A Hand Is Still a Unit for Measuring Horses
A hand is the part of the arm below the wrist. It is also a fixed measurement of exactly four inches.
A hand is the part of the arm below the wrist, and a unit of four inches used to measure horses. The measurement survives because it works: a horse's height is taken at the withers, the ridge between the shoulder blades, because the head moves and the withers do not. A horse of 15.2 hands is 15 hands and 2 inches, not 15.2 hands — the notation looks decimal but is not. The human hand has 27 bones, roughly a quarter of the body's total in each pair.
- The end of the arm. *Raise your hand.*
- A horse measure. *Sixteen hands high.*
- A worker. *A farm hand.*
- A clock pointer. *The minute hand.*
- Old English — *hand*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | hand | A hand. |
| Plural | hands | Hands. |
| Verb | hand | Handed. |
| Compound | handful | A handful. |
| Old English | hand | A hand. |
- He held out his hand.Anatomy.
- The horse stands 16 hands.Measure.
- A hand is four inches.Definition.
How horses are measured
- A hand is exactly four inches
- Height is taken at the withers, which do not move
- 15.2 hands means fifteen hands and two inches
- Under 14.2 hands an animal is generally called a pony
- The unit began as the width of a man's palm
Old English *hand*, of Germanic origin, related to German *Hand*.
How tall is a horse of 15.2 hands?
Fifteen hands and two inches, which is 62 inches. The notation looks decimal but counts inches after the point.
Why are horses measured at the withers?
Because the withers, the ridge between the shoulder blades, stay in the same place while the head moves.