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with an equine veterinarian. If you have training, keep a copy of your certification should you need it in court. When using the Henneke system, always make physical contact with the six parts of the horse’s body. The kind of touch you use is important. Simply stroking the animal lightly will not provide an accurate idea of the horse’s condition; you have to apply pressure to each part in turn. The pressure you apply should be much like that of a massage. If you press the horse’s side with your hand, you will feel the fat covering his ribs and get an idea of how much fat is present. Likewise, when checking the withers, feel all around the area, as if you were squeezing firm clay. It is possible to be firm and gentle at the same time. When a horse has a long coat, it is imperative to use your hands to feel the horse. A long coat will hide protruding bones in all but the most extreme cases. After pressing each part of the horse with your hands to feel for body fat, you then assign 24 The Humane Society of the United States each area of the body the numerical score that corresponds with the condition. Total the scores from each area and divide by six. The resulting number is the horse’s rating on the Henneke body condition scoring system. The chart rates horses on a scale of one to nine. A score of one is considered poor or emaciated with no body fat. A nine is extremely fat or obese. Equine veterinarians consider a body score between four and seven acceptable. A five is considered ideal. Conformational differences between horses may make certain criteria within each score difficult to apply. In these instances, those areas influenced by conformation should be discounted but not ignored when determining the condition score. Conformation also changes in pregnant mares as they approach parturition (birth). Since the weight of the conceptus tends to pull the skin and musculature tighter over the back and ribs, in these cases the emphasis is placed upon fat SCORE DESCRIPTION 1. Poor Extremely emaciated; no fatty tissue; vertebrae, ribs, tailhead, and bones of withers, shoulder and neck are visible 2. Very thin Emaciated; slight tissue cover over bones; vertebrae, ribs, tailhead, and bones of withers, shoulder and neck are visible 3. Thin Slight fat cover over body; individual vertebrae and ribs no longer visibly discernible; tailhead, and bones of withers, shoulder and neck are visible 4. Moderately thin Ridge of spine and outline of ribs are visible; tailhead may or may not be visible depending on the breed; withers, shoulders and neck do not appear overly thin 5. Moderate Spine and ribs cannot be seen, however ribs can be felt; tailhead is spongy; withers, shoulder and neck are rounded and smooth 6. Moderately fleshy Slight crease down spine; ribs and tailhead feel spongy; fat deposits along withers and neck and behind shoulders 7. Fleshy Crease down spine; ribs have fat filling between them; tailhead spongy; fat deposits along withers and neck and behind shoulders 8. Fat Apparent crease down spine; ribs difficult to feel; soft fat surrounding tailhead; fat deposits along withers and neck and behind shoulders 9. Extremely fat Obvious crease down spine; patchy fat on ribs; bulging fat on tailhead, withers, behind shoulders and on neck; fat fills in flank and inner thighs Common complaints


20028HS
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