To get a rough idea of height, you can use a weight tape or soft tape measure. To get an accurate height reading, you will need a height stick. This is a long stick with a shorter vertical bar that slides up and down it. If your height stick will not extend to the height of your draft horse, you may have to add an extension piece to the foot, being careful to add this into your final calculations.
Things You'll Need
- Height stick or tape measure
- Assistant
- Block (optional)
Instructions
Place your horse on a level piece of ground and encourage it to stand up squarely. Gently tapping its chest will encourage it to move slowly backwards until its feet are level.
Ask an assistant to hold the horse. Run your hand down the horse's mane. Right at the end of the mane there should be a bony lump (the withers). This is roughly where the front of the saddle ends. All horses are measured to their withers.
Position either the height stick or measuring tape so that it runs in a vertical line parallel with the front legs. Read off the measurement from the ground to the top of the withers, standing on a block to reach if necessary.
Horses are measured in hands; each hand is 4 inches. If you are using a height stick, it will be marked in hands. Otherwise, you will need to convert inches to hands.
Calculate the height by dividing the total number of inches by four. For example, if your horse measures 68 inches at the withers, this equates to 17 hands high (written 17 h.h.). If your horse measures 70 inches, this is 17½ hands which is written 17.2 h.h., and normally spoken of as "seventeen-two." Round down to the nearest half inch when calculating height.