Top Bar Equine Services

When we talk about body condition scoring, most people focus on the number.

I focus on the risk.

For most horses, a body condition score of 5-6 is considered ideal. This is where we typically see the best balance between health, performance, and metabolic stability. As horses move into the danger zones on either end of the scale, potential concerns begin to increase.

Horses scoring between 1-4 may struggle with maintaining muscle mass, supporting performance, recovering from work, and maintaining adequate energy reserves.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, horses scoring between 7-9 carry excess body fat that can place additional stress on joints and soft tissues, reduce athletic performance, and increase the risk of metabolic dysfunction and laminitis in susceptible horses.

One thing many owners don’t realize is how much weight separates each body condition score. For the average horse, one full body condition score represents approximately 50 lb. That means the difference between a BCS 5 and a BCS 7 may be roughly 100 lb of additional body fat.

Body condition scoring isn’t about achieving the lowest number possible. It’s about finding the body condition that best supports your horse’s health, comfort, and performance.

What body condition score is your horse currently carrying?

Before adding another supplement, ask yourself:
Is your horse’s current diet actually balanced?

One of the biggest mistakes I see horse owners make is trying to solve nutritional problems with supplements before addressing the foundation of the diet. A supplement cannot compensate for a poorly balanced feeding program.

Your horse’s nutritional foundation should include:

• Appropriate forage intake
• Adequate energy intake
• High-quality protein and essential amino acids
• Vitamins and minerals supplied in the correct amounts
• Access to salt and water

Only after those needs are met should we begin evaluating whether additional supplementation is necessary.

The reality is that many horses don’t need more supplements. They need a stronger foundation.
In fact, one of the most common recommendations I make during a diet review is to simplify the program and focus on meeting the horse’s basic nutritional requirements first.

Getting a recommendation from one of my instructors means a lot.

Dr. Rachel Mottet is a PhD Equine Nutritionist, owner of Legacy Equine Nutrition, and has been part of my equine nutrition education journey. I’m incredibly grateful for the knowledge she’s shared and for her support as I continue building Top Bar Equine Services.

Thank you for the recommendation, Dr. Mottet. ❤️

Figured it was probably time to properly introduce myself. Thanks for being here. 🤍

This was one of the most overweight horses on my client list.

No grain. No high-calorie performance feed. Just free-choice forage, limited pasture, a quarter pound of beet pulp, and salt.

One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that grain is what makes horses fat. Horses gain weight when they’re consuming more calories than they’re burning, regardless of where those calories come from.

It was that despite carrying all that extra weight, his diet still wasn’t meeting several of his nutrient requirements. Sometimes the horse that needs to lose weight is also the horse whose diet needs the most work.

One of my favourite parts of what I do is helping horse owners cut through all the noise around nutrition.

I got into equine nutrition because I was that performance horse owner who just wanted to do the best thing for my horses. Everywhere I turned, I was getting different advice. Feed this, don’t feed that, add this supplement, try that product. The more questions I asked, the more I realized how much there was to learn.

What started as wanting to better understand nutrition for my own horses eventually turned into a passion for helping other horse owners do the same.

Nutrition shouldn’t be based on what’s trending. It should be based on the horse in front of you, the forage available to you, and the goals you’re trying to achieve.

After reviewing many equine diets, these are three feeding mistakes I encounter again and again.

1️⃣ Not feeding products at the recommended rate

Many feeds, ration balancers, and supplements are formulated to provide specific nutrients when fed according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.

When they’re significantly underfed, horses may not receive the intended nutritional benefits.

2️⃣ Not feeding enough salt

Salt is one of the most overlooked nutrients in the equine diet.

Yet it plays an important role in hydration, electrolyte balance, nerve function, and muscle function.

Many horses simply aren’t receiving enough.

3️⃣ Blindly adding supplements

A new supplement isn’t always the answer.

One of the most common things I see during diet reviews is multiple products with overlapping ingredients and purposes.

Before adding another supplement, it’s important to evaluate whether the foundation of the diet is actually meeting the horse’s nutritional requirements.

The best nutrition programs aren’t usually the most complicated. They’re the ones built on a strong foundation.