Reading weigh tape- dumb question?

[Gypley]

How do you do it !!!

Ive just bought one, tried it this morning and apparently my 15.2 rising 3 yr old shire x is 438kg! Surely he's more than that!
There are 4 columns ...
CM
horse/pony normal fed weight lbs
horse/ pony normal fed weight kgs
height


this is a shires weigh tape .
I passed the tape just behind his withers and under his armpits (so its kind if diagonal) and pulled it fairly firmly .
Can anyone offer some help ! (I do feel very stupid !)

 

[emm1s]

I think it is supposed to be straight rather than diagonal. However, in my experience, weight tapes always under weigh and can only be used as a rough guide as to whether they are gaining/losing weight. How much they differ to the true weight depends on the shape/type of horse or pony. But as an example, my horse was 535Kg on the proper Spillers weighbridge but 440Kg on the weight tape, so a difference of nearly 100Kg.

 

[jenni999]

I don't think it matters where the tape is as long as it's in the same place each time so you can monitor weight gain/loss. I try and keep it vertical so it's in a straight line up. My horse always came up light on the weightape, 570kg and 600kg on a weighbridge.