Glossary
Body condition score (BCS).
Direct answer
Body condition score assesses subcutaneous fat in the horse at defined anatomical sites: neck crest, withers, behind the shoulder, ribs, loin and tail head. Scoring is done by looking and by palpating. A nine-point scale is widely used internationally, while shorter scales are also current in Europe.
The value is ordinal rather than linear: the gap between two points does not everywhere represent the same amount of fat. Coat, breed, conformation, pregnancy and muscling all distort the judgement, and without palpation a thick winter coat is easily read as fat. Training and a fixed protocol markedly improve agreement between assessors.
The score describes overall condition, not distribution. Regional deposits, particularly on the neck crest, are scored separately and carry weight when equine metabolic syndrome is under discussion. In people, body mass index plays a comparable role but is calculated rather than palpated: the score remains a trained sensory judgement.
Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS)Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID)
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