Horse Rhymes, Rules, Traditions, and Sayings

[GWF]

Pokey’s thread about the bight of the reins got me thinking about the rules and rhymes behind our sport. So I thought it would be neat to share some of the tradition behind what we all know and love.

When I was a kid hunt shirts or show shirts were called ratcatchers, collars were chokers, Breeches were britches and so on.

So lets hear it, I know everyone must have a great rhyme like ‘Rise and fall with the leg on the wall’. Or the story behind why shirts were called ratcatchers. I personally have wondered why Red coats are Pinks?

[fourmares]

You mount on the left because a soldiers wore their swords on the left.

[2_tbs]

There’s that one about the white feet…it goes something like:

One white foot - buy him
Two white feet - try him
Three white feet - deny him
Four white feet - give him away
Four white feet and a white nose - knock him in the head and feed him to the crows.

There are a bunch of other onces like that too but I’ll leave them for someone else.

[Renn_aissance]

[QUOTE=2 tbs;3018026]
There’s that one about the white feet…it goes something like:

One white foot - buy him
Two white feet - try him
Three white feet - deny him
Four white feet - give him away
Four white feet and a white nose - knock him in the head and feed him to the crows.

There are a bunch of other onces like that too but I’ll leave them for someone else.[/QUOTE]

The one I learnt was,
One white- buy him,
Two whites- try him,
Three white feet, look well about him,
Four white feet, you can do without him.

Chestnut mare, beware!

[system]

Pink coats are actually Pinque coats- I think that they were named after the guy that invented them, but I could be wrong about that. I also always heard that manes were on the right because swords were on the left.

[zakattack]

more than two cowlicks on a horses head means theyre fast and unpredictable

anyone have an example to prove this one? haha

[scrat]

Ratcatchers

I was once told (but it may be way off base!) that ratcatchers got their name because they were the informal shirts worn to train the hounds before the season actually started. Hence, catching rats instead of foxes. I would love to know if this is the real reason - anyone know???

[Vandy]

One sock, buy him
Two socks, try him
Three socks, deny him,
Four socks, feed him to the crows.

By the way I am about to go medicate my 4-socked and prematurely retired guy right now, actually :lol:

I was always taught not to ride less than an hour before or an hour after feeding (grain). I had a boarder/client who was a very well respected equine vet and totally disagreed with this rule - he broke it regularly. Although he never had any negative consequences, this is something I just don’t do, probably more out of habit and superstition than any legitimate evidence though.

[Kirsten]

No foot, no horse.

[Hunter_Rider]

The chestnut mare-beware, is a good one!!! I had an adult horse back in the day that was awesome , jumped great, 10+ mover- won every hack, BUT you never knew when you lined up in the hack class what she would do. One year in Pinehurst we won both o/f and hacked great. We lined up and she BLEW up (needless to say we did not get pinned) after that I never wanted another chestnut TB mare!!!

[mroades]

I have one that I made up myself, but I attribute it to Confucius.
I say…Confucius say, he who jump first, often jump alone!

[2_tbs]

@mroades;3018593

I have one that I made up myself, but I attribute it to Confucius.
I say…Confucius say, he who jump first, often jump alone!

:yes::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::yes:

[GWF]

I always heard-
One white sock buy the horse,
Two white socks try the horse,
Three white socks look well about him,
Four white socks do with out him.

Of course I am the proud owner of a chestnut mare, a gelding with three white socks, and a filly with two cowlicks! :rolleyes::lol: I guess I’m just SOL.

I’ve also heard- A horse that can buck is a horse that can jump. (Which I have found to be veerrry true.)

[pintamino]

@Renn/aissance;3018068

The one I learnt was,
One white- buy him,
Two whites- try him,
Three white feet, look well about him,
Four white feet, you can do without him.

I learned
One white foot, buy him
Two white feet, try him
Three white feet, eye him
Four white feet, deny him.

There was also one, for the sake of the horse, the leg was lost, for the sake of the leg, the hoof was lost, for the sake of the hoof, the horse was lost, or something like that?

[Sarah616]

[QUOTE=pintamino;3018685]
I learned
One white foot, buy him
Two white feet, try him
Three white feet, eye him
Four white feet, deny him.

There was also one, for the sake of the horse, the leg was lost, for the sake of the leg, the hoof was lost, for the sake of the hoof, the horse was lost, or something like that?[/QUOTE]

I think you’re looking for Benjamin Franklin: “For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost”

[hedmbl]

[QUOTE=pintamino;3018685]
I learned
One white foot, buy him
Two white feet, try him
Three white feet, eye him
Four white feet, deny him.

There was also one, for the sake of the horse, the leg was lost, for the sake of the leg, the hoof was lost, for the sake of the hoof, the horse was lost, or something like that?[/QUOTE]

Are you thinking of:
“for the sake of a nail the shoe was lost, for the sake of the shoe the horse was lost, for the sake of the horse the rider was lost, for the sake of the rider the message was lost, for the sake of the message the battle was lost …”

Ben Franklin…I think.

[Kinsella]

I learned it as:

One white foot, buy him
Two white feet, try him
Three white feet, feed him to the crows
Four white feet, sell him to your foes

Funny how we all know the gist, but have different versions!

[Jeepgirl]

From that old John Wayne movie, True Grit:

One white foot, buy him
Two white feet, try him
Three white feet, be on the sly
Four white feet, pass him by

And of course, the horse with four white feet saves the day at the end of the movie.

[idlemoon]

If wishes were horses, beggers would ride…

I haveknow idea who siad this. lisa

[devcubber]

God forbid that I should go to any Heaven in which there are no horses.

• R.B. Cunninghame Graham

My mother has a photograph of me with my first horse with this quote painted on the frame. I was around 7 in the photo, so I have seen this saying (and photograph) for a looooooooong time around their house! It’s a fave.