Of the 50 older horses the researchers examined, 46% were at an ideal weight, like this 25-year-old. | Photo: Courtesy Dr. Conny Herholz

The idea that the aging horse is a skinny horse might be getting old itself. In a recent study, researchers found that many old horses are in good body condition. And, at least in certain countries, those that don’t have ideal condition are more likely to be overweight than underweight.

“Achieving optimal body condition requires knowledgeable calculation of the feed ration, and that’s just as true for older horses,” said Melissa Raemy, BSc, in agronomics with a specialty in animal sciences; she works under the supervision of Conny Herholz, PD, DrMedVet, FTA, Dipl. ECEIM, ATA, a professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences School of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Sciences, in Switzerland, and Ingrid Vervuert, PD, DrMedVet, Specialist in animal nutrition and dietetics at the University of Leipzig in Germany.

Raemy and colleagues examined the body condition scores of 50 horses aged 18-28 (with an average of 22 years) in the Switzerland’s Bern and Freiburg cantons. The breeds included warmbloods, Thoroughbreds, ponies, and Franches-Montagnes horses, and they stood an average height of 15.3 hands