Healthy, happy ponies

With the arrival of spring grass, it’s sooo easy for ponies to pile on the pounds, but the good news is that there are plenty of things you can do to prevent this happening! By monitoring your pony’s condition regularly you’ll be ready to make essential adjustments – result! Here’s what to consider.

Hands on

Knowing about body condition scoring is a great way to keep tabs on your pony’s weight.

This simple method involves feeling your pony’s neck, middle and hindquarters to assess his condition. It’s wise to do this every two weeks in order to catch any weight fluctuations early.

Once you’ve finished body condition scoring your pony, rate him from 1–5, with 5 being obese and 1 being very thin.

Want to know more? Check out our full body condition scoring guide here.

Top tip

Take photos of your pony when you condition score him so you have visual records of his body shape, too.

Measure up!

While weight tapes aren’t 100% accurate, they provide a good estimate of your pony’s weight, and help you spot changes. Here’s what to do.

1. Stand your pony up on a hard, flat surface making sure he’s standing square.
2. Take hold of the zero end of the weight tape then place the other end over the top of his back just behind his withers.
3. Grab hold of the end of the tape under your pony’s belly and bring it to meet the zero end. Avoid pulling it too tight, but make sure it’s snug!
4. Read the measurement to fi nd out how many kilogrammes your pony weighs – simple, right?

By weight taping your pony once a week at the same time of day and recording it somewhere, you’ll be able to make adjustments to his lifestyle sooner.

Did you know?

The average pony weighs 350-450kg but this depends on several factors such as his build and height.

Discover more ways to manage your pony’s weight in May PONY – out now!