I was curious, so read up on wikipedia.
somebody measured horses in 2023, and foumd that horses produce 5,7hp https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower
edit: wikipedia links to youtube
https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-much-horsepower-does-a-horse-have this one also says 15, teorietically 24 🤯
Citing measurements made at the 1926 Iowa State Fair, they reported that the peak power over a few seconds has been measured to be as high as 14.88 hp (11.10 kW) and also observed that for sustained activity, a work rate of about 1 hp (0.75 kW) per horse is consistent with agricultural advice from both the 19th and 20th centuries […]
Sounds to me like the 1 hp unit is fair, after all.
So it’s like RMS and PMP for speakers. 600 W¹
¹ Briefly, before it blows up
It’s called Chinese Watts.
Here is the salient point on the Wikipedia page that explains why horses don’t produce 1 HP:
Watt judged that the horse could pull with a force of 180 pounds-force (800 N)
Basically, Watts made up HP to sell his steam engine to mines and likely made up a number to make the new technology seem better.
Some things never change.
