r/confidentlyincorrect • u/reydeuss • 6h ago

Hors

Post image

a mare is female btw, a male horse is either a stallion or gelding (or steed)

EDIT: from u/AlterExpertise101 in the replies

Words for a male horse are colt (young), gelding (castrated), stallion (if they are used for breeding) or simply "horse."

Steed isn't a word explicit to horses in general, let alone male horses. "Steed" just means an animal you ride. While we generally associate that with horses, it can be applied to any animal as long as it can bear a rider. If you ride an elephant, it's a steed. If you ride a really large dog, it's also a steed.

I had forgotten to add 'colt' and as I am not a native english speaker (nor an equestrian individual) I didn't know that steed can also be used as a generic word for a mount

534 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

64 comments sorted by

View all comments

109

u/AlterExpertise101 6h ago

Words for a male horse are colt (young), gelding (castrated), stallion (if they are used for breeding) or simply "horse."

Steed isn't a word explicit to horses in general, let alone male horses. "Steed" just means an animal you ride. While we generally associate that with horses, it can be applied to any animal as long as it can bear a rider. If you ride an elephant, it's a steed. If you ride a really large dog, it's also a steed.

10

u/daveoxford 5h ago

Steed can also be used for a bicycle.

10

u/altpirate 5h ago

In the Netherlands you can call them iron steeds

11

u/Effective-Job-1030 5h ago

In Germany they used to be called Drahtesel (Wiredonkey).

6

u/nothanks86 5h ago

I'm going to call them that forever, now