Category Archives: Learn

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...

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...

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...

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...

I hate working with numbers. I always have and I always will. I much prefer the subjective world in which words live. With words and I can write and talk...

This was not my plan for this week’s post. I had intended to dazzle you with the etymology (ie, a study on the origin and history of words) of a...

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...

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...

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...

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...

“The lady doth protest too much methinks.” A life lesson from Hamlet that I realize has nothing whatsoever to do with horses. But it’s a brilliant way to ascertain if...

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...

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...

Some of the names given to common blemishes and limb ailments our horses acquire due to wear and tear, conformation faults and/or hereditary misfortune are odd, as is everything in...

I became familiar with the crupper when I was five because my fiendish pony Winsome needed one. She also required side reins as I lacked the necessary power to prevent...

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...

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...

When you come across a bit with a strange name it isn’t surprising to learn that it’s likely the surname of its creator. The interesting part is discovering the mastermind...

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...

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....