Body Condition Scoring
Body Condition Scoring (BCS) is an objective system used to assess a horse’s nutritional status or body condition. It involves evaluating the visibility and palpability of bone structures, as well as externally accessible fat reserves, at six body regions: the neck, the shoulder area leading to the ribs, the ribs of the chest wall, the back and croup area, the hip bones, and the line between the tail head and the pin bones.
Depending on the body condition, i.e. the degree of fat cover, the animal being assessed is assigned a score between 1 = ‘emaciated’ and 9 = ‘extremely fat’ according to Schramme&Kienzle, 2004: the Body Condition Score (BCS).
A horse should normally have a BCS of 5 to 6. In practice, most horses fall between BCS 4 and 7.
You can find detailed guidance on assessing the BCS at: