horses??????

Question

what does it mean like when people say 17 hands? or anything. cuz when ever i look up horses i see that and other stuff and i dont know what it means. so what does that and anything else that has to do with them mean? like when there for sale.

and how much wieght can a horse hold on its back? any?

Answer 1

"Hands" is the term used to measure the height of a horse or pony. Each hand is 4 inches, and is measured from the ground to the withers. This article, from cowboyway.com provides a picture reference, history on where the term "hands" came from, as well as correct ways to convert inches into hands as well as how to write your measurements.
http://www.cowboyway.com/HowTo/HorseHeight.htm

As far as how much weight a horse can hold on their back, it really depends on the horse and how its built. This article from EZine Articles is good- http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Much-Weight-Can-a-Horse-Carry?&id=341252
As well as this discussion, from Google Groups- http://groups.google.com/group/alt.horseback.riding/browse_thread/thread/dbe48df280a36846/499b79b4e8cbc70b%23499b79b4e8cbc70b

Answer 2

A hand is four inches. The term originated from when a person's actual hand was used as a measurement; 4 inches is the average width of a man's hand across the palm. Horses are measure from the ground to the withers (the point at the top of the horse's shoulder where the neck meets the back.) So, that 17 hand horse is 5'8" tall at the withers.

How much weight a horse can carry depends on the horse. The average well built horse can easily carry the average sized person, if not more.

Answer 3

A hand is 4 inches. You start at the bottom of the horse's front leg and measure up to his 'whithers' -- the top of his shoulder. A pony is small, usually under 14 hands. A tall horse would be over 16 hands. A nice, average size horse would be around 15 hands.

Other terms you might see describe the horses breed, coloring, markings, temperament, training, use, etc.

First of all, contrary to popular belief, ponies are not baby horses! They are different BREEDS. Just like a Dachshund will not grow up to be a German Shepard, a Shetland pony will not grow up to be a Thoroughbred. The pony will stay small no matter how old he gets.

There are many BREEDS of horses. Some of the most popular (in the USA) are Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Morgan, Arabian, Appaloosa, Saddlebred, Tennessee Walker and many others. Each breed has it own 'look' -- just like dogs. German Shepards don't look like Collies. The differences aren't nearly as easy to see in horses, it takes a trained eye to tell a Quarter Horse from an Arabian -- and sometimes even an experienced person can't tell.

Each breed also has it's own 'personality' although this is much less defined. Arabians are supposed to be very spirited but you will find many mellow Arabians. Quarter Horses are supposed to be very laid-back, but again, you will find many QHs who are spirited and even stubborn.

Also, each breed has its own standards -- the overall look of the horse. For whatever reason, there are no Palomino Arabians, but Palomino is a common color for Quarter Horses. (Palomino is when the horse is gold with a white mane and tail.) Morgans are supposed to be dark in color -- dark brown or black. A common color for an Arabian is gray, but they come in brown and black too. I think Thoroughbreds come in just about every color.

Color is another whole subject. A 'bay' horse is any shade of brown with a black mane, tail and legs. 'Chestnut' refers to a brown or reddish colored horse with a mane and tail the same color, or lighter. There are many, many other colors.

The way a horse is used is another term you will find in 'for sale' ads. It might say 'English' or 'Western.' These refer to the style of riding that the horse is taught. There are 3 types of English -- Hunt Seat, Saddle Seat and Dressage. Western is Western. A horse can certainly learn more than one style, many horses go either English or Western. There are lots of other 'uses' for horses too.

A horse can usually carry about 25% of its own weight. Some horses might be able to carry more, but for safety and comfort, this is a good standard to go by.

Anyway, this answer is getting far too long! I hope I gave you at least some of the basics of reading through the horse for sale ads!

Answer 4

17 hands is a large horse. I hand is pretty much four inches. It's usually like, 15 hands, 15.2, 15.3 then 16, 16.2, 16.3 and so on. It's not that hard to understand. Hands is the measurement of the horse. 12 hands is a pony, 14 is usually a large pony or horse, 16 is a horse, 18 or 19 is a draft (LARGE horse, for pulling carts n stuffff)
Hands are usually important. You can't expect a 6 foot man to ride a 12 hand horse.

Depending on the size of the horse depends on how much the horse can hold. Shetland horses, little horses, can't hold that that much. But draft horses can hold a lot of weight, and they can pull A TON of weight too. The draft pulls are AWESOME too watch, the horses are extremely powerful.

Answer 5

17 hands is the height of the horse from tip of toe to the wither which is right above there front shoulder. 17 hands would be a tall horse.

There are a lot of good books that can be checked out at a local library, or you can check the internet and look for horse terminology, and research the meanings of everything you don't understand, then there is the old fashioned way, ask an experienced horse person in your area to teach you...

Answer 6

The height of a horse is properly measured from
the ground to the highest point of the withers. Hands high when they use their hands to measure. Can use a stick or rope to measure. Instead of inches for feet its hands. To help you understand here is a web site. When it says they are sound it means there is nothing wrong with it. No cuts or sicknesses and is well alert because if not it could be deaf or blind. Get a guaranteed sound horse. Go to http://www.equinelegalsolutions.com/buying_checklist.html?OVRAW=buying%20a%20horse%20guide&OVKEY=buying%20a%20horse%20guide&OVMTC=standard it gives you a check list so you don't get ripped off when buying one. Anything else you need to know just email me.

Answer 7

We use "hands" to describe a unit of measure. One hand = four inches. The average adult horse is 15 HH (hands high) and weighs about half a ton or 1000 pounds,and the age, training, physical condition and breed decide how much weight they can carry. Describing a horse in a sales ad would entail its price, gender, breed,height,temperament, discipline,age,weight,habits and what it has been conditioned to do as well as its breeding and awards.Horses are also described in height and weight in euro,so a buyer needs to be fluent in metric and other money types.Its not crazy,its just horse-talk.

Answer 8

Hands is like a unit of measurement to tell how tall a horse is. a 'hand' is like four inches. It starts from their feet up to the top of their shoulder (where the mane is)

Answer 9

The "hands" is how the horse are measured height wise

Answer 10

hands is how you measure a horses height. if you see something that says markings thats like if they have a dimond on their forhead or spots or socks (the marks around their ancles) and everything else is prety easy to figure out so is markings but i wanted to explain it anyway so that i could tell you waht socks are:)