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Hag ridden.

Posted by Lou on May 05, 2000

In Reply to: Hag ridden. posted by Shane Edwards on May 05, 2000

: : This was mentioned in the Nightmare subject and I thought you might be interested to know that I have heard Hag ridden used in reference to horses.

: : It was an old fashioned term used to describe a horse that had got into a sweat in its stable overnight, eg "That horse has been hag ridden"
: : Implying that witches or fairies had been hammering it about during the night causing exhaustion.
: : These days if it happens at all, its attributed to the horse not being cooled off properly or fed too soon after exercise.
: : I guess the witches have moved on to cars.

: : Louise

: Get out of here, 'Hag Ridden' is the definitive explanation for the hang dog expression seen on the face of many a married digger as he creeps of home early leaving his mates to celebrate withouth him.

You're having a laugh aren't you?

I swear it's the truth! Or what I mean exactly is that I have heard and seen it used in the above form. Usually in books about the days of horse drawn ploughs and horse whisperers, which go back to at least the 1900's [the books I mean]. Any farmworker over the age of fifty is likely to have heard it.

L

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