The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

by William Taplin

NEAR-SIDE

.—The near-side of a horse is the LEFT SIDE, and of course the side on which the rider goes to mount. The right-side of the horse is always called the OFF-SIDE; but the right side, or the left side, is never so termed, when speaking of a horse. It is the invariable custom to say, that horse is lame of the "near-leg before;" the other, is evidently defective in the "off-leg behind."