How High the Hand?

March 6, 1980

Warren Button

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In response to:

Alexander's Mules from the December 20, 1979 issue                                                  

To the Editors:

Professor Badian [NYR, December 20], though admirably knowledgeable in other ways, misunderstands his army manual: A mule (or horse) 14.1 hands high is 14 hands, 1 inch, or 57 inches high. It is not 14-1/10 hands high, as Badian, reasonably but wrongly, thinks. The manual follows horsemen’s convention, not the decimal system.

Warren Button

Buffalo, New York

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