Horse

[londondave]

Why is a horse measured in "hands" and not feet when we talk of their height?

[Quizmonster]

A foot - in the sense of twelve inches - was originally based on the length of an average man's foot - ie the end of his leg! This was a convenient measuring device, in that distances could be 'paced out' by placing one foot after the other.

The same applied to hands, which were obviously more handy for measuring vertical distances such as the height of a horse. (It would've been difficult to pace it out, unless you could persuade the horse to lie down and put up with you strolling over it!) A hand was originally three inches, giving four 'hands' to one 'foot', but is now accepted as four inches.

[londondave]

I get the concept, but it still does not explain why that only horses are measured in hands, We humans are verticle, we are not measured in hands, nor are giraffes!!! ONLY horses!

[Quizmonster]

You said nothing about the "only" aspect in your question! Hence, I didn't answer it.

The only answer to that particular question is "because it is", in much the same way as only water - in everyday speech, at least - is measured in fathoms and horse-racing distances are measured in furlongs.