Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

While sometimes exhilarating, winter horseback riding can also be dangerous. If the temperature is above freezing, the soft and sticky snow on the ground can cling to your mount's hooves. The snow accumulates until it forms hard platforms of ice on the horse's feet.

These can stack so tall that your horse becomes clumsy and you're forced to dismount and literally chip the snowballs away.

This was a serious, sometimes lethal complication in the era of horsepowered travel. Imagine a team of two or more horses coursing through a winter landscape, sledge in tow. One of the lead animals, with two inches of icepack on her hooves, looses her footing and falls. The other horses, attached to her by harness, trip and stumble. The sledge collides with the fallen mass of horseflesh, and all is chaos.

Most American etymologists believe this situation gave rise to the expression "all balled up," meaning to be confused, tangled and exasperated. The "ball" in this phrase is the pernicious balls of ice on the horse's feet.

Radio Script > All Balled Up