Well...the variation in hand sizes was (and may still be, in some areas) used to deceptively market horses. An old saying was "Buy short, sell tall." Some unscrupulous horse dealers have been known to trim hooves longer and even train horses to "stand on tip-toes" to add height (and thus justify higher prices).
The hand is admittedly a very specialized unit (like the stere, which is an old name for a cubic meter of lumber), but I think a metric hand of 10 cm (1 dm) would be more popular with horse people than meters. As long as there's fresh hay within reach, I suspect that the numbers on the measuring stick won't mean a whole lot to me then. :-) -- Jason ----- Original Message ----- From: MightyChimp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2004 7:39 AM Subject: [USMA:30057] Re: Hands (Re: Horse racing) > So what if person A has a big hand and person B a small hand? Could this > account for the fact that numbers are rounded to the whole hand because the > length was never intended to be exactly something and 4 inches is just a > close approximation? Thus 100 mm is just as legitimate an approximation as > 4 inches and there is no reason that one can not say a hand is 10 cm. > > When you come back, we will just measure you in metres and forget all about > the hands. If someone mentions hands, we will laugh and say: "Stupid idiot, > horses don't have hands, they have hooves". That might quiet anyone who > wants to do it in FFU. > > Euric > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "James Wentworth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, 2004-06-06 08:50 > Subject: [USMA:30054] Hands (Re: Horse racing) > > > > Jason, I've never done it or seen it done, but I imagine that in Ye Olde > > Days it was common to measure a horse's height by placing one hand next to > a > > front hoof, then "stacking" and counting the number of hand-spans from the > > sole of the hoof to the withers (the base of the neck). In the absence of > a > > measuring stick, such "hand-stacking" would have provided a way to check a > > seller's claim for the horse's height (not unlike pacing off a piece of > > property in meters or yards). When I come back in my next life as a Shire > > draft horse, I hope I'm measured in 100 mm hands and massed (weighed) in > > kilograms. :-) -- J. Jason Wentworth > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Jason Darfus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: U.S. Metric Association <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 10:29 PM > > Subject: [USMA:30047] Horse racing > > > > > > > Did anyone here in the U.S. (or elsewhere) watch the Belmont Stakes to > see > > if > > > Smarty Jones could cinch the Triple Crown? I've never watched horse > > racing > > > before but I thought it would be interesting just this once. Anyway, I > > found > > > myself laughing out loud but at the same time wanting to yell at the > > sports > > > casters. Horse racing must be the last bastion of practice for 100% > pure > > > imperial measurement. So, the track is 6 furlongs and that horse is 17 > > hands > > > tall? Hmmm... come again? What the heck does that mean? Under what > > > circumstances does one decide to measure using their hands instead of > > their > > > feet? They still gave the horse's weight in pounds so I'm surprised > they > > > didn't use stones. > > > I'm sure it's just tradition that these measurements are still used but > it > > > just struck me as funny because I've never heard anyone describe > something > > > using 'hands' and 'furlongs'. > > > > > > jdd > > > > > > > >
