What is horse dancing?

I got asked about this on Facebook.

Horse dancing is a relatively recent tradition that exists in south and central America, especially in Mexico. It's similar to the dressage movement the piaffe - the horse is trained to trot in spot. The difference is that these horses do the movement for an extended period of time, making it a test of stamina.

Horse dancing has a very bad reputation - it's often considered cruel. The reason is that many of these trainers try to use pillar training (I'll go into more detail about this tomorrow), which is a classical dressage training method that is effective if used correctly...and inhumane if done wrong. (Rather like double bridles and spade bits). And, of course, some of these horses forget how to move forward freely.

Dancing in and of itself, though, is not cruel and can be done in a way that's natural for the horse (in fact, the piaffe is based off of movements stallions use to demonstrate their prowess in the wild and many horses, especially male ones, will do it at liberty).

Are donkeys more likely to have twins?

Yes. And the twins are more likely to survive. (This is also somewhat the case with mares carrying mule foals). There's even been five recorded cases of mares producing twins where one was a mule and the other a horse (because she was thought to be "open" and bred again).

However, although they're more likely to survive, the ratio is still pretty low and twins are still considered undesirable in donkeys. (The chances of both twins surviving and being healthy is about 1 in 1000 in horses and 1 in 100 in longears).

Image source: Adrian Pingstone via Wikimedia Commons.

What is a burro?

A burro is an ordinary, standard sized donkey in most of the western United States. It's the Spanish for donkey, but expanded beyond Spanish (as did some of the American terms for horse colors). There are some "wild" (feral) burros in the desert southwest. Technically a female burro is a burra, but the word burro is commonly used for both sexes.

Image source Adrian Pingstone via Wikimedia Commons.

What is a muleskinner?

The term "muleskinner" is often used of somebody who drives or works mules. One possible etymology is being good enough with a whip to injure a mule (ow) - but this seems unlikely as mules don't literally have thicker skins than horses.

It's more likely that "skin" in this sense actually means "outsmart" - because mules tend to be smarter and less tractable than most domestic animals.

There's no real consensus on the etymology, but the colorful term is still sometimes used in the American west.

Why do we park a car?

Because, of course, we used to park a horse. A long time ago, horses were taught to "park out" - to stand with the hind quarters behind them. This was done when you needed the horse to stand, because it was harder for them to move rapidly from that position.

This also became something some people did to make the horse's back lower for mounting. (We now know it's very bad for the horse's back to do this but, of course, some people still do).

Only gaited horses are generally parked out these days - when standing for inspection at a show.

Or, of course, you can just park your mule...

Why do we say "straight from the horse's mouth"?

It's another racing term. When looking for information on a horse's form, you might want to get to a source close to the horse itself, such as the trainer or, sometimes even better, the groom that looks after the horse.

Thus, a tip that came straight from the horse's mouth implies that it came from even closer to the horse - the horse itself. It originally meant a very good tip to work out a bet, but then extended to become something you might say about any very reliable piece of information.

What is a hobby horse?

These days we sometimes refer to a person's fixation as a hobby horse. Or, of course, a "hobby" - now the common English term for a preferred pasttime on which a person spends an inordinate amount of time.

As I mentioned in another blog, a "hobby" was originally a kind of riding horse. Hobby horse then came to mean a horse in a mummers' play - the original pantomime horse, although the costumes were more wicker than cloth.

And then? Well, let's see. Hobby horse has come to mean what Americans call a stick horse, has been used to refer to carousel horses.

In other words, a hobby horse became a "fake" horse...and one might say that riding a fake horse is a waste of time. Thus, a hobby. (I disagree that they're a waste of time, but...)