'Can't ride one side of it'

I always thought it meant when the horse went so differently from one rein to another! Often it is how th rider is sitting which causes this.
 
Dizzydancer said:
No idea what the origin is but for me I always think of it as a horse which is too much whether strength or talent wise for the rider and thus horse misbehaves
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I agree with this. I've used it myself as have many people I know, usually when a poor rider is on a good horse and the horse goes really badly for them. It like 'cripes, she can't ride one side of that horse'

It can also apply when riding a really tricky horse that one just can't get a tune out of. 'He was a real git today, I couldn't ride one side of him!'

I guess it refers to even if the horse was cut in half the rider couldn't get a tune out of it.
 
I always think it refers to the rider just not getting on with the horse, for me either the horse is too advanced, I'm over horsed or it's too quirky but equally when you just don't gel. I'd like to think I'm a decent enough rider but I've ridden horses, even riding school horses, that I just can't get a tune out of, even if they go lovely for a lot of other people.
 
No idea where the phrase comes from, but I always take it to mean the horse is too much for the rider, either because it's being silly/quirky/too strong/taking advantage of the rider, or because the rider is riding in such a way that the signals are getting crossed and what's happening is not what was planned!

My mare is very talented and I'm sure more talented riders could get a much better response from her, but I wouldn't say I couldn't ride one side of her. She behaves well for me and doesn't take advantage - she just doesn't offer me the same paces as she would Carl Hester, say! :D

I would, however, admit to not being able to ride one side of a horse I went to view - all was going well until I tried to transition from canter back to trot and found myself going faster. After several laps of wondering what to do, I had to yell to the owner to ask for instructions - turns out you had to take weight off the horse's back to stop, which I would never have worked out without being told (I was merrily sitting deeper and taller and deeper and taller in every effort to stop!). So I would happily admit I 'couldn't ride one side of it'! Not the horse's fault, but that was definitely not a successful ride in my view.
 
Deltaflyer said:
I agree with this. I've used it myself as have many people I know, usually when a poor rider is on a good horse and the horse goes really badly for them. It like 'cripes, she can't ride one side of that horse'

It can also apply when riding a really tricky horse that one just can't get a tune out of. 'He was a real git today, I couldn't ride one side of him!'

I guess it refers to even if the horse was cut in half the rider couldn't get a tune out of it.
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Interesting.

I don't think I am a bad rider at all... have competed to quite a high level eventing in the dim and distant past, and can talk the talk for a medium stressage test, although I school my current little mare elementary (she's not really built for stretchy trot). I seem to be able to get a fairly decent tune out of most horses I have had the honour of sitting on.

However, for two years I was given the ride, albeit only a couple of times a week, on a young grey IDxTB. Seriously, I really didn't like riding him. And I don't think I've ever found a horse I so totally didn't click with. My stock phrase was I couldn't ride one side of him, meaning whatever I did, on whatever rein, it didn't result in a tune.

But I don't know where the phase comes from, either. :)
 
The horse is too good for the rider - it is quite a disparaging comment, in my understanding. It doesn't reflect badly on the horse, at all. : )
 
Dizzydancer said:
No idea what the origin is but for me I always think of it as a horse which is too much whether strength or talent wise for the rider and thus horse misbehaves
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Generally, this ^^^^. It's a term also used by dog handlers, as in "Can't handle one side of the bloody thing"! To mean that the dog for the handler or the horse for the rider is more than they can cope with and for the reasons given above. That's always been my understanding and when I've used the term.

Alec.
 
JFTD said:
Oh very good! I shall have to steal that one! :D
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Miss the old characters from my childhood who say these things!

Other derogatory expressions I've heard but obviously never have cause to use which spring to mind are:

"There's wiser things eating grass"

"A runnin 'herd is as much use as a stonin drain" (a shepherd who runs is as useless as a drain which does not).
 
I think it originated from racing, a comment made from a trainer which is derogatory to the jokey, however does not reflect badly upon the horse (which is likely to be owned by the man that pays your wages. :D ).

However I may be totally wrong, happy to be corrected!

I always took it to mean the same as all of the above, someone who is not good enough, or strong enough or balanced enough to ride a horse and get what they are asking for.
 
LittleGinger said:
I would, however, admit to not being able to ride one side of a horse I went to view - all was going well until I tried to transition from canter back to trot and found myself going faster. After several laps of wondering what to do, I had to yell to the owner to ask for instructions - turns out you had to take weight off the horse's back to stop, which I would never have worked out without being told (I was merrily sitting deeper and taller and deeper and taller in every effort to stop!). So I would happily admit I 'couldn't ride one side of it'! Not the horse's fault, but that was definitely not a successful ride in my view.
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Don't blame you for not knowing that. That's bad training really. How can having to take your weight off the horse be right? I would have been going round and round forever.
 
I understood it to mean that the rider isnt capable of riding the horse, and wouldnt be if the horse was only half as talented. Not necessarily meaning the rider is completely useless but is very much over horsed. Have to say I think its a brilliant expression!
 
Maesfen said:
This exactly! Rider not good enough for the horse - or ever likely to be!
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This is generally my understanding of it too. Just a turn of phrase which means the horse is too much horse for the rider. I've heard people say it of themselves with reference to their own horses or when thinking of themselves riding someone's else's horse. As in ..."lovely horse but I couldn't ride one side of it...." Not necessarily disparaging, but more an admission the they're not a good enough rider for that horse.
 
I use this term, honestly, about myself when I am completely, and utterly over-horsed, size, temperament and talent wise. I do not flatter myself about my capabilities.

Put me on a wide cob, or massive warmblood with a neck that stretches forever and I forget how to ride. Not to mention the fact that I am physically not built to sit on something wide, or tall - did I mention that my vertigo includes tall horses ?

Put me on a small, short backed, hot horse with a high head carriage, that is leaping out of its' skin and I will sit there and laugh and we'll get to the bottom of the mountain in one piece.

So, for me, not able to ride one side of it, is all about being over-horsed in whatever way applies.
 
I was selling a very forward going mare, some people came to view and the instructor said to the girl said she wouldn't be able to ride one side of it. The mare wasn't being naughty just very forward.
 
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