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Weighing In at the World Equestrian GamesBy Kentucky Equine Research Staff · February 22, 2011
As the designated feed, hay, and bedding supplier to the World Equestrian Games (WEG), Kentucky Equine Research (KER) was expected to provide top-quality, palatable feedstuffs, multiple bedding choices, and world-class knowledge of feeding sport horses. But more is sometimes better, right? As a convenience to the competitors, KER also provided digital scales.
Because of KER's involvement in previous world-class competitions, the company knew that many riders like to monitor the weight of their horses as part the overall management plan during competition, keeping track of fluctuations that might signal a decline in health or performance.
Weighing can also help managers monitor the amount of sweat lost during exercise, and allow them to more accurately compensate for these electrolyte losses. As an example, endurance and eventing horses can lose significant weight through sweating in a single day of training or competition.
Weight can be estimated using a variety of methods, but the digital scales make this measurement as easy as walking the horse onto a low platform and reading the result.
Jennifer Hall, a nutrition advisor at KER, noted that several competitors took advantage of this perk.
“The scales were used most by those involved in eventing and endurance,” Hall said. “The scales provided far more accurate measurements than weight tapes, and the competitors were most appreciative to have the scales at their disposal.”
One unusual use of the scales occurred during the driving competition. Randomly selected carriages were weighed following the marathon phase at WEG to ensure vehicles were over the minimum weight allowed by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). With the use of specially designed ramps, carriages were easily rolled onto the scales, and a digital readout provided the weight instantaneously.
This method of weighing was heralded by the event organizers, as weighing carriages is often more primitive and therefore less accurate at other competitions.
