Annotation:Horse that Made a Haymes of His Winders (The)

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 HORSE THAT MADE A HAYMES OF HIS WINDERS, THE. AKA and see "Mrs. Cooty's Jig." Irish, Jig. The 'winders' of the horse is a corruption of 'withers', the area of a horse' shoulder where the mane meets the back. Haymes, or hames, refers to the wooden or metal pieces forming the collar on a horse, to which the traces are attached. However, the in colloquial usage the phrase to 'make a hames' means to 'make a mess of,' possibly because it is difficult to put the hames on a horse the right way up. Harry O'Prey remarks that 'haymes' or 'hames' is an Irish pronunciation of the word "hams," referring to the back leg of an animal such as a pig. Thus to 'make a hames' is to make a (pig's) arse of it.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources:  Recorded sources: Shanachie 34014, James Kelly, Paddy O'Brien & Daithi Sproule - "Traditional Music of Ireland" (1995).

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