Garden Railway Forum

One thing I've made a point of adding to my railroad was livestock. Many times, cheap plastic horses can be found in old toy boxes and tacky gift shops across the world. Locally, Tractor Supply Co. sells them for only a few dollars.

Sometimes these plastic animals seem to dwarf their "human" counterparts. Working around horses daily, I can tell you this...

The average saddle horse measures 15 - 16 hands at the withers (the withers are above the shoulders). Mules and ponies will be slightly less, say 12 - 14 hands. Heavy (draft) horses will be 17 - 18.5 hands. The current world record is 20 hands I think. 1 hand equals 4 inches.

There's your equation. A real pony measuring 12 hands, times 4 inches, will give you 48 inches. Simply divide by your chosen scale (1:20 in my case). Thus, a scale pony would be ~2.4" at the withers.

One hand equals four inches, does it not?

Peter in AZ

You're absolutely right. I've always used the "handsbreath" or "palmus" which is 3", but the hand is more common. I've been using it interchangeably by mistake. Let me change it to avoid confusion. Thank you for catching that.

All animals are unpredictable but when they are big like horses they are something to be avoided, for me at least.
However, horses are seen all over the place so should be included in our models. I tend to use the Schleich range much of which is suitable for 1:19 so I imagine would also be about right for 1:20. As for how many hands tall horses really are is a matter I will leave for others as there is no way I will get close enough to find out for myself.