Horsin' Around

Hayburner

That's one slang name for a horse. There are many because cowboys and horses are like peanut butter and jelly. They're perfect partners. I love writing about the special relationship cowboys have with these sometimes (often!) temperamental animals. Everybody who has ever worked on a ranch has a story about a horse and those stories often bring sentimental tears to the eyes. 

Some other colorful names for "nags" include man killer, fantail, buzzard bait, bangtail, knothead, snake stepper, broomtail, bucker, and tail buster. Speaking of color, the major colors of horses are bay, black, brown, chestnut, and white. Other variations are dun, gray, palomino, pinto and roan.

Common color names are sorrel, chestnut, bay, buckskin, calico, dapple, and strawberry. 

Beyond colors, cowboys have other ways to describe their mounts. For instance, a horse whose color fades around the mouth and chin is called "mealymouthed." Or "baldface" if the horse's face is mostly white. If a horse has small black or blue spots all over it, a cowboy might say he's "fleabitten" or "speckled." Black mane, tail, and feet are dubbed "points." A horse that is a hard-to-describe color could be called "katty colored." Scattered colors over a dark background is called "overo." A horse with black and white spots is a "piebald." Any other color of spots is a "screwbald." Large patterns of color on a white background is referred to as "tobino."

As for personality, cowboys come up with all kinds of descriptions! One of the first horses I had was part Shetland pony and part Devil. He was as sharp as a tack and he dearly loved to aggravate me. He'd spot a low branch and head straight for it, hoping to knock me out of the saddle. Or he'd sidle up to a barbed wire fence in hopes of snagging my jeans leg. As a novice, I did everything wrong with him. I learned that I couldn't walk into the pasture with a halter in my hand. He'd run like the wind and I'd never catch him. I had to hide the halter behind my back or drape it over my shoulder and offer him a bite of apple or carrot to have any hope of saddling him. Oh, yes. He also did the age-old horse trick of filling his lungs when I tried to cinch the saddle so that it would be loose when he exhaled. Then, if he was lucky, I'd slide sideways once I was in the saddle! That happened a couple of times before a cowboy showed me how to knee the Devil Horse in the side and make him exhale before I cinched him up.

Have I nudged some memories from you? I'm sure most of you have a good story or two about being bamboozled by an ornery hoss! But when you master that symmetry with a horse -- when you begin to think alike and he or she anticipates your need before you can relay it -- that is astonishingly magical.

I hope you find Happy Trails all through 2025!