jingle horse

A horse kept at a campsite overnight, to be ridden in the morning to round up (to jingle) all the other horses who are out grazing. At a cowboy campsite, most of the horses are allowed to go graze overnight with some degree of freedom, with a little bell attached so they can still be found in the dark by the sound. One horse is kept near the camp so it can be ridden to round up the others in the morning. Traditionally, the horses were supposed to be fed before anyone else could eat breakfast, so someone would be tasked to go "jingle" the horses in the early hours of the morning, since the little bells would jingle whenever they moved. Source: Equus Magazine, "The Language of Horses" Nov 2014 The phrase also appears in the original lyrics for the Christmas song, Jingle Bell Rock.