The Body Condition Scoring System

I've always kept a binder with all my records for all my horses. I've done it since I was about 10 years old. Not that I ever had to put any records in it, I never had any besides the registration papers for one of my horses. Well, in the past couple years, I lost that binder. I found it yesterday! Boy, was it interesting to go back and see all the farrier dates, websites, and everything else I put into that binder from 2006. I even know the exact date from when Buck split his hoof open a while back. I looked at my empty folders for Elvis and Presley, the mini pony and mini donkey I owned, and my empty folders for Buck and Gus. I guess I'm the ex-owner for Buck too. (Yes, one of these days I'll do a complete post on him. And I guess you'll want a post of the Elvis and Presley days too.) Anyways, as I was looking through it, I decided to take everything out that wasn't about Gus or Buck, because I never had any records for Elvis and Presley anyways, and I no longer own them. I decided to keep Buck's folder though, because I want to record in great detail how he was sold. Just in case, you know? Of course I kept Gus's folder, because I still have him, and I'm assuming that in a month or so, I'm going to have vet records an inch thick.

Okay, I'm getting kind of off-track, but most of this is necessary for you to understand where I'm going with this whole post. I decided that every month, I am going to write up a new update on Gussers to put in his folder. Well, yesterday, before bravely going outside to see my horse (seriously, its a brave feat. Those cows we have will run you over. I'm not even kidding.) I typed up an update for Gus. Little did I know that I was dead wrong about Gus's body condition score.

Wait, now I have to backtrack a bit. The body condition scoring system is basically how you rate how healthy your horse is. A 1 being severely emaciated (basically almost dead) and a 10 being severely obese. A 5 would be the perfect place for your horse to be on the scale, with a healthy weight.

Well, when I wrote up Gus's update, I put him at a 4.5 on the body condition scoring scale, saying that I would like to see him gain a bit more weight. However, after going to really look him over, I would say that he's more like a 6. My horse is chubby. He does not need to gain weight, he needs to lose some. Now, I'm not saying he needs to lose a lot, probably only around 20 pounds, but still. He's got a gut. What can I say, we were made for each other. So, I corrected my update and re-printed it. Here is what it said:

Gus Update- 10/30/31

Health: Overall, Gus’s body score is 5.5 or 6. I’d like to see him lose a bit more weight. We desperately need to have the vet out to float his teeth and clean his sheath. In June of this year, I found a suspicious lump on his stifle area. We had the vet out, and we were going to have her back out in a month or so to do a biopsy on it. Well, now it is the end of October and nothing has been done. We have to have a biopsy done soon to determine whether it is cancerous or not. I’m also worried about Gus’s cough, which he has had for about a year, but it is now getting worse. These are all things that we will have the vet check as soon as my parents make the appointment. I’m also going to talk to the vet about vaccinations, because after all, Gus is 27 and I think that he needs them. Gus’s hooves are kind of brittle right now. We have a farrier appointment for the 3rd of November, and I’ll ask him about that then. I’m also going to start doing carrot stretches with Gus, so he limbers up a bit. He’s a little stiff right now, what with the cold weather and him being 27.

Shelter: We really need to take off the top of the barn before winter comes. Otherwise, I can just see a repeat of last year when the wind knocked it down and the horses were in danger. We are going to build a shelter for Gus this winter, since the barn is really no shelter at all. The shelter will be like a lean-to, only we will be able to completely close him in if the weather gets harsh enough. It will be roomy enough for him to walk around a little bit, and have room for a water trough inside.

Extras: I decided not to blanket him this year. Apparently this winter isn’t supposed to be as bad as last year, and Gus just tears them off anyway. Plus, he grows a pretty good winter coat. I’ll just have to be extra careful about keeping him clean, dry, and warm. Right now he is with 3 cows, but not for long. Soon he will be by himself, and I’m a bit worried about how that will affect him. He’ll have to learn to have me as his only companion.

That's the end of it. So, I'll tell you about what happened when I went out to see my baby. First, I take back what I said about him being flighty. He walked right up to me, didn't bat an eye, and let me touch him all over. He didn't want me to leave. Before I went out there, I was worried about what was going to happen with him on the 3rd, when he had his farrier's appointment and I was at school (I was thinking that if I couldn't catch him, the person he trusts most, how in the world was my mom going to be able to catch him?) but now I realize that it will be fine. I'll put a halter on him this weekend so my mom doesn't have to figure out how to do that, and it'll be easy as pie. However, I don't think that will stop me from stressing out during the school day, looking over at the lock anxiously, tapping my fingers and fidgeting when it gets to be 9:30. (The time of the appointment.)

Tomorrow's the horse show! I'm kind of nervous. Luckily, I finally found my helmet. By making a phone call. Apparently, I left it at my sister's house. So, I'll be up early tomorrow, getting ready for a horse show. I have to be at the barn by 8 in the morning. Fun stuff. Fortunately, its a fun show, so we don't have to dress up (only dress warm!) and our horses don't have to be bathed. Yay for fun shows that still offer real classes!