Or even better, 14.3 of them! In the market for a horse or pony? We’ve got ’em.
If you’ve ever wondered how horses are measured, wonder no more! When you look at the ads in our Horses & Ponies category, you’ll see things like 16H or 14.3H in them. For those unfamiliar with equine lingo, that H stands for hands – the standard measurement for horses. Each hand equals about 4 inches, and that number tells you the height from the ground to the horse’s withers (shoulders).
So why hands and not a sensible, understandable unit of measurement like … well, feet? Very much like the 12″ foot we widely use today, the hand was based on the size of the average man’s hand when measured across the fingers. Before there were standard, widespread units of measurement both hands and feet were used to give people a general idea how large (or small) something might be.
And that, friends, is about the size of it.