Body Condition Scoring of Horses Horses are scored on a scale of 1-9 Poor to Extremely Fat

1 – Poor Indicated by a prominent back bone and protruding hook and pin bones

2 – Very Thin Appear emaciated Have very little but some covering over neck and ribs

3 - Thin Thin fat covering Has some covering over the spine and ribs

4 – Moderately Thin Slight ridge along the back Can see ribs faintly

5 - Moderate Back is flat Moderately conditioned Ribs can be felt but not seen

6 – Moderate to Fleshy Fat over ribs feel spongy Fat around tailhead is soft Fat is appearing around withers

7 - Fleshy Fat deposited along neck and withers and behind shoulder. Individual ribs can be felt, but with noticeable filling between ribs. Fat around tailhead feels soft.

8 - Fat Under worked horse that gets little exercise Extremely fat Noticeable thickening of neck

9 – Extremely Fat Bulging fat along neck, shoulders and withers Flank is filled in flush