hear straight from the horse's mouth (meaning)

I signed up for a gym a long time ago and stayed there for as long as I can remember. But recently I had to look for a different one because it ended up going bankrupt. It all seemed to be going pretty well until one day it suddenly closed down. And the fact it was apparently going so well made me skeptical at first when I heard from one of the gym goers about the eminent bankruptcy. I said "there is no way this is going to close down. I am going to need to hear straight from the horse's mouth to believe that." So I went to the closest personal trainer and he confirmed the news.

But do you actually understand what just happened there? I needed to hear straight from the horse's mouth to believe something was real. What is that supposed to mean? Well, that is what people do or at least should do when they want to confirm something: hear from the original or most reliable source. That source can be authoritative, such as a manager or your own boss, but it can also be your neighbor, who you consider to be the most reliable person to trust at that moment.

What happens sometimes is that there are some events that can only be reliably explained by the people who witnessed them. And that is how justice is usually done. A crime is committed and as a way to punish the real lawbreakers all the witnesses are called to testify. So they are the horse's mouth.

Talk to you next time. Bye bye!