ideal weight chart for horses?

[Wagtail]

Is there one? A bit like the one for humans showing ideal weight by build? I have a couple of horses that need to diet including my mare who has developed Cushings induced laminitis. The weight tape says a fraction over 600kg. She is a middle weight warmblood x Welsh D 15.3 hh and I reckon she should weigh around 550 kg.

Also how much would you say a heavyweight 14.1 hh cob should weigh? I am guessing around 480 kg?

 

[JFTDWS]

I would have thought such a chart would be wildly inaccurate due to conformational differences - a WBxwelsh cob could be heavier or lighter in build anywhere between WB and cob! For example, my 15hh hw cob weighs about 430kg. If he weighed 480kg he would be obese

Surely a condition score would tell you what you need to know - but you already know they're overweight anyway...

 

[touchstone]

To be honest if you are going by a weightape then I feel that they really aren't accurate enough to give a good result for weight. They are useful for monitoring weight gain/loss though. In the absence of a weighbridge then condition scoring is the way to go, I think the WHW have some useful videos on condition scoring. I have a well built 14hh native that weigh tapes at 410 -420 so if using a tape would be well overweight at 480, it all depends on how well sprung the ribs are too with a tape.

 

[Wagtail]

I would have thought such a chart would be wildly inaccurate due to conformational differences - a WBxwelsh cob could be heavier or lighter in build anywhere between WB and cob! For example, my 15hh hw cob weighs about 430kg. If he weighed 480kg he would be obese

Surely a condition score would tell you what you need to know - but you already know they're overweight anyway...

Yes, but condition scoring is not accurate either. For example, my mare has always had an apple bum, even when competition fit and really slender. If I went on condition score alone I would have scored her as fat when she wasn't. Also, her ribs show and are easily felt, but she has a slight crest due to the cushings. The cob has always had an apple bum too and a slight groove down his back, even when he wasn't overweight, so again the condition scoring is inaccurate for him.

 

[Wagtail]

To be honest if you are going by a weightape then I feel that they really aren't accurate enough to give a good result for weight. They are useful for monitoring weight gain/loss though. In the absence of a weighbridge then condition scoring is the way to go, I think the WHW have some useful videos on condition scoring. I have a well built 14hh native that weigh tapes at 410 -420 so if using a tape would be well overweight at 480, it all depends on how well sprung the ribs are too with a tape.

The cobs owner has been overfeeding him and he weight tapes at 570 kg!! I think he needs to lose at least 100kg and it would help me persuade them if I could show them something to that effect. Trouble is, I weigh his rations and then they park him for an hour next to a humongous haylage net.

 

[touchstone]

I think lots of feed companies do free weighing sessions with a portable weighbridge now, they need a certain number of horses to see though but might be worth doing? They will let the owners know if their horse needs to lose weight and give advice on what to feed etc.

I know with mine she is lightly covered over her ribs but will store fat on her backside and neck and when that happens I class her as overweight. She is healthiest when her ribs are showing and although we've been taught that ribs should be felt and not seen this simply isn't the case for mine (she still isn't a wafer by any means!) Condition scoring should take into account the whole picture and each area given its own score, so is much more accurate, fat is fat at the end of the day, it's just the distribution of it that varies.

 

[JFTDWS]

Yes, but condition scoring is not accurate either. For example, my mare has always had an apple bum, even when competition fit and really slender. If I went on condition score alone I would have scored her as fat when she wasn't. Also, her ribs show and are easily felt, but she has a slight crest due to the cushings. The cob has always had an apple bum too and a slight groove down his back, even when he wasn't overweight, so again the condition scoring is inaccurate for him.

OK, but condition scoring gives you a better idea than weight by tape (or weigh bridge) since it gives you a holistic view of where they're carrying fat, where is muscle and what aspects of their shape are conformational. If you take an average of each region's score (though this is technically not correct), you will be able to ascertain if the horse is overweight or not, regardless of an "outlier" region (e.g. an apple bum).

