By MARLEY LIEN-GONZALEZ
Looks can be deceiving–at least when it comes to the weight of horses and ponies. Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS), Cushing’s, Laminitis, and other weight and insulin-level-related illnesses are a harkening reminder that the silhouettes of the most beautiful hunters, or really any discipline, don’t lurch and sway with each step but ripple with muscle and indicate a healthy and functioning body.
If poundage is an issue or concern in your barn, consider regularly weighing–and not just the suggestive tape measure you wrap around your horse’s abdomen. Invite them to step on a scale.
Emily Elek, trainer at Stonewall Farm, has an industrial-size scale that she uses to weigh every equine in her barn on a monthly basis. That data gets entered into a simple spreadsheet divided by name and month. It’s an easy enough process but tracks unbelievably important information that managers and caretakers can use when taking into account feeding and conditioning and recovery.
Elek says, “When you look at them every day, by the time you notice that their weight has changed up or down, it can already take some time to regulate and fix. By weighing every animal at my farm every month, I’m able to take the guesswork out of what I should be feeding them and how impacted they are by workload, travel, weather, and any stress in their lives.”
When a horse or pony leaves the property for a lease or to attend a show, their weight upon return tells Elek how much their feed or program needs to adjust to reach a happy level of homeostasis.
The spreadsheet can calculate the average of the weights entered throughout the year and be color-coded to indicate whether a particular animal’s weight needs to go up, down, or be maintained.
It may seem meticulous, but weighing is not only for monitoring health; it’s an important part of management, a practice of responsibility, and good general barn organization. Add it to the monthly list of routine work–the farrier comes out, dewormer and vaccines get dispersed, and horses step up on the scale.
A functional scale also serves the purpose of weighing daily distributions of hay, forage, and grain. Consistency of portions is the most effective way to control the weight of the animals–and measuring a fixed mass will always lead to better results than eyeballing that mound of hay that could be 2…or might actually be 3 or 4 flakes.
If you have a horse that you swear gains pounds just from breathing or want to make sure your narrow new import is eating enough to put on healthy weight for muscle gain, get a scale–size really matters.
