to change horses in midstream
1
8.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
cambiar de caballo en medio del río
- It can be dangerous to change horses in midstream when so much is at stake.
Examples
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You're not, by any chance, thinking of changing horses in midstream?
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Don't change horses in midstream.
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"Never change horses in midstream."
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You don't want to change horses in midstream.
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'Cause you don't change horses in midstream.
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You don't change horses in midstream, Ben.
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Don't go changing horses in midstream.
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It strikes me that the Readercon Board has decided to change horses in midstream.
Blog text (12) -
During the project, we realized it was too risky to change horses in midstream.
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The manager warned us not to change horses in midstream while we were halfway through the merger.
Synonyms
13
4.9
To change direction in a business or project
12
5.5
To change a decision or plan and go in a different direction
10
3.9
To change what you are doing to fit a new situation
4
7.9
Change plans quickly at the last minute when something goes wrong
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
change + horses + in + midstream
The phrase creates a clear literal image — swapping horses in the middle of a stream is risky and ill-advised — so a learner who knows 'change', 'horses', 'in' and 'midstream' can infer it warns against changing plans, strategies, or leaders during an ongoing process. However, it is a proverb-like metaphorical extension rather than a strictly compositional phrase, so the precise pragmatic target (e.g. leaders versus other kinds of changes) may not be fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Change horses in midstream may come from the image of someone crossing a river on horseback. Trying to change horses in the middle of the water (midstream) would be dangerous and slow, so the saying now means 'to change plans, strategies, or leaders while something is already happening' and warns that this is often 'risky' or unwise.