🐴 Horse
"Close the stable door after the horse has bolted"
Meaning
To act too late, after the damage is done.
About the horse
Horses have long been work and racing animals, so their idioms describe effort, priorities, and stubborn resistance.
Example sentence
Locking the gate after the goat escaped was closing the stable door after the horse had bolted.
Test yourself
Which idiom means...
To act too late, after the damage is done.
More horse idioms
HorseIdiom
"Straight from the horse's mouth"
Information received directly from the person who knows the truth.
HorseIdiom
"Dark horse"
A person who surprises everyone by doing very well.
HorseIdiom
"Hold your horses"
Wait a moment; do not rush.
HorseIdiom
"Eat like a horse"
To eat a lot.
HorseIdiom
"A horse of a different color"
A completely different matter.
HorseIdiom
"Flogging a dead horse"
Wasting effort on something that cannot succeed.