Measuring a horse’s bodyweight is important for managing fitness, nutrition and health. However, not everyone has access to a livestock scale. In the omission of a scale, horse owners can use equations to predict their horse’s bodyweight using a tape to calculate their height and body length. Using a weight tape can be surprisingly accurate. The weight tape gives you the opportunity to measure your horse and estimate their weight.
Initially, you will need to measure the horse’s girth. To do this, measure right around the horse at the point the girth of the saddle would normally sit, or about a hand’s width behind the point of the elbow. The tape should be snug against the horse, but not too tight.
Next, measure your horse’s body length. Start at the point of the shoulder and measure to the point of the hip. This line may not be straight.
Once you have your measurements, multiply and divide as follows for an adult horse:
(Heart Girth * Heart Girth * Length) / 150 = Approximate Weight in KG.
- If you are measuring a yearling, instead of dividing by 150, you would divide by 91.
- If you are measuring a foal, instead of dividing by 150, you would divide by 127.
- If you are measuring a pony instead of dividing by 150, you would divide by 135.
Need help? Try this great online calculator.
