Are they coming or going?

Can you tell if they are coming toward your direction or going away from you? I will share the explanation and you will be able to answer it for yourselves at the end of this post.

Horse riders are trained to hold and walk their horse from the left side. This is because most (if not all) riders mount on the horses from the left side. In case of emergency or situation requires, the rider can quickly mount on the horse from the left when the rider is holding and walking the horse from left.

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So, you might be wondering why most riders mount on from the left side of the horse. This is due to the historical inheritance back in the days when soldiers / warriors / knights / samurais used to carry a sword while riding the horse to battle.

As most human population are right handed, it will only be natural for the sword to be hang on the left side of the rider’s body so that the rider will be able to pull out the sword quickly.

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When the sword is being hang on the left side of the rider’s body, the way for rider to mount on a horse will be first to place his left foot on the stirrup and then swing his right foot over the other side of the horse. This will allow the sword to have minimum movement while rider getting on the horse. If rider would have done it on the opposite direction, the sword be an obstacle for the rider while swinging the other leg over and the heavy sword might scare the horse if it slide through the horse back.

There is nothing technically wrong to mount on the horse from right side in modern days. In fact, a skillful horse rider should practice to mount from both sides of the horse. Of course, the horse needs to be sanitized on right side mounting else it could put rider into danger if the horse is not prepared for it.

So, are you able to tell in the photo if they are coming or going?