Had they actually ever seen or spent time with one?
[QUOTE=dungrulla;8277564]
Had they actually ever seen or spent time with one?[/QUOTE]
NO!
Or ever paid their vet bills???!! Ugh, for as large and powerful as horses are, they sure are fragile and have plenty of things that go wrong :eek:
It comes from a time when health was equated with strength
Presumably, anyone who’s strong is healthy (and vice versa). And back in the day, a horse was a prime example of a large, strong creature. Therefore, one could only hope to be as “healthy” as a horse was - able to pull your own weight, endure rough conditions, ride all day and night.
Horses were often used as idioms for other signs of strength or largeness:
“eat like a horse”
“work like a horse”
My favorite is some old 1960’s era comic’s description of the “sister” he was trying to marry off. Spoken in a strong Russian-ish accent: “Not much pretty, but strong, like horse.”
