? I have read the article twice and do not see it and there are special calculations for foals in the article. The calculations should yield usable numbers for your horses.
DrO

Posted on Friday, May 10, 2002 - 11:29 am:

My apologies Robert, it wasn't your article at all, but rather the second article in the list directly under yours that was listed when I searched for " estimating weight". It was written by Dr. Bob Wright, Gerret Rietveld, and Penny Lawlis from OMAFRA ( April 1998 ) that states:

"Tape accuracy is dependent on the user, the breed
of horse and age. They are useless on miniature
horses and foals. They are also inaccurate on high
withered horses. However, on the average horse,
they estimate the weight of a horse more accurately than most owners."

Do you disagree ?? Will your method work to acceptable accuracies on miniatures, foals and high withered horses ?

Posted on Friday, May 10, 2002 - 12:27 pm:

I have never seen work to confirm or deny Dr Wrights comments. The published scales made by this formula have been used to go down to 100 lbs. There is no doubt that the more irregular the shape of the horse the more inaccurate the scale will become. The problem is what are you going to do if scales are not available? I use a tape, so if I am inaccurate, at least I am consistant about it.
DrO

Posted on Friday, May 10, 2002 - 1:14 pm:

Thanks Dr.O

I have the same problem with their comment if there is no reasonable alternative.

Our miniature brood mare has an irregular shape
( a bit pot bellied) to begin with that is exagerrated by her pregnancy ( about 10 mos. )

Should I add a small amount (10%) for her ?

How much worming medication constitutes an overdose if you use liquid ivermectin ?
What are the risks ?

Posted on Saturday, May 11, 2002 - 3:59 am:

Heres an equation which is more accurate than the weight tapes:

(HG X HG X LEN)/330 = Wt in Lbs
HG = Heart Girth in Inches
LEN = Length Point of Shoulder to Point of Hip in inches.

Good luck.

Dennis & Beth

Posted on Saturday, May 11, 2002 - 10:02 am:

Thanks for the information Dennis. Ivermectin is safe even at many times overdosage. I would add 20% just to be sure.
DrO
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