"Short Horse" expression...

Posted by Jack on April 26, 2002

Has anyone else ever heard this espression...?

"A short horse is easily curried."

I heard it often when growing up as a young boy, used mostly by my grandparents and great-grandparents, which would mean back in the early to mid 1900's. They lived on ranchland out in West Texas.

The meaning is fairly obvious, as "curry" means to brush or groom [a horse], so doing a "short horse" would be easy, and so the phrase was often used in reference to something that turned out to be "easy to do". I am mainly wondering if this was every used in other areas, or is common enough that anyone else has every heard it? I've had no luck in finding it on any of the phrase/saying databases. Thanks...