You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink? That's true.
If a horse doesn't want to drink, outside of giving them an IV of liquids, it's not going to happen.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Do! It's not hard to imagine this saying's origin.
Someone once upon a time was given a horse and that person blatantly looked at the horse's teeth to determine how old it was before accepting the gift.
The giver apparently took offense, told the story, and now it's said all the time to imply ungratefulness.
Ridden hard and put away wet; this saying usually references someone not looking so good.
Riding a horse hard and putting them away wet; not cooling them out, rubbing them down or currying them is not only poor horsemanship, it's a crime.
It's mistreatment of an animal.
Don't do it! Sound as a bell of brass.
A bell of brass makes a near perfect sound.
This statement, largely used "across the waters" implies that the horse is perfectly sound.
Imagine a lovely London accent and say it that way, "He's sound as a bell of brass.
" Pee like a racehorse (I'm cleaning it up a little.
) From the time a horse leaves the barn for a race and returns, winner or loser, that half hour to forty-five minutes is intense.
When he returns to the barn he or she will have run their heart out, exerted an extreme amount of energy, got a little nervous here and there along the way, and will not only want and need a drink as soon as possible, they need to relieve themselves, NOW! While some horses in the spit barn (the designated testing area if they win or place) take time to "go", it's not all that common and is attributed to any number of reasons.
They might be nervous, new barn, new smells, new people.
They might still be just a little too uptight or wound up from the race, literally and figuratively.
Maybe they're shy.
If the horse won't oblige after a reasonable amount of time, blood is drawn for testing.
When that horse gets back to his or her own stall, they go.
They go, and go, and go.
No hoof, no horse.
True.
So very true! Keep your horse's hooves healthy.
Have them trimmed every six to eight weeks, depending on the weather.
Horse's hooves don't grow as fast in the winter where there is cold climate.
Be diligent.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
" That's not a horse saying, but it certainly applies! Clean your horse's hooves daily.
Yes, daily! Give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile.
This is a stretch, and the origin could very well have originated outside the horse scene.
But if you a gallop a tough racehorse in the morning, and/or are trying to rate (pace) them during a race as part of racing strategy, give with the reins an inch, too soon, that horse is going to take off, and they'll be no stopping him or her till the race is over, which on the average, is a mile.
There are many, many more horse sayings.
We all know what a "leg up" is.
We all know the wisdom about not putting the cart before the horse or closing the barn doors after the horses have gotten out.
But the saying I love the most, is seen on bumper stickers everywhere.
It simply states, "I Love my Horse!" It just doesn't get any better than that!