Diffrence between weigh tape and weigh bridge

[dafthoss]

After a thread a little while ago about the diffrences in weigh tapes and weigh bridges I thought this might intrest some people.

He is definatly of pony type as you can see in my sig and he is also a little long which the weigh tape obviously doesnt account for. My weigh tape puts him at 405kg and a friends diffrent one puts him at 454kg. Well we toddled off to college to use their weigh bridge and he was 494kg now he is carrying a little extra weight after his holidays but his ribs are still feelable and he doesnt condition score badly but thats still nearly 100kg diffrent from his actual weight. So the weigh tape is deffinatly just going to be used to monitor if he is loosing or gaining any thing which I know is their best use but still cant believe how inaccurate it was! I need to do some other weight calculations for this assignment to so I can put the results of them up when I have done them if any one is intrested?

 

[Bertolie]

My boy weighed in at 458kg on my weigh tape and 470kg on a friends. We had the Spillers nutritionist out to the yard and she weighed him on the weighbridge and he was 545Kg! Nearly 100Kg difference. I could also feel my boys ribs easily. The weigh tape is no good for me to monitor weight changes as he doesn't put weight on around the girth area/over the ribs but any weight gain goes straight to his neck and/or bum. On the advice of the Spillers lady I now measure his neck using a standard tape measure.

ETA: My boy is also long in the back, which as you say, the weigh tape doesn't allow for.

 

[rhino]

Is your weight tape a one-size-fits-all one, or does it have 'horse' on one side and 'pony' on the other?

My boy weightapes at 512kg; weighbridge at 510! Pony weightaped at 445 and weighbridge 460. Not bad really

ETA I have seen a lot of people (vets included) use weightapes incorrectly so am not surprised with the disparity of some results either! Agree condition scoring is far, far more useful

 

[dafthoss]

No it doesnt have a pony side it just says it works for horses and ponies.
The calculations I have do take in to account the length of the horse so will put them up when I do them will be this afternoon though as I have a lecture to go to now .

 

[rhino]

No it doesnt have a pony side it just says it works for horses and ponies.
The calculations I have do take in to account the length of the horse so will put them up when I do them will be this afternoon though as I have a lecture to go to now .

I would love to see them when you have a chance

 

[ajn1610]

I did a statistical comparison of 3 weight tapes and a calibrated weigh bridge for a statistics module course work. They were all significantly out when compared to true weight as taken on the bridge. Each tape was more accurate on the TB type than crosses. cob types, ponies or warmbloods. Even so they were still out by 10's Kg in each case. For some examples they were out by 100's Kg, both estimating too heavy and too light. IMO I wouldn't bother with a tape they are far too inaccurate.
If you are assessing weight for condition then use the condition score scales like these:

http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/conditionscore.shtml

I prefer the style that goes to 1-10 as it is more descriptive than the BHS 0-5 one.

If you are wanting their weight for medication or worming and don't have a weigh bridge available, there are a couple of ways of calculating it:

You can measure their barrel and length, this website works it our for you:

http://www.thehorse.com/Tool/Weight-Calculator.aspx

Or you can do it manually in a couple of different ways:

All in inches Heart girth x heart girth x length divided by 300 + 50 gives weight in pounds
All in cm, heart girth x heart girth x length divided by 11.877 gives weight in Kg

Throw away your weight tape it's a waste of time.

ETA - the second link shows how to measure heart girth but incase you can't see it.
Heart girth is where you'd normally place weight tape. Length is as you'd measure for a rug but from point of shoulder to point of buttock rather than just straight along.

 

[Lotty]

I always use a weigh tape but a few months ago I got my mare weighed on a weigh bridge. The weigh tape said 493kg and the weigh bridge said 584kg.

 

[rhino]

Throw away your weight tape it's a waste of time.

ETA - the second link shows how to measure heart girth but incase you can't see it.
.

That link seems to show measuring heart girth in a vertical plane. This is not how weigh tapes should be used and why most people will report a 'weightape' weight differing from a weighbridge one.

