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 >
