Straight from the Horse's mouth!

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Horses and horse-racing have given a lot of colloquial expressions to English. Here are a few of the most popular ones.

A willing horse is a willing worker, but a dark horse is someone who will probably surprise you. Am ass or a donkey is a foolish person. When you eat like a horse you eat an enormous amount of food. If you back the wrong horse (literally, bet on a horse that loses the race), you support the loser in a context. On the other hand, if you flog a dead horse, you waste your energy by supporting a cause that is already lost. When you put the cart before the horse, you do things in the wrong order.

If somebody talks the hind leg off a donkey, they talk continuously and rather foolishly, but they all do the boring, unskilled work if they do the donkey work. When a person takes the lead, they get in front of everyone else, just as a horse does in a race. If they are riding for a fall, they're heading for disaster. Hold your horses and don't rush your fences both mean that one shouldn't be hasty in one's actions. If someone is on their high horse, they are acting very much of their dignity. If they have the whip hand they are well in control, but if they give the horse its head they let it go its own way.

Of course, you can believe everything you read from a first-hand source of information because it comes straight from the horse's mouth. You can tell a horse's age by looking at its teeth so you should never look a gift horse in the mouth - accept a present ungratefully by examining it critically for faults. Nor is it a good idea to close the stable door after the horse has bolted - you would be taking actions too late for it to be useful.

A71

Animals and their noises

Animal	verb	sound
Dogs	bark
Cats	miaow
Cows	moo
Bees	buzz
Mice	squeak
Ducks	quack
Sheep	bleat
Pigs	snort
Lions	roar
Birds	twitter
Horses	neigh
Donkeys	bray
Geese	honk

Animal	verb	sound	home
Dogs	bark	Whoof Woof Wough bow-wow yow-yow	dog-hole doghouse kennel
Cats	miaow	Mew Yow yow-yow	home
Cows	moo	moo	Barn Cowhouse Cowshed Cattlehouse
Bees	buzz	buzz	Beehive Hive
Mice	squeak	Squeak-skueak	Hole a mouse's hole
Ducks	quack	quack-quack	poultry-house aviary volery
Sheep	bleat	Bleat- bleat	Sheepfold Cote fold
Pigs	snort	Snort-snort	Piggery Pigsty hog-pen hogsty sty
Lions	roar	Grr Rrh	Savannah tropical grassland
Birds	twitter	weet-weet	Nest poultry-house aviary volery cage
Horses	neigh	Neigh- neigh	Stable Parrock
Donkeys	bray	Bray-bray	Parrock Cattle house stable
Geese	honk	Honk- honk	poultry-house aviary volery

Animals

Animals

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