Calculating Your Horse’s Weight
When determining how much you need to feed your horse, you first need to decide whether your horse needs to gain weight, lose weight or maintain its current body weight. Once you have made this determination, you can then use simple math to help you determine how much to actually feed to your horse.
To properly determine how much to feed your horse, it is best to first calculate its weight. Of course, most horse owners do not own a scale that is large enough to actually weigh their horse. Therefore, you will need to use weight tape to help you calculate an estimated weight of your horse.
The formula used for estimating a horse’s weight with weight tape depends on the age of your horse as well as its breed. Other factors that will determine how to calculate the weight include whether or not your horse is lactating or pregnant as well as whether it performs heavy work or is either underweight or overweight.
Generally speaking the formula that is used to determine an estimated weight includes multiplying the heart girth in inches times the length in inches, as measured from the point of the shoulder blade to the point of the rump. You should then divide this figure by 330. Keep in mind that the weight tape should be placed moderately tight when taking measurements, so that you should still be able to fit a few fingers under the tape. By determining the weight and taking in other factors, such as age and amount of activity the horse engages in, you will be better able to determine how much energy your horse needs to obtain through feed.