How to Measure a Horse: Height in Hands, Weight, and What the Numbers Tell You

By Gayle Woods Editors Updated 5 min read

Horse people talk about height in hands and weight in pounds, and both numbers come up constantly: in sale ads, at the vet, when you buy a blanket or a saddle, and when you load a trailer. This guide explains how to take each measurement, what the numbers mean, and where they're used.

What a "hand" is

A hand is a unit of 4 inches. It started as the width of a man's hand and was standardized long ago, and horse people still use it.

Height is written as hands, then a point, then extra inches. That point is not a decimal:

  • 15.2 hh means 15 hands and 2 inches: 15 × 4 + 2 = 62 inches.
  • 16.0 hh means exactly 16 hands, or 64 inches.
  • There is no 15.4 or 15.5. After 15.3 comes 16.0.

"hh" stands for "hands high."

Height Inches Feet and inches What it usually is
8.2 hh 34 in 2 ft 10 in Miniature horse (34 in or under)
12.2 hh 50 in 4 ft 2 in Small pony
14.2 hh 58 in 4 ft 10 in Upper limit for a pony
15.0 hh 60 in 5 ft 0 in Smaller horse
15.2 hh 62 in 5 ft 2 in Average riding horse
16.0 hh 64 in 5 ft 4 in Tall riding horse
17.0 hh 68 in 5 ft 8 in Big warmblood or Thoroughbred
18.0 hh 72 in 6 ft 0 in Large draft horse

The average horse is roughly 15 to 16 hands, about 5 feet at the shoulder. Because the head is held above the withers, a horse looks much taller than its measured height.

How to measure a horse's height

Height is measured to the top of the withers, the bony ridge where the neck meets the back. The withers don't move up and down the way the head does, so the measurement is consistent.

  1. Stand the horse on hard, level ground. Concrete or packed dirt works best. Soft footing or a slope will throw off the number.
  2. Get the horse standing square, with weight on all four legs, front legs lined up and head at a normal height, not grazing.
  3. Use a measuring stick with a sliding level arm. Hold it upright beside the front leg and lower the arm onto the highest point of the withers.
  4. Read the inches and convert: divide by 4. The whole number is hands; the remainder is the extra inches. 63 inches is 15 hands with 3 left over: 15.3 hh.

If you don't have a stick, lay a straight board or level across the withers and measure from its underside to the ground with a tape measure. Make sure the board is level.

Shoes add a little height, often half an inch or more, so official measurements for shows are taken barefoot or with an allowance.

How to estimate a horse's weight

Weight matters more than height for daily care. You need it to work out how much to feed and how much dewormer to give, and to check that a trailer and truck can carry the load.

Option 1: A livestock scale. This is the only exact method. Some feed stores, vet clinics and fairgrounds have one.

Option 2: A weight tape. Wrap it around the horse's heart girth, just behind the elbows and over the top of the withers, where a girth or cinch would sit. Read the side marked for horses. Take the reading when the horse breathes out. Tapes are quick and good for tracking changes over time, but they can be off by 50 pounds or more, especially for unusually built horses.

Option 3: The girth and length formula. This is more accurate than a tape for most adult horses.

  • Measure the heart girth in inches, as above.
  • Measure the body length in inches, from the point of the shoulder (the bony point at the front of the chest) to the point of the buttock (the rearmost point of the hindquarters).
  • Weight in pounds = girth × girth × length ÷ 330.

Example: a 74-inch girth and a 68-inch length gives 74 × 74 × 68 ÷ 330 ≈ 1,128 pounds.

Measure the same way each time, at the same time of day, and record it. Tracking changes is as useful as the number itself.

Typical heights and weights by type

Type Typical height Typical weight
Miniature horse 34 in or under 150–350 lb
Pony 11–14.2 hh 400–900 lb
Arabian 14.1–15.1 hh 800–1,000 lb
Quarter Horse 14.3–16.0 hh 950–1,200 lb
Thoroughbred 15.2–17.0 hh 1,000–1,200 lb
Warmblood 16.0–17.2 hh 1,200–1,500 lb
Draft horse (Belgian, Percheron, Clydesdale) 16.0–18.0+ hh 1,600–2,200+ lb

Individual horses vary a lot. A tall horse can weigh less than a shorter, stockier one.

Where you'll use these numbers

  • Feeding. Daily hay is figured as a percentage of body weight. See how much to feed a horse.
  • Medicine and dewormer. Doses are set by weight. Underdosing dewormer helps parasites build resistance.
  • Rider weight. A common guideline is that a horse can comfortably carry about 15 to 20 percent of its body weight. See how much weight a horse can carry.
  • Trailers. Add up horses, tack and the trailer itself to check your truck's towing capacity. See our horse trailer guide.
  • Blankets and saddles. Blankets use a different measurement, chest to buttock in inches; see the blanketing guide. Saddle fit depends on the shape of the back; see how to fit a saddle.

Body condition: the number on top of the number

Two horses can weigh the same and look completely different. Body condition scoring describes how much fat a horse carries on a scale of 1 (emaciated) to 9 (obese). Most horses do best at 5: ribs easy to feel but not to see, a level back, and no fat bulging along the crest of the neck or around the tail head.

Check six spots with your hands: the crest of the neck, the withers, behind the shoulder, the ribs, the loin and the tail head. Doing it every few weeks catches weight gain or loss long before you'd see it.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions