Category Archives: Learn

State Horses

While writing about horse colours, I learned that the Appaloosa is Idaho’s state horse. I was unaware there is such a thing as a state horse, which is odd because here in...

Tail Fashions

I had my hair done today, the usual cut and colour, and my hairdresser asked if I wanted to try bangs, to which I replied, “No.” But it got me...

Curious Colors

Horses come in a wide variety of colors, and we never seem to question why horse colors have bizarre names. Well, I’ve had enough and I’m going to get to...

Well, Well, Wellies

I know it’s nowhere near mud season, but it rained the other day, which got me thinking about gum boots. You can buy cheap ones or expensive “fashionable” ones and...

Cryptorchid

I work at an animal shelter a few days a week and the other day one of the cats came back from the vet after he’d been neutered. I’m aware...

For the Love of Freelancing

I know I keep banging on about horse-related expressions and words that have made their way into everyday language, but it fascinates me. I had a list of words I...

The Racing Roots of Common Idioms

Since horse racing has been around for hundreds of years it makes sense that many of the expressions we use in our day-to-day life stem from the racehorse world. I’ve...

Horses of the Coronation

Saturday, May 6, 2023, was a big TV day for horse lovers, royalists, race enthusiasts and eventers. With Badminton Horse Trials, the Kentucky Derby and a King being crowned, the...

Shakespeare’s Hay Day

Never in a million years would I have thought I would voluntarily take on a Shakespeare quote to decode. Yet here I am, several decades from the perils of high school...

The #HorseWordNerd Writing Process

Last week I wrote about the hocks and subsequent ailments thereof. Whilst researching the words I came across a passage from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew in which he lists...

Names of Fame

There are a lot of crazy horse names in this world and racehorses, for some reason, seem to have a monopoly on some of the strangest. There is a good...

Donkeys Differ

Why do donkeys have such big ears? The answer is painfully simple, and I suppose had I put any thought into it prior to beginning my research I might have...

A Bit About Bits

It was suggested to me the other day that I look into the names of certain bits, and I wondered how the thought had escaped me for so long. The...

Nightmares

My plan was to give a brief explanation as to how the word mare got tangled up with the word night to bring us the unpleasant experience of a nightmare....

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