To put the saddle on the right horse, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To apportion accurately.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Horse. Set the saddle on the right horse, lay the Blame where the Fault is.
To ride on a horse with (or bayard of) ten toes, verb. phr. (common).—To walk; to use the Marrowbone-stage. Cf., Shanks’s Mare.
1606. Breton, Good and Badde, p. 14. His trauell is the walke of the woful, and his horse Bayard of ten toes.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, Somerset, ii., 291. At last he [Coryat] undertook to travail into the East Indies by land, mounted on an horse with ten toes.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Bayard.
As good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse, phr. (old).—Utterly worthless.
1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii., 1. Counsel to him is as good as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse.
As strong as a horse, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Very strong: a general intensitive.
Horse and horse, adv. phr. (American).—Neck and neck; even.