Well, BGC, you missed three words from the first verse:

1. Oh, the old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

Many long years ago. Many long years ago.
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

2. The old gray mare, she kicked on the whiffletree, etc...
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

Here are the notes from Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag:

Before the horseless carriage came, in the years when people went buggy-riding, there were more songs about horses than now. Oats for Dobbin was an expense then as gas is at the filling station now. Fodder for the mare and her foal cost money the same as oil, water, and new wind shields do today. The horse doctor earned his living as the crack mechanic at the garage does, voicing the sentiments of an Arab to his steed, "My beautiful, my beautiful, thou standest so meekly by." The following poem is in a different vein and mood. It is keyed rather to the homely philosophy of an Iowa editor who was asked by a Kansas editor what he wanted on his gravestone. The answer was they could write, "He et what they sot before him." It is not as lofty in manner as the reply of an Iowa farmer asked about his first horse, a two-year-old given him by his father. "How was she? Well, she was stylish but she couldn't stand grief." The melody here is directly appropriated from the negro spiritual, 'The Old Gray Mare Came Tearin' Out the Wilderness.'

I have to say that in this instance, the great Mr. Sandburg's words, while entertaining, are less than informative. anyboy know the real skivvy on this song? Apparently, the song isn't in our database.
-Joe Offer-