What I Meant to Say

One of the objectives during the riding school class I was teaching last night was to teach the troopers how to help a lady onto her horse when riding sidesaddle. Because the ladies wear rather voluminous dresses when they ride and because it was inappropriate for ladies during the Victorian era to mount unassisted--they must have a gentleman help them. The troopers must be able to hold the lady's horse still while helping her to rise gracefully up into the saddle. It is more complicated than you might think as the trooper must avoid getting his head beneath the hem of the dress or touching the lady anywhere inappropriate while at the same time preventing the horse from moving. As I was providing verbal guidance on this process I said, "A good trooper should be able to hold the horse still while mounting the lady." Oh well, they knew what I meant.