Dont look a gift horse in the mouth...?

Question

i know what the saying means, i know what a gift is, and i know what a horse is. Since nobody has ever given me a horse, and i have never looked any horse directly in the mouth, why is it such a big deal to not look a gift horse in the mouth?

Answer 1

Because looking in a horses mouth is a way of checking it's health.  And in olden times if someone gave you a horse, you were expected to just thank them, but if you looked in the horses mouth, it was an insult to the one that gave it to you.

Answer 2

People look at a horses teeth to tell their age.  A horse is a horse so to speak.

Answer 3

One way to tell a horse's age is to examine its teeth.....so it would be insulting if someone gave you a horse and you checked to see how old it was.........(in front of them)....~