I still remember the blank look I got when taking the car in for a new tire, seems off hind is not a car term:rofl:
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According to OED, it is because horses are mounted and (they and other animals such as cows) led from the left. The first quotation is from 1559.
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Soldiers wore their swords on their left hip typically as they could draw it with the right hand. Mounting from the left or near side meant that they didn’t need to swing the sword or other weaponry over the horse.
I have told my mechanic that my car’s right hind has a slow leak!
Anyone else absolutely unable to to straddle anything, a bike, a saddle on a saddle buck in a shop by throwing their left leg over? I just can’t.
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I make sure my horses can be mounted from the left or right side, and do practice it. Part of basic manners and a great convenience if you dismount on a trail and have a sharp drop off to the horse’s left.
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Guilty as charged
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I do not know anyone that uses the terms “near” and “off”. This includes Pony Club A graduates, veterinarians and experience farriers. Just like people, horses have a left side and a right side. I may get confused but I also get confused as to which of my hands is left so I’m not really a good example. No one else gets confused because it’s pretty straight forward. Near and off, to me, is not - like near you…what if you are on the right side of the horse, is that now your near side? Or was that your near side before?
As far as reins, same thing - the left rein is in your left hand.
I have heard “outside” and “inside” used when directing which way to turn (ie - make your circle towards the inside of the arena) and for younger students that do not yet have a decent grasp on left and right (and possibly me…).
I can also straddle anything from either direction but that’s something I work on with riding also. My mare also can be led from either side because all of that is just tradition dating back to the knights.
As far as cars go, I do use driver and passenger side because people seem to get confused. I think it is more because cars aren’t living creatures so people do not consider them to have innate sides like people and animals.
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Well, I now feel about a thousand years old 
Wonder what horsey term will disappear from general use next… 
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Really? The more I frequent these boards the more I
realize how traditional / old fashioned the horse culture must be in my area.
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Just this week I had the large animal vet out for spring shots. I said something about having a look at the nodule on the off side of the mare’s neck. The vet went “huh?” I said it again and then had to say “her right side.” He didn’t know the terms whatsoever.
Thinking about this, I tend to think near and off for unmounted use (lead from the near side, first connect your girth from the off side, etc.) and left and right/inside and outside for mounted directions.
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Some of us know and have used all the jargon and have preferred to move on with the times and use current colloquialisms. Doesn’t mean we don’t know it, just means we have moved on and embraced current terminology which does no harm to anyone and does not make us less knowledgeable.
That said, I do think that everyone should know all the jargon as it’s an important part of horsemanship history.
The things that drive me nuts and may make me a bit judge are “back hock” (as opposed to front hock? Lol) and the use of near and off in relation to where a person is standing and not as a substitute for left and right. Yes, this is a thing and has had me confused more than once.
Another that is confusing, but not detrimental in any way is seeing charts marked up in my absence with BR or FL instead or RH and LF respectively. Same legs, but it takes me a second to “translate” LoL o
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my daughter who was four at the time won her very first class she was in because she did just what the judge said… turn your horse to the right and return to the line up… problem was the judge meant to say my right as where she was standing daughter had to to turn her horse into the judge …so daughter did as she was told turning the horse into the judge who at first was shocked then realized just what she said then laughed saying daughter was the only one of the sixteen or so kids that did what they were told, so she won the class
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I used to groom for a woman with show hunters who insisted that her horses have at least 27 braids. She had one mare and two geldings and wanted that 27 on both. She told me that in appointment classes, if there was a tie, the judge would count the braids or check the type of sandwich in the case.
The things that drive me nuts and may make me a bit judge are “back hock” (as opposed to front hock? Lol)
I’ve heard people refer to the hock as the back knee.
I think perhaps near and off are useful because they refer to rge horse’s left and right, no matter where the person is standing. When you are riding, the horse and the rider share the same perspective. I don’t think any riding instructor ever said “turn off” for “turn left.”
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I have heard that and actually said, “It’s true that the stifle is the equivalent of our knee, but …” and then I get that they mean the hock and I die a little inside.
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The horse’s left/near is always its left/near, same as yours. I had a discussion with a cow person over this. He had marked the cow on her left leg and written it down as being the right side of her udder that was an issue. He said, when I’m facing her it’s on the right. I told him to show me his left hand and then turn away from me and show me his left hand. We laughed. He managed the exercise without even giving me the finger (of his left hand) LoL
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LOL I have never mounted my bike from the off side. I never even thought about it.
My instructor said something about it taking me some time to follow directions. I said it was because he was using left and right instead of inside and outside.
I was taught my left from my right when standing West. So in my mind I have to face west and then cone back to where I actually am. Say inside or outside hand and I can move it immediately
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I’ve been a cyclist my entire life, ever since I learned to ride a bike at about the age of five. I always mount from the left. I mount horses from the left, and mostly entered my pony cart from the left as well.
Rebecca
Near and off are equivalent to passenger and driver’s for a car. They refer to the sides of the animal/vehicle. Just as you wouldn’t say “turn passenger”, near and off are not used to give directions.
I can and regularly do mount from the off side, but I have practiced and remember very well how discombobulated I was when first doing it. It’s easier to start learning by using a mounting block.
I go back to my childhood home, imagine standing in the street facing the stop sign on the corner. My right hand is the closest to the sign. I still use this, although as I’ve aged my back regularly reminds me which side is left lol
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