Hello All,Dear Jason,
I just came across an interesting listing on DraftsForSale.com. It's for a huge Belgian mare named Hannah (at 19.1 hands tall and 2450 pounds, she's an equine giantess!): http://www.draftsforsale.com/ShowAd/index.php?id=43012cf2b71d5 <http://www.draftsforsale.com/ShowAd/index.php?id=43012cf2b71d5>
She is bred to Metric's Rochester out of Lake Ledge Metric, for an April 2006 foal. Now *there's* an outreach opportunity to popularize metric among the rural US population. If the foal is a filly, perhaps her owner could be persuaded to name her "Little Miss Metric" ("Missy" for short). As she grew, she could illustrate how big meters are. She could also become a living, breathing example of how massive a metric ton is. -- Jason
I think that, in the fullness of time, hands for horses will be defined as 100 millimetres.
Currently, the British definition of a hand for a horse is 101.6 millimetres. This is simply a direct conversion of 4 inches of 25.4 inches. (Note: Clearly this definition is based on the 'metric inch' of 1959, as prior to 1959, inches had different values in different parts of the world-- UK inches, USA inches, Canadian inches, Cape inches, etc.)
So we can guess that the horse you describe above (at 19.1 hands) is a little taller than 1.9 metres simply by looking at the first part of the number (19).
The second part, the '.1', is quite a bit more complicated.
Firstly the '.' is not a decimal marker; it is a fractional marker as the 1 refers to 1 finger or 1 quarter (1/4) of a hand; in this case, it is defined as a quarter of a hand or exactly (according to the UK definition) 25.4 millimetres.
The height you have given us for the horse above should be read as:
19.1 hands, which is equal to 4 hands each of 101.6 millimetres plus 1 quarter of a hand (or one finger) of 25.4 millimetres, so the horse is exactly 19 x 101.6 = 1930.4 millimetres plus 1 x 25.4 = 25.4 millimetres and these, added together, means that the horse is 1955.8 millimetres (say 1.95 metres).
As I said it is quite a bit more complicated -- it's not easy being a horse fancier.
The alternative of redefining a hand for a horse as 100 millimetres would mean that this horse would currently be described as 19.5 hands and, in this case, the '.' would be read as a normal decimal marker.
I doubt that this sensible approach will be considered by the horse community anytime soon, as, by their very practice of horse preservation, they label themselves as deep conservatives.
However, to end as I began, I think that in the fullness of time hands for horses will be defined as 100 millimetres.
I also feel strongly that some within the horse community will gradually realise the stupidity of their current position and will gradually change the definition of a hand from 101.6 millimetres to 100 millimetres. I believe that some European countries already define a hand as 100 millimetres although it is more common to simply measure horse heights in metric units directly, and avoid the concept of hands (with their competing definitions) altogether.
Of course, then the entirely arbitrary division between ponies and horses (currently 14.2 hands = 1473.2 millimetres) might have to be rounded to something like 1.5 metres, but that's another whole delicious discussion and argument that the horse community could enjoy for another 100 years or more!
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin LCAMS
Geelong, Australia
61 3 5241 2008
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.metricationmatters.com
LCAMS means that Pat Naughtin has been recognised as a 'Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist' with the United States Metric Association.
This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email.
