At one time, horses were an integral part of human culture. So it’s no wonder that they show up in all kinds of phrases. Here are some favorites.
Meaning: Be patient, take your time.
Origin: This is a born-and-bred American expression. The phrase first appeared in print in an 1844 edition of a Louisiana newspaper: “Hold your hosses, Squire. There’s no use gettin’ riled, no how.” (“Hoss” was 19th-century slang for horse.) By the 1930s, the phrase we know today—“hold your horses”—was showing up in common speech.
Meaning: A decoy, specifically a political candidate used to conceal another person’s real candidacy.
Origin: In 16th-century England, hunters discovered that it was easier to find game if they hid behind a horse than if they went off into the woods by themselves—birds and other animals would run from humans, but not horses. So hunters stood behind the neck or crouched under the belly of a horse trained to graze as it slowly approached wild game. That way, the hunter could get a good shot before the game noticed him.
Meaning: Take control.
Origin: Bits press against the soft part of a horse’s mouth as the rider manipulates the reins, directing the animal which way to go. But a horse who takes a bit between his teeth chomps down on the fitting and takes control away from the rider. This phrase first appeared in John Dryden’s 1682 poem “The Medal”:
But this new Jehu spurs the hot-mounted horse,
Instructs the beast to know his native force,
To take the bit between his teeth and fly
To the next headlong steep of anarchy.
It originally meant to convey obstinance. But over the years, it evolved to a more positive expression of taking charge.
Meaning: Old
Origin: Back in the 19th century, horse traders were a shifty bunch who often tried to pass off old horses as younger than they were. The best way for a buyer to identify a horse’s true age was to inspect the animal’s teeth to see how long and yellow they were and how far the gums had receded.
If the roots of the teeth were showing, the buyer knew the horse was old.
Examining horses’ teeth gave us two other expressions:
•“Straight from the horse’s mouth.” Because young horses were worth more than old ones, looking in the animal’s mouth was a reliable way to establish its value.
•“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” When you got a horse as a gift, checking its teeth right there in front of the gift-giver was bad manners.
Meaning: You can show someone the best path, but you can’t force him to take it.
Origin: This expression dates back to 1546, when an early version appeared in John Heywood’s A Dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue: “A man maie well bring a horse to the water. But he cannot make him drinke without he will.”
Born in 1983, the Thoroughbred stallion Storm Cat entered stud in 1988. His initial fee: $30,000. His children and grandchildren, though, proved to be such great racers (160 stakes winners) that by the time he retired in 2008, he was making a record $500,000 for each mating.