Why You Need to Know your Horses Weight for worming?

Why You Need to Know your Horses Weight for worming?

Posted by Ben Watson on 31st Jul 2012

For a full list of products go to our horse wormers page

Underdosing horse wormers can lead to resistance, this is because if a horse is given a lower than indicated dose not all of the worms are killed, so the worms that survive may and become more tolerant to the drug in the wormer.

Most bathroom scales are not suitable for weighing, a horse and guessing is well, just guess work. So how can we estimate the weight of a horse?

Weight tapes are a useful tool, they measure the girth of the horse in estimated kilograms, but if you do not have access to a tape it is possible to use a formula to estimate your horses weight by measuring the girth and length of your horse and then using a formula.

Girth- measure the horse behind the elbow and round the withers in centimetres

Length-Measure from the shoulder diagonally to the buttock in centimetres.

Weight in Kilograms= girth(cm)2 x length (cm) / 11877

 

Knowing your horses weight is essential to a good worming programme there is a lot of variation in horse wormers delivery: 

Underdosing can promote resistance and it is never a good idea to overdose a horse wormer.

  • The most accurate but not neccessarily the most practical way of weighing a horse is to put them on a weigh bridge
  • Equine Weight tapes can be used to estimate the weight of a horse
  • If you do not have access to either a weigh bridge or a weigh tape it is possible to estimate a horses weight by measuring from the horses withers round the belt and back round to the withers and using the girth measurement on the table below to estimate the horses weight.
 Girth  Length
 Weight
(inches)(cm)(lbs)(kg)

30.0

76

100

45.5

40.0

102

200

91.0

45.5

116

300

136.5

50.5

128

400

182.0

55.0

140

500

227.0

58.5

148

600

273.0

61.5

156

700

318.0

64.5

164

800

364.0

67.5

171

900

409.0

70.5

178

1000

455.0

 73.0

185

1100

500.0

75.5

192

1200

545.0

77.5

197

1300

591.0

For a full list of products go to our horse wormers page

Underdosing horse wormers can lead to resistance, this is because if a horse is given a lower than indicated dose not all of the worms are killed, so the worms that survive may and become more tolerant to the drug in the wormer.

Most bathroom scales are not suitable for weighing, a horse and guessing is well, just guess work. So how can we estimate the weight of a horse?

Weight tapes are a useful tool, they measure the girth of the horse in estimated kilograms, but if you do not have access to a tape it is possible to use a formula to estimate your horses weight by measuring the girth and length of your horse and then using a formula.

Girth- measure the horse behind the elbow and round the withers in centimetres

Length-Measure from the shoulder diagonally to the buttock in centimetres.

Weight in Kilograms= girth(cm)2 x length (cm) / 11877

 

Knowing your horses weight is essential to a good worming programme there is a lot of variation in horse wormers delivery: 

Underdosing can promote resistance and it is never a good idea to overdose a horse wormer.

  • The most accurate but not neccessarily the most practical way of weighing a horse is to put them on a weigh bridge
  • Equine Weight tapes can be used to estimate the weight of a horse
  • If you do not have access to either a weigh bridge or a weigh tape it is possible to estimate a horses weight by measuring from the horses withers round the belt and back round to the withers and using the girth measurement on the table below to estimate the horses weight.
 Girth  Length
 Weight
(inches)(cm)(lbs)(kg)

30.0

76

100

45.5

40.0

102

200

91.0

45.5

116

300

136.5

50.5

128

400

182.0

55.0

140

500

227.0

58.5

148

600

273.0

61.5

156

700

318.0

64.5

164

800

364.0

67.5

171

900

409.0

70.5

178

1000

455.0

 73.0

185

1100

500.0

75.5

192

1200

545.0

77.5

197

1300

591.0