Cross Breeds

how did they weigh horses in the 16th century?

I found some slate slabs in my garden.each weight 22 pounds..so 5 equals 1 cwt..therefore 100 equals one imperial ton. This part of middlsex uk was once part of a horse racing stud where the famous racehorse 'Eclipse' lived and finally died. could these slabs have been used as part of a weighing machine for horses. Stats each is roughly cut into a semicurcular shape 40mm thick 390mm across the straight edge 290mm from straight edge to top of semicircle one 23mm hole in each corner I have formed a yahoo group where photos are available http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digiphotoarch

Public Comments

1. with throw-weights.
2. i think instead of finding their lbs, they found their boyd fatpercentages and body mass. or by how much they can pull.
3. I think it was how much weight they can pull. Horsepower
4. with stones. kind of middle-ish big
5. Counter weights
6. I think the weight of these stones probably has nothing tto do with horses. Correlation does not equal causation. It's sort of a big leap to say that because there were both horses and identical stones, the two must somehow be related.
7. what position were these stonesin when you found them? were they next to each other? were they on the top of the soil? were they underground? orwere they shallow under the ground?
8. I know that these days you can get a rough estimate of a horses weight my using a formula that includes their height and the measurement around their girth area. I don't know the exact formula, but I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't a tradition carried on for hundreds of years. That isn't to say that your stones aren't from some sort of more official system of weighing them.
9. They look like stepping stones, maybe cut that way to fit an entrance to something, I dont think it has anything to do with weighing horses.
10. They would put a sort of saddle that they could fill with weights on the horses.
11. With a lever.
12. Since weight of horses was in stones of approximately this weight, I would imagine you have a good chance that you are right.
13. Maybe the "water displacement method" where the completely immerse the object in water and calculate from the amount of water that spills out
14. they weighed the horses by weighing the volume of water displaced by the horse
15. "Semicircular" is a pretty good description of the shape, but it is not exactly correct. It looks like a half-ellipse to me. I suggest you call some archaeologists at your local universities. You could also consult County records to learn what busineses used to be located where the stones were found.
16. With weights and old school scales
17. by measuring teh length of the horse penis.
18. they used big pullies
19. They didn't.The concern with horses' weights is a 20th century American racing phenomenon.I would guess the weights might be for coal which was traditionally weighed in CWTs.
20. Yes horses were weigh by the stone...but what you have may be counter weights used to off set weight in many things like tractors or catapults ask a antique dealer
21. put them on a manual scale
22. pretty touff so i just have to increse my points
23. They were wild. don't think about them and their work.
24. digital weigh bridge :-) kiddin.. well since Archimedes' principle was known at that time the horses were pushed into a pool of water and the displaced water was measured. Eureka!!!!
25. With large slab counter weights and pullys. Stretching the pully "belts" under the horses they would use counter weights to estimate weight.
26. I think they put the horse on a boat and measure the part of the boat that is in water .
27. THEY PUT THE HORSE IN A BOAT AND SEE HOW MUCH DID THE BOAT SINK THEY THEN FILL THE BOAT WITH AMT OF STONES WHICH MADE THE BOAT TO SINK AT THE SAME DEPTH NOW TAKE OUT THE STONE AND WEIGH THEM SIMPLE WELL THATS WHAT THE INDIANS DID SMARTLY
28. I don't think in the 16th Century that people weren't too concerned with how much a horse weighed unless it landed on top of them. They were much more concerned with building temples, pro-creating, day to day living, and how to get rid of a urinary tract infection back then, LOL! But seriously, I think they were more worried about what the horse could do for them instead of how much it weighed.
29. With a balancing scale. The law of the lever has been know since Ancient Greece. Place horse on one side, known weights on other and do math.
30. would you believe roofing slates? I found this site; A Familiar Description of the Old Delabole Slate Quarries http://cornovia.org.uk/htexts/turner01.html who woulda thunk it? beverly
31. A simple lever scale and these stone. Just a (large, for horses) beam balanced on a point. Put the object to weigh on one side and pile stone on the other until they are balanced. Quite simple, really. This method is still widely in use today.
32. They use a scale that looks like a tilt scale. The left hand arm has a sling attached to it that goes around the middle of the horse and the other half of the arm on the right hand side has a plate attached in which weights are placed. You adjust the sling to lift the horse off ground about 2 inches and then keep adding weights until the needle in the center of the scale arm says that the 2 sides are equal. They still use this method as a way to buy and sell other types of livestock, as well as trading gold.
33. Ona weighing scale.
34. Billey's right a pulley system would so it.
35. using stones