I can see where measuring a horse in hands in one place and in decimetres
elsewhere can create error.
If a horse is measured as 17.3 dm high but is called hand, an American might
assume it means 17 American hands and 3 inches. This would equal 71 inches
or 18 dm. Thus the American might think the horse taller then it is.
A Dutchman interpreting an English description of 17 hands 3 inches (written
as 17.3 hands) as 17.3 dm would think the horse shorter then it is. Not
knowing who uses what definition can only make it worse.
Or is this one of the situations that what the other guy doesn't know won't
hurt him?
Dan
----- Original Message -----
From: "James J. Wentworth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, 2005-09-21 20:55
Subject: [USMA:34596] Re: Metric US draft horses
That is exactly what many equine businesses and stables have done. They
use a metric hand of 100 mm (1 decimeter).
Some countries (the Netherlands, in particular) measure horses' heights in
meters to two decimal places. The metric hand is easily related to meters
since 10 metric hands equals 1 meter (for example, a 17.3 metric hand
draft horse is 1.73 meters tall--just move the decimal point one space to
the left). Also, there's not much chance of confusing metric hands and
meters--a "1.73 hand" horse would be tinier than the smallest miniature
horse foal! :-) -- Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Wade VMS Systems" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 6:49 AM
Subject: [USMA:34586] Re: Metric US draft horses
>The drive to preserve the 'hand' is a drive to protect the word 'hand'
>as a
symbol that the user is part of the 'in' crowd of horse person's who
understands the jargon of horses;
Surely there is a very simple solution to the hand. Simply replace it
by the decimeter, that way the numbers don't have to change.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Wade | EMail: tee dot wade at eurokom dot ie
EuroKom | Tel: +353 (1) 296-9696
A2, Nutgrove Office Park | Fax: +353 (1) 296-9697
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