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Ten Things You Maybe Didn't Know About the Hand

1. It’s exactly 4 inches

A “hand” isn’t just an estimate anymore. It's been officially defined as 4 inches since the 16th century. Before that, it literally meant the width of your hand — which obviously varies.

2. Still used to measure horses

This is the main place you’ll see it today. Ask how tall a horse is, and someone might say “15.2 hands.” That means 15 hands + 2 inches. Not 0.2 hands — there’s no decimal weirdness here!

3. It dates back to ancient Egypt

Yeah, we’re talking over 3,000 years ago. Egyptians used the hand to measure everything from crops to building materials. So it’s got serious historical street cred.

4. The UK and horse people keep it alive

Despite being kind of a forgotten unit elsewhere, it’s still the official unit for horse height in the UK and used commonly in the U.S. equestrian world.

5. Measured at the withers

A horse’s height is measured from the ground to the withers — the highest point of the shoulders. Not the head, which would be kind of useless since that moves around a lot.

6. Decimals are a trap

When you hear “15.3 hands,” it does not mean 15 and three-tenths hands. It means 15 hands and 3 inches. You can only go up to .3 — because 4 inches = 1 hand.

7. It’s one of the few non-SI units still in use

The hand isn't part of the metric system or even widely used in imperial measurements anymore — but it survives in this niche thanks to tradition and horse people being particular.

8. You’ll still see it at horse shows and sales

When you're buying or showing a horse, height in hands is expected. Say it in feet or centimetres and you’ll get side-eye.

9. There’s even a shorthand: “hh”

When written, hands are often labeled as “hh” for “hands high.” So a horse might be listed as 16hh. It’s just a horsey thing.

10. It reminds us how human measurement used to be

Before rulers and laser measuring tools, we used what we had — our bodies. The hand, the foot, the cubit — all ways of making sense of the world with the tools literally at hand.