Weight of the Horse

[TreadHead]

Apologies if this topic has been covered before, but a recent Twitter exchange got me to thinking about this.

How much does the weight of a horse potentially fluctuate month-to-month?  When a paddock report comments \"it looks like he has lost some weight\", how much are we talking about, 10 lbs?  30 lbs?  50 lbs?

Are horses fully grown and filled out a 2yrs old, or do they generally always add some weight at 3?  at 4?

Consider the following example:

A 1000 lb. 3yr old runs a \"2\" during a March race on TG.  This horse re-pairs this \"2\" in July, but this time the horse actually weighed 1030 lbs.  Does the weight of the horse impact the effort?  Wouldn\'t a horse need to put forth more effort to move this larger mass around the track, so this \"2\" might really be a \"0\"?  If 5lbs. on the jockey makes a difference, wouldn\'t the fluctuating horse weights potentially make an even larger difference?

This is obviously a double edged sword if true.  A horse weighing less that his previous races would need less effort to duplicate the figure, however, that loss of weight probably indicates something is not right and he is much less likely to run a top figure.

[plasticman]

It wouldnt be hard to weigh each horse as they went to the paddock, but i would imagine that this information isnt info that bettors, owners, trainers, and jockeys are clammoring for, so, its not info that gets published. Dog racing has the dog weights available, im not sure why dog weights matter more than horse weights matter, but the dog industry seems to have no problem publishing their weights.

When a paddock reporter says a horse has lost weight and its visually noticible to them i would imagine its about 50 lbs.

For me personally, if a horse is underweight and not carrying good flesh, i\'ll be able to notice it and proceed accordingly even if i dont actually have a number.