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Joined: Jan 2002
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newbie
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OP
newbie
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 55 |
Greetings to the members of this board! I'm brand new here and have been reading here for about a year.
Although I've been around horses all my life, no one has been able to answer my question about why we say that someone has eaten enough to choke a horse. Horses don't choke that I'm aware of. And they eat a great deal--many nonstop, if you'd let them.
Is this expression simply an exaggeration--or is there truth behind it?
Looking forward to hearing your insights.
Trippingly,
Orion's Belt
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I remembere as a child being told not to give a horse a whole apple, because the horse might choke on it, but I do not know if there is a real danger to the horse. This is one for Jackie.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 55
newbie
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OP
newbie
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 55 |
Dear wwh,
You place the apple on your palm, and the pony just munches it as he will--sometimes dropping the fruit that didn't make it into its mouth into the sandy dirt. Doesn't matter to the pony! I'd be more worried about that pony biting my fingers accidentally than choking on that apple. I rode for years and years, and now hang around horses at my Uncle Jimmy's barn and never saw one choke on an apple.
Horses do choke--when they're ill.
But enough to choke a horse? I still don't get it here. Is there a problem somewhere in the world with horses choking on their food? And what kind of food would this be?
I hope Jackie does check in here. I've learned a lot from what's she's written about horses already. I wonder how many falls she's taken? When you've taken far too many to remember, then you're a rider.
Trotting back to starland,
OrB.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Hi Orion'sBelt~
This is only a WAG, but I always understood the phrase to mean to express an unbelievably large amount. If, as you say, horses never choke and they routinely consume large amounts of food, imagine the volume of food it would take to make one choke. It is that great amount which is expressed in "enough to choke a horse."
When I have the opportunity, I will check my library for additional info on the phrase.
BTW - my neighbor has horses of various types. The miniatures are smaller than my dog.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Welcome to the board, OrB. Nice name.  What was the name of Orion's horse? Did he have one? Have you seen the incredible full moon tonight, Starman? I think Sparteye proly is on the right track. Her WAG's are usually pretty good. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Glad you finally made us aware of your neat-sounding self, OrionsBelt. You really ought to get to know Wordwind--sounds to me like you're two of a kind. (That is a compliment.) Well (man, you-all are making me blush right and left, today!)--it is just possible that I am the horse "expert" of all the board members. I'm not recalling anybody saying they're familiar with them. BUT--even if I happen to know more, I am not an expert! I'm sure Sparteye and you have it right--it's an exaggerated image. Though for some unknown reason, I get an image of a horse eating so much that the food piles up and up, until it chokes the horse from the INside. Weird, I know. 
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Just adding my concurrence to Sparteye's WAG. I was going to say approx. the same thing but she beat me to it.
OrB, big welcome. Good to have another deep southerner and especially one from Charleston, which is one of my favorite places.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
No sooner I finished a post here than it occurred to me that there is an expression which seems to be related: "enough to make a cow laugh". Everyone knows that cows do not laugh and the idea of an animal laughing which usually appears to be exceedingly grave, or maybe bored, gives the idea that it would take an unbelievable degree of funniness. Same principle, I think in choking a horse.
I'm sure there are lots of other expressions of this kind. Who will start listing them? I'll start with: {Disgusting] enough to gag a maggot.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Welcome aBoard Orionsbelt~!!
> lots of other expressions of this kind..
How about:
Hungry enough to eat the crutch out of a low flying seagull/dead dingo (or worse!!)...
Hungry enough to eat a horse and chase the jockey...
As dry (thirsty) as a dead dingo's donger...
As full as a goog... (a "goog" being an egg)
As full as a tick...
etceterah
notback yet stales
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
Dear Notback, but still Stales,
What, pray tell, is a dead dingo's donger?
Milum
PS: This old saying from northeastern Alabama has nice alliteration as well as intellectual content. They say...
Why that's as rare as ticks on a turtle.
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