From A Times Puzzle

[Jezza68]

Cursing, catching horse with crop (5)

The answer is OATHS.
Presumably the crop is OATS, which leaves H for horse. I cannot find H as an abbr for Horse anywhere. The only possibility I can see is that H here is short for Heroin/Horse. Does that make sense?
Thanks

[bibblebub]

yes

[mallyh]

yes h = horse

[Jezza68]

Thanks for the confirmation.

[Quizmonster]

Chambers Dictionary lists heroin as one of the meanings of the letter 'h', as that is what drug-users often call it. Under the heading 'horse', the word heroin is listed, as that is also used as a slang alternative for the drug. As a result, horse has become a standard way of representing the letter 'h' in crosswords.