Another option, if you have control over the YAML -- tag the mapping 
with !ruby/object:OrderedHash, and go to town on an OrderedHash 
implementation that enumerates its junk in order of assignment.

Devin the Crickety Shiv

Devin Mullins wrote:
>Phlip wrote:
>> Rubistas:
>>
>> Here's a complete working sample illustrating the issue in YAML::Syck, 
>> or its documentation:
>>
>>     require 'yaml'
>>
>>     y = YAML.parse("i: b\na: sequence")
>>     p y.kind # <-- :seq
> 
>  > ...