This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Steve McIlree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Although weight tapes may not give an accurate scale weight, they > do provide you with a measure of how a given horse is doing > relative to his own past. > [...] It's hard to eyeball these guys and see gains > or losses to their sometimes considerable girth, so the tape is a > valuable aid. IMO.
I'll second that. Part of my weekly routine is to measure the heart-girth and rib-girth on each of my equines, and record the numbers on the calendar. I use an ordinary 1/4"-wide carpenter's measuring tape, and record to the nearest inch on the Fjords (1/2" on the donkey). This allows me to see if the animal is generally gaining or losing, and compare where we are this year vs last. I have found that measurements can vary as much as an inch or two without the animal actually changing weight, depending on stance (head up vs down), level of tension, etc. And, AM vs PM measurements can vary as much as 5", especially over the ribs! I try to measure them the same time of day (just after I deliver their breakfast hay), with them in the same postures (necks down, eating it), every time. But, I don't really believe a measurement until I see it repeated over several weeks. There are formulas for converting girth measurements to approximate weights. All measurements below use girths and lengths in inches to give weights in pounds. Girth is heart-girth measurement (just behind the withers and elbow) at full exhale, with the head carried level; length is from point of shoulder to point of rump---a measurement that I find it difficult to take reliably. 1) weight = girth x girth x length/300 2) weight = 50 + (girth x girth x length/300) 3) weight = girth x girth x length/330 1) is from an Australian book on donkeys. 2) is from a U.S. Peace Corps manual, supposedly for use in the 3rd world, i.e. probably intended mostly for donkeys, small mules, ponies, and half-starved horses. 3) was posted on rec.eq, citing The Chronicle of the Horse, 8/21/92 (this agrees fairly well with most horse weight tapes). Oddly enough, I find the donkey formula (1) to agree better with my estimates of my Fjords' weights than the one intended for horses (3)! Marsha Jo Hannah Murphy must have been a horseman-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will! 30 mi SSE of San Francisco, Calif. -------