Or you can exclude the region you think is deceptive and score the rest of the horse regardless. Though technically if it has fat on its arse, it's still fat...

 

[Rosehip]

Well, if the HW cob is weighing 570kg then he is very very obese, and at significant risk of lami. My Fell (to my shame) crept up to 530kg summer 2011 and hass been diagnosed with chronic low grade lami. she had to go on box rest and a starvation diet, and only now is she able to have anything nearing a 'normal' diet. She currently weighs 460kg, and could still stand to lose a little more, although Im happy with how she looks now.

When looking at Mels in the summer, I could see that she was 'a touch chubby' but convinced myself it was because she is a Fell and they are ment to be big.
Yes, she will always have an apple bum (even the ones who are out on the Fells do!!) but there is no excuse for a spinal gutter, or fatpads on the shoulders.

Before:

Now:

 

[Wagtail]

Well, if the HW cob is weighing 570kg then he is very very obese, and at significant risk of lami. My Fell (to my shame) crept up to 530kg summer 2011 and hass been diagnosed with chronic low grade lami. she had to go on box rest and a starvation diet, and only now is she able to have anything nearing a 'normal' diet. She currently weighs 460kg, and could still stand to lose a little more, although Im happy with how she looks now.

When looking at Mels in the summer, I could see that she was 'a touch chubby' but convinced myself it was because she is a Fell and they are ment to be big.
Yes, she will always have an apple bum (even the ones who are out on the Fells do!!) but there is no excuse for a spinal gutter, or fatpads on the shoulders.

Before:

Now:

You have done very well! My vet said that my mare was not that overweight but due to her lami needs to be on the thin side of good. But the cob looks very obese. We are riding him twice a day and I had already drasticly cut his rations. I realised that the main problem was when he was parked up by a haylage net for tacking up or mucking out. He could scoff 6 kilos in 30 minutes. He's an eating machine! So hopefully now I have p[ut a stop to this (hopefully) he will start to lose weight.

 

[diamondrockharvey]

If there is a chart I would like to see it!

My 15.2hh Traditional cob is 525kg at the moment (on a weigh tape)

He looks well, but not fat, no crest or apple bum and can feel ribs if I press down and run my fingers along.

I wonder if he is the ideal weight??

 

[Wagtail]

Finally found one! http://www.bluecross.org.uk/80161-80956/how-to-check-the-weight-of-your-horse.html

 

[littlemisslauren]

We weighed all 17 of ours on monday, I can remember a couple of weights to use as comparison if that helps?

14.2hh dales - fit - 530 (I think possibly a little less) She could do with losing a little but not much at all.

15.2 tb - unfit with a big belly - 545 - he could do with losing and is a very good doer.

16hh IDxWB - fit - 605 - again he has some extra weight but to lose much more he would look poor.

14.1hh welsh c - fit but fat - 480

They all carry weight differently, the weighbridge is a god send. We stick everything on it once a month to see how they are doing.

 

[littlemisslauren]

Very interesting link Wagtail - I will print off the chart and take it to work. Very few of our beasts are the correct weight according to it!

 

[dumpling]

I think if you know your horse is fat, get a figure in mind for the weight tape and work it from there. You can condition score once they've reached it.

My boy -14h welsh x coloured cob weighed in at 480kg and he was obese. He's now at 390-410kg and he's looking 'normal'. I find strict weighing of feed and hay and restricted grass is the way to do it!

 

[Goldenstar]

I take any problem horses into the vets and get them on the wieght bridge as tapes are so inaccurate especially the cobs that have thick necks and shoulders.
Fatty Frank a 16.2 Irish draught weighted in at 733 kilos when he came off box rest in April I took him in last week and hes now 633 lost 100 kilos !
He can still drop a bit more so I am aiming for 600 kilos by the end of the hunting season.
it's really hard to say whats ideal as the roll of muscle bulk makes it hard to generalise a fully trained dressage horse will carry kilos and kilos of muscle bulk that the same horse who was doing another job won't have so you have to look at everything .