07/31/2025
As of late, I’ve unfortunately been seeing some horses with very poor BCS so I thought a little post with info was due. Please remember, I am not here to judge, but to help.
That of which, I thought I could share some basic information and a body scale for people to reference off of. If you find you infact do have an under weight horse or even a horse you struggle keeping weight off of and need nutritional consults, please send me a message and I will give you a couple of Equine Nutritions phone numbers to get your horse on the right track. Reaching out to a vet is also a wonderful option as bloodwork can detect many issues.
Cushings, metobolic syndrome, allergies to certain things (soy, sugar, etc) + much, much more can be pin pointed.
The body condition of horses based on the degree of fat cover is a good indicator of a horse’s general health. The body condition score (BCS) allows one to assess if the horse is too thin, too fat, or about right. Horses are scored on a scale from 1 (poor) to 9 (extremely fat) in six areas where they deposit fat – neck, withers, spinous processes (part of back vertebrae that project upwards) and transverse processes (portion of vertebrae that project outward), tail head, ribs, and behind the shoulder. The subjective assessment is based on visual and physical (palpation) of the specified body regions, including the hooks (tuber coxae and hip joints) and pins (tuber ischia and lower pelvic bones). Comparisons of relative adiposity can be made within or between horses. Categorization of body condition as underweight (BCS ≤ 3, 1–9-point scale), moderate (BCS 4–6), overweight (BCS ≥ 7) or obese (BCS ≥ ) can be used as an aid in the management of body condition for optimal health and performance.
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/equine/body-condition-score
https://www.petobesityprevention.org/horsebcs
