Horsing around

You have heard the expression "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." The proverb comes from the practice of evaluating the age of a horse by looking at his teeth. It also spawned the saying "long in the tooth". But the NYT reminds us that in 1911 a Spokane, Washington racehorse owner was set to equip his pacing mare, Blanche, with a $3000. set of false gold-filled teeth. She had won a big race for him the week before so he said he can afford to buy her a new set of teeth. On her next race she would be all smiles crossing the winner's line.
tjs
(NYT 11/13/19)