She's been rode hard and put up wet

ribran

ribran

Senior Member
Washington, DC
English - American
Good evening. :)

There is a very Southern expression that can be used of a rough-looking woman, a woman who has obviously had a tough life; it is "She's been rode hard and put up wet." I doubt it is regularly used outside the South, so what I would like to know is whether it would be understood where you live.

-Riley
 
    • I'm from the Midwest and know it as "rode hard and put away wet" – for whatever that's worth. I have a feeling you're going to get a lot of yes/no responses that will leave you none the more decided about using it outside your corral.
     
    California is no stranger to horse riding, either. Born and raised here and I have heard it quite often. Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado are very much horse country. I have heard it there, too. I don't think it is uniquely Texan.
     
    Hey, now, I didn't say anything about it being uniquely Texan. :)

    I've never heard it as "put away wet" before (see my recent thread "Put up the groceries").
     
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    I've never heard it in the UK, and in BE it's hard to talk of women having been ridden without evoking a sexual sense which isn't explicit in Ribran's explanation (a tough life).

    Incidentally that use of the simple past form as a past participle (she's been rode rather than she's been ridden) is lowland Scottish and/or uneducated in BE, I think. Is it common in the Southern States?
     
    Thomas Tompion said:
    I've never heard it in the UK, and in BE it's hard to talk of women having been ridden without evoking a sexual sense which isn't explicit in Ribran's explanation (a tough life).
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    That's usually part of it, along with drug abuse, poverty, a general lack of stability, etc.

    Thomas Tompion said:
    Incidentally that use of the simple past form as a past participle (she's been rode rather than she's been ridden) is lowland Scottish and/or uneducated in BE, I think. Is it common in the Southern States?
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    It's fairly common in the rural South, outside which it is highly frowned upon. This particular phrase, however, is used throughout the South as it is considered an idiomatic exception.
     
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    It's a well-known term in horse country, where it had no particular sexual connotation back in the days when I learned it. We used it for old geezers and anybody else who fit the description.

    As far as the past participle is concerned, I once had a neighbor in northeast Colorado, who used it frequently. When we were talking about a particular horse, he commented. "He needs rode."

    EDIT: It now occurs to me that as a result of American urbanization, there are probably many people who have no idea that that the term comes from the horse world.
     
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    So... for you horse-wranglers out there, what does the "put up (put away) wet" part of the expression mean? Now, I'm not a horse-virgin, I have ridden a great, big, gentle mare once around a paddock in California, but that's hardly any experience to go on...
     
    The idea is that you aren't supposed to put away your horse while it's wet (in movies there are sometimes signs in stables that say "Do not put horses away wet," which is why I know this). You're supposed to dry it. I think it might get too curly if you leave it wet? Anyway, it's something bad. Maybe it'll smell more like a horse, or start to get moldy.

    <Non-language question removed>
     
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    Yes, I thought the object of this sentence was the saddle as well pob14, but it does make more sense for it to be the horse now.

    <Discussion of the non-linguistic side issue removed>
     
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    I've worked as a racehorse "hot-walker" and groom in the past, so I can tell you exactly what is meant by being "put up wet." Just like human athletes, horses that have had a hard workout and are all sweaty need to be walked slowly and have a cooling down period. To properly care for a horse that comes back to the barn wet with sweat, he/she needs to be untacked (saddle removed) and walked for about a half hour on a lead rope, or until the sweat has dried--which is why busy trainers hire people to walk their horses. Once the horse is cool, he/she can be brushed and put up in the stall. Failure to do this will cause stiff muscles and lameness. So the exact meaning of the phrase, as it pertains to horsemanship, is to work your horse really hard and not take time to care for it afterward. For a human, it means you're in pretty rough shape.
     
    AnitaClare said:
    I've worked as a racehorse "hot-walker" and groom in the past, so I can tell you exactly what is meant by being "put up wet." Just like human athletes, horses that have had a hard workout and are all sweaty need to be walked slowly...
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    Welcome to WRF, and thank you for this very helpful contribution!

    (I have some experience with human athletes, but none with horses, so the specifics were new to me.)
     
    I am from North Carolina; 49yo; we used the term "rode hard and put up wet" quite often; we took it to mean a person was a hard partier; male or female; usually to mean if someone had a rough night; the day after; i.e hangover; a take-off was in a sexual term; as to be that a person had a great night of sex and would be wore out the next day. An older person who would be referred to as to having a rough life; drugs; jail etc..
     
    I agree with fellow-Brit Thomas Tompion's comments in post #6

    1. I've never heard the expression
    2. It sounded to me like something from a porn movie rather than everyday speech
    3. Without the explanation I wouldn't have understood it
     
    I suspect that in the US, where both horseback riding and hunting are not class-specific pastimes, but activities engaged in by people across the social spectrum without distinction, figures of speech drawn from them would be more generally used than they would be in the UK, where there is such a strong class association with both riding and hunting.
     
    Being from The Derby City, and a horse owner, all I know word it as 'Rode hard and hung up wet'. Usually referring to how you feel or feel you look after working hard (-: but of course knowing it refers to not ' hot walking' a horse so it is cooled down and dry before putting it in a stable. (To remove tack and slowly walk them to cool down after riding is 'hot walking'.)
     
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    Oh....tack meaning blanket, saddle, bit. Just a lead rope normally used to hot walk.

    Another equine derived term is 'long in the tooth'. You check the length of a horse's teeth to determine approx. age. Anything 'a bit long in the tooth' would be older.
     
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