Height and Weight

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Height and Weight

Measuring Height

What do they mean when they say a horse is so many "hands" high?
Horses are measured by the width of a human hand - 4 inches or 10 centimetres. Measurement is taken from the ground up to the withers, the highest point on the horse's shoulder. A light horse such as a Lipizzana measures between 15.1 and 16.2hh while a heavy horse such as a Shire is between 16.2 and 17.2hh. Ponies are under 14hh.
Be sure your horse is standing with his weight on all four feet and with his legs set squarely under his body, which means, not set out in front of or behind his body. He should be standing on a flat, level surface, such as concrete or a rubber mat. Hold the measuring tape vertically and taut in your left hand. Hold a stick horizontally on the highest point of your horse's withers with your right hand. Take the reading where the bottom of the stick meets the measuring tape. A hand equals 4 inches.
Measuring Weight
With the weight tape, encircle the horse's heart girth. Pull the tape up snugly and read the tape. If you don't have a specially calibrated weight tape, you can measure your horse's heart girth with an ordinary measuring tape and use the following table to get an estimate of your horse's weight. Girth in Inches = Weight in Pounds: 32 = 100; 40 = 200; 45 = 275; 50 = 375;55 = 500; 60 = 650; 62 = 720; 64 = 790; 66 = 860; 68 = 930; 70 = 1000; 72 = 1070; 74 = 1140; 76 = 1210; 78 = 1290; 80 = 1370.
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Height and Weight

Measuring Height

Measuring Weight