Why do you measure horses in hands and what does it mean?
Nov2Written by:
2/11/2011 8:35 AM 
Oddly, at least to nonhorse people, the size of a horse rests in the palm of the hand. You see, even in an age of laser accuracy where distances are measured with great precision, the standard measurement of a horse's height is still done in hands.
A hand is equal to 4 Inches, with one-inch increments (1 inch being equivalent to 0.1 hands, 2 inches being equivalent to 0.2 hands, and so on), and horses are measured from the ground to the top of their withers, the high point of the back located between the shoulder blades. If a horse measures 60 Inches high, the horse is 15 hands. If the horse stands 62 inches of the ground, the horse is 15.2 hands. Because the hand is an increment of 4 inches, if the tape measure shows 64 inches, the horse is 16 hands, not 15.4 hands.
The story behind this unit of measurement is that a king went to measure his favorite horse. Not having a device to measure with, he used the only thing he knew would be consistent - the palm of his hand - which measured four inches across. Since then, the hand has been the unit of measure for equines.