As someone who gets her hands on horses in a serious way, I'd have to say that the majority of our stabled, grain-fed horses are overweight. I've heard it called an "epidemic," but for the sake of calmness, let's just say that most of these horses exceed the recommended body-condition scale of 4 to 6.

If you're unfamiliar with the equine body scale, a 1 is severely undernourished and often on the verge of death. The neck muscles are sunken and the individual backbones are evident, along with the ribs and hip bones. It's not fun to see a horse like this, and it's certainly not fun for the horse, either. These are the starvation cases that make rescue workers cry.

On the other end is the obese pasture ornament at a 9. He has a thick, cresty neck, his ribcage is seemingly lost, his back resembles a coffee table and he carries substantial pads of fat, particularly at the tailbone. Unfortunately you'll see these horses all too often on unlimited rich grass, and all too often they're insulin resistant and prone to all manner of problems, including laminitis.

But you'll also encounter many horses (yep, many of our big dressage horses and AQHA halter horses are overweight) in the Jenny Craig range, and while it may be socially acceptable to compete on a horse who's as sleek as a seal, he also may be a candidate for insulin resistance if he's kept 100-200 pounds overweight. As well, the extra weight taxes his joints.

Your ideal body weight is going to be between a 4 and 6. I have several clients who have very fit thoroughbreds, and these athletes are right at a 4 body scale. They have a bit of backbone and you can easily feel their ribs. I wouldn't want to see any of these horses lose 50 pounds, but are they healthy right where they are? I certainly think so. The horse at a 5 body scale is going to have palpable ribs, but will still have a light layer of fat over them. If you're showing and want a little extra bloom, you can nudge your horse up to a six. But if you're pumping corn oil, sweet feed and alfalfa into him in order to get the job done, please spend a couple evenings reading about equine nutrition.

Most barns have weight tapes available, in which you measure your horse's girth and get a guesstimate of what he weighs. A livestock scale is going to be your best bet, but short of that, here's a video that shows how to measure your horse, along with a handy calculator provided by Thehorse.com. I've also included a link to body-score photos:

http://www.thehorse.com/Tool/Weight-Calculator.aspx?src=in

http://www.kentuckyhorse.org/henneke-body-condition-scoring/