Everyone has a different mental picture of how a skinny horse looks, acts, and appears. Often the easiest way to determine if a horse needs to be investigated by authorities is to determine his or her body condition score using the Henneke Scale.

The Henneke Scale is a 1-9 system of evaluating fat cover on equines. A range of 4-7 is considered acceptable with a body condition score of 5 being ideal. Horses with body condition scores of 1 and 2 are considered emaciated and those with scores of 8 and 9 are obese. For more information about using the Henneke Scale to determine body condition score of horses visit the Kentucky Horse Council's website. (Editor's note: TheHorse.com offers a body condition score chart in PDF for download.)

Horses with body condition scores less than 3 warrant investigation and sometimes prosecution. It is important to note that older horses and those suffering from chronic illness may struggle to maintain body condition and should be judged accordingly.

One skinny horse in a herd of several otherwise healthy horses is typically either quite aged or suffering from a chronic condition. Sometimes, however, owners are unaware of herd dynamics and may need to make adjustments in the distribution of feed and/or number of feed receptacles available