A hen [carried] far is a heavy thing.
Note: Anything carried a long distance becomes a heavy burden. The notion that easy physical burdens can become exhausting over time would be obvious to any rural farmer. What is not so obvious is that psychological burdens carried a long time can be a heavy thing too. Guilt, anger, fear, hate, and such are natural emotions that come upon us from time to time. In fact, Irish idiom recognizes that these emotions are a burden. For example, in Irish one would literally say, ‘Fear is on you.’ But at some point, you need to let go of these burdens. This proverb could used as a gentle nudge to someone who has carried such a burden too long, to give it up. Lighten up.