Breaking a leg

[BettyO]

What a beautiful dog in your Avatar! What breed is he? I notice he has one blue and one brown eye.

I had a pinto horse like that - one blue eye and one brown.... a "wall eye" they call it in horses....

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Jerry, you are correct - mounting from the left is derived from ancient or medieval times regarding the swords men wore, usually on their left side. One mounted one's horse from the left (or "near" side of a horse) in order to avoid striking the horse with the flat of the sword and spooking him. The right side of the horse is also called the "off" side.

In the 19th Century one rode with longer stirrups and not with the knee bent as much as they do nowadays -

Civil War Soldier's Leg on Horseback

Modern Leg position on Horseback

A GOOD example of 19th Century riding styles is to take a look at John Wayne in True Grit. When he jumps the fence, his leg is fairly straight and he leans back. Same with GWTW - watch "Gerald O'Hara" (actor Thomas Mitchell) jump his white horse (actually the Lone Ranger's Silver) in the opening sequences of the movie - same effect - fairly straight legs and leaning back. Today, riders lean forward with cocked legs -

Victorian Rider Going over a Fence

Modern Rider Going Over a Fence

Supposedly the current "monkey on a stick" style of riding race horses changed in the late 1890s when jockey Tod Sloan developed the present style of riding in order to facilitate a more aerodynamic style of riding racers. By the way, just for fun, Sloan was the "Yankee Doodle Dandy" James Cagney sings about in the movie of the same name!