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Old 04-30-12 | 06:34 PM
  #49  
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Charles Wahl
Disraeli Gears
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Joined: Jul 2007
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From: NYC
Originally Posted by ScottRyder
The typical person, right handed or not, would mount his noble steed from the left (non drive side) of the horse. Here's a good reason why from Answer.com:

"It is traditional to mount and dismount a horse from the left side the reasoning behind this goes back to when people carried swords, the swords mostly hung on the left hip they couldn't mount a right side because the sword got in the way so became traditional to mount from the left."

I'm sure you can mount a horse from the right, I've never met one but I found it interesting it does have history. And I always mount my bike from the left side, left over lessons from "Old Glue"

Scott
There's a lot of this swashbuckling stuff that runs our "handed" lives. When in Ireland I learned that in castles the spiral stairs all went in one direction (counter-clockwise going up?) so that right-handed defenders working from top down would have the advantage over righties approaching from below. And of course, why the English drive on the left -- to facilitate swordplay between righties en passant.
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