on the hoof

Meanings

1. Of livestock, not yet butchered.
2. Alive; embodied in a living animal (including a human); in working order.
3. Of a human activity, while standing, walking, or running; on foot.
4. Without proper thought or preparation; done as one goes.

Etymology

The literal sense concerning livestock has no more to it as a sum of parts than the corresponding sense of on foot does. A reference to humans being on the hoof occurs in a text from England in 1691.