What is a horse weigh tape?

A horse weigh tape is a grooming kit essential, especially with the rise of equine obesity in the UK. But what is it, how do we use it and why do we all need one?

A horse weight tape is essentially a large measuring tape, designed to estimate the weight of your horse instead of their height. Placing it around the circumference of your horse’s girth, the tape should give a rough guide to how much your horse weighs.

Why do I need a horse weigh tape?

When used in combination with body condition scoring, weight tapes are a great way to keep an eye on potential weight loss and gain of your horse. Obesity in horses is a very real problem in the UK, which unfortunately leads to health conditions such as laminitis and Equine Metabolic Syndrome.

When your horse is an ‘ideal’ body condition, you can use the tape measurement to take a numerical value and more accurately monitor any upward or downward changes to weight than when just using visual estimation.

Using a tape is also great for weight estimation when using wormers, devising feed rations and prescribing medication.

How do you use a horse weigh tape?

When using a weight tape, it is important to use it in a repeatable fashion. This means that every time you use it should be exactly the same!

• Make sure your horse is standing on a flat, even surface
• Weight tapes usually have a one side to measure ‘horse’ weight and another to measure ‘pony’ weight, so make sure you are using the correct side for the height if your horse.
• Hold the ‘zero’ end of the tape and slide the weight tape over the horse’s back behind his withers.
• Grab the other end of the tape under his barrel where the girth normally goes and hold it snug against the skin, but not tight so that is causes discomfort.
• Pull the tape up to meet the other end with the ‘zero’. The number on the tape where the ‘zero’ hits is the amount that your horse weighs.

Final words

Horse weigh tapes are an excellent accessory to keep in your grooming kit, or cupboard. They allow you to weigh your horse to keep on top of condition and weight fluctuations.

You may also like to read

Equine Obesity: The horse owners part in the problem

How Does Gut Health Affect Your Horse’s Weight?