Don’t Beat a Dead Horse
I hate it when people tell me to hold my horses. It’s never fun hearing that you should curb your enthusiasm. Call me overzealous and impulsive, but I like to let my horses roam free from time to time. I don’t care if it’s too soon. Having said that, you must admit that “hold your horses” is sure a fun idiom. I love to translate it to other languages, in which it makes absolutely no sense.
Like many idioms of the English language, there are quite a few origin stories to this one. I don’t know if it’s true, but I like the one that maintains that in the 17th century, outlaws would be trampled by horses. The guy in charge would apparently say “Hold your horses”. He would then tie the criminal to the ground and invite the horses to trample him. Ahh, good times…