Why are horses measured by hands not feet?

Question

Why are horses measured by hands not feet?

Answer 1

ever tried holding a tape measure wid ya feet!!

Answer 2

When someone asks "How tall is this horse?", the answer usually comes in units known as the "hand." It is a common unit of measurement now used only for quantifying the height of the horse.

Tracing a tradition backward is a dicey proposition. We know that today a "hand" is 4 inches, with one inch increments, and the measurement is from level ground to the highest non-variable skeletal structure on the horse, the withers.

History suggests that at one time, perhaps 5,000 years ago, it was as rudimentary as stacking a man's clenched fist one upon another, which tells us it was rather rough and inaccurate.

At some point, horse owners, and especially traders, agreed that the "hand" will always represent 4 inches, and will always measure the height from level ground to the withers.

But why a "hand"? In the ancient Mediterranean cultures, the hand unit developed – along with other measures – based upon references people of the time could relate to, such as body parts (e.g., foot). The problem was, whose foot, or whose hand? There were some inaccuracies.

Answer 3

Hands is not human hands by the way. Its just how horses are measured

Answer 4

it would be really hard to measure a horse by using your feet.By using your hands you risk the chance of -just know that you are supposed too. sorry-im tired

Answer 5

I imagine because logistically, it would be a lot easier to measure a horse in hands than in feet.  (Easier to count upwards with your hands than trying to balance on one foot!) You know, like back in the old days.

By the way, one hand = four inches.

Answer 6

It's just an archaic hold-over.  Back in the long-ago and far-away, people didn't necessarily always have a measuring device handy (no pun intended!) to measure a horse they were considering buying or perhaps breeding one of their horses to.

The width of the average human hand, measured from pinkie-side to pointer-side, is about 4 inches.  Going from hoof to withers (the highest point of a horse's back, right where the shoulder blades come up to the spinal column at the base of the horse's neck), people could measure a horse and could communicate to people how tall the horse was.  (When you're standing right by a horse or viewing it live, you don't really need someone to tell you how big the horse is because you can assess it yourself.  But if you're talking with someone about how big a horse is when the horse isn't there, you can get a good picture in your mind's eye of how tall the horse is if someone tells you it's 14 hands, or 16 hands, or whatever.)

FWIW, in relation to the Kentucky Derby, most of the horses that go to post tomorrow will be around 16 hands, plus or minus a couple of inches.  The horses in the Derby are young enough that some of them will still have maybe half an inch to an inch of growing to do before they are fully mature.  Northern Dancer, the immortal stallion who is in the pedigree of many of the Derby starters, was a small horse, only 15.2 hands (that's 15 hands, 2 inches) when he matured.  Forego, the three-time horse of the year who finished third in Secretariat's Derby in 1973, was 17.2, 17 hands 2 inches-- which is HUGE for a Thoroughbred.  Dark Mirage, a champion Thoroughbred mare from about 4 decades ago, was "about" 14 hands.  "About" is a useful modifier;  I've seen pictures of Dark Mirage, and if she was an inch taller than 13 hands, I'd be surprised.

The people who buy Thoroughbreds at auction tend to look for size, and the market punishes any horse that's 15 hands or less in size; but champions come in all sizes and it's heart that counts, not height, when they're duking it out in the final furlong to the wire in a race.