Height Index

[nala]

Give me a hand!

Hey guys! So I don't know about you, but when I started role playing, height used to trip me up quite a bit. Horses are not measured in inches or feet. They aren't even measured in the fancy English meter scale! Horses, my dear friend, are measured in increments called hands.

A hand?

What is a hand you might ask? Well, the hand is a non-SI unit of measurement used in some English countries. Its most common use is to measure the height of horses, but it has been used for some other things as well. The hand equals about 4 in or exactly 10.16 cm.

The hand system works in increments of four. That being said, horses will only be ranked at X.0, X.1, X.2, X.3 and then back to the next number up followed by .0. This means that if your equine is half way in between 15 hands and 16 hands they would be ranked at 15.2 hands. An example of doing this wrong would be saying that half way between 15 hands and 16 hands is 15.5 hands. It looks right when you first glace at it because of the way our math teachers drill numbers into our brain. Just remember that hands work in 4's and come on back here whenever you get stuck!

Tell me more!

Now that we've got the numbers down lets discuss how to actually place the hands on the horse to measure. The horse is measured from the ground to the highest non-variable point on the body, this would be the withers.



Body Types?

Now lets move on to the more nitty gritty stuff since you got the basics down.
You might have seen that we ask for bloodtype in our apps here rather then breed! Don't fret! We've got you covered. This system just eliminates all the fancy names and puts all breeds and mixes into three simply categories.

Hotblood, Warmblood, and Coldblood.

No, this does not mean your equines blood will be freezing or boiling. However, this term did start keeping climate in mind. Here is a brief description of the three types accompanied by some generalized pictures. Keep in mind types can be mixed and create different variations. Here on Defying Gravity, we just prefer to label them to their closest type.

• Hotblood ~ These horse are able to stand hot climates better than other horses and do not like the cold. They are usually thin, elegant horses with smoother coats. Hot-blooded horses also tend to sweat more when hot than other horses.
  
  
  
• Warmblood ~ These horses a sort of an in between type. They're not quite as thin and elegant as the hotblood variety, but they aren't as thick and hairy as the coldblodded type.
  
  
  
• Coldblood ~ These horses are well equipped for cold climates and tend to enjoy cold weather better than hot weather. They are usually heavy, muscular horses with thick coats.
  

These are examples of averages and do not necessarily mean that all coldbloods live in the north and all hotbloods in the south. This also does not restrict your equine to any particular personality type. This, again, is just a generalization.

So how do hands apply?

Keep in mind that everything has its own variation, but typically in real life these are the average heights for each type.

Hotblood ~ 13hh to 15hh

Warmblood ~ 14hh to 16hh

Coldblood ~ 15hh to 18hh

Again, I want to tell you that this is a guideline not a strict rule. For example, ponies are usually considered in the coldblood type, yet rarely do they top out at the 13hh range. That said I think if you've ever seen a American Saddlebreed in person, you'd agree that they're a bit taller then your average warmblood.

Keep in mind though that the largest horse in the world, according to the World Record Book, is 20.2 hh. If you're equine pushes that on here it would be a rarity.

You've Learned Me!

Yay! You've completed the crash course! Now you can call yourself a genius in height and bloodtype! Just remember, if you ever get stuck, come find someone in the cbox or pm a staff member! We're always here to help and this thread is always a great place to check in at.
Good luck and happy role playing!