Weigh tapes are very useful pieces of kit for most horse owners and are a quick and easy way to assess changes in weight, used in conjunction with condition scoring.

 

[Jesstickle]

I'm fine. I have TBs. They tape reasonably accurately. Or they did last time I checked.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=495868&highlight=weight+tape

DH, the yellow one weighs more than Nitty!!

 

[Sayra]

I had ponies weighed on a weigh bridge weights were 443 and 450 on weigh tape they were 445 and 450. So I found the weightape to be v accurate in my case.

 

[ajn1610]

That link seems to show measuring heart girth in a vertical plane. This is not how weigh tapes should be used and why most people will report a 'weightape' weight differing from a weighbridge one.

Weigh tapes are very useful pieces of kit for most horse owners and are a quick and easy way to assess changes in weight, used in conjunction with condition scoring.

Isn't that's because it is not how to use a weight tape?

If people are to half witted to manage using a weight tape properly, particularly as the instructions are usually printed on the side there is not much hope for them lol!

The experiment I did measure 15 horses with 3 different makes of weight tape, and compared them to an extremely accurate calibrated medical standard weigh bridge. I repeated each measurement every day at the same time for ten days. TBH the weights of each horse did vary dramaticallly, probably down to the amounts of extra weight they were carrying in terms of feed/water intake and how long it was since they'd done a wee or a poo. I still think weight tapes aren't worth bothering with as they don't take any other factors into account, it's not significantly more difficult to do one of the calculations that use a tape, but each to their own I guess !

 

[rhino]

Isn't that's because it is not how to use a weight tape?

Sorry, that was the point I was trying to make; that is how most people seem to use weigh tapes.

And 15 horses? I wouldn't take anything from such a small study group as a given Whether or not the measurements proved to be accurate in a more extensive study, if someone can't use a weightape correctly I don't see them being able to take two separate measurements and then work out a calculation too well either

No easy answer really

 

[Umbongo]

I once helped in a study regarding weigh tapes etc. We tried out 3 different weigh tapes, a weight calculation and weigh bridge.

The calculation was: Weight(kg)= girth (squared) x length (then divide by 11877)


How does the calculation compare to your horses actual weight?

 

[Umbongo]

Sorry I meant you divide all of that by 11877. So ((girth squared) x length) / 11877

I don't seem to be able to do squared signs on this laptop, or divide signs!

 

[dafthoss]

I havnt done them yet sorry . But just wanted to say that the equation umbongo has put up has diffrent numbers that you divide by depending on the condition score of the horse just so you all know. I will remeasure him tonight and do them all.

 

[Umbongo]

I havnt done them yet sorry . But just wanted to say that the equation umbongo has put up has diffrent numbers that you divide by depending on the condition score of the horse just so you all know. I will remeasure him tonight and do them all.

Ah yes forgot about that, 11877 was the only number I could remember. Ive got the other numbers written on a piece of paper......somewhere.....

 

[dafthoss]

I will dig it out later I have them on a sheet to fill in and I think I have a link to the original paper that came up with them to if any one is intrested.

 

[Fiagai]

Re: Diffrence between weigh tape and weigh bridge...

Well one is a big metal thingy on springs and the other is a smal piece of plastic with numbers on..but thats not really important now is it.


I will go and get my coat.......

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Had 3 of mine weigh bridged today, results as follows;

Gingerknobbermare, weigh tape 396, weigh bridge 442

Preggers black pony, weigh tape 366, weigh bridge 441

Nevthesupershetland, weigh tape 254, weigh bridge 234

The nice Allen & Page ladys weigh tape was more accurate than mine, so think I will be getting a new weigh tape as mine is so way out!!

Super pleased with all their actual weights tho, time for some 3.5 ton lorry shopping

 

[JFTDWS]

DH, the yellow one weighs more than Nitty!!

And Jasper

 

[Perissa]

My weigh tape is pretty accurate on my arab. The only thing I find is that I angle to bottom towards the girth area, not straight down from behind the withers otherwise the tape measures him too heavy. I weigh bridge him every time I take him to Liphook so I know for sure it is accurate.