So why do they hang a rifle scabbard on the right side of the saddle?

[DUKE DEADEYE NUKEM]

Yes I know this is where the cavalry hang theirs there but for hunting and a bolt gun seems like it would be better to just have it on the side you mount your horse on.
These I'm making go on the right side. http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,41361.0.html I'm holding off cutting anymore until I get a few responses.
TIA,
Duke

[Forty Rod]

I am right-handed and I carried a 94 Winchester in a scabbard upside down and butt forward under my left leg for years. It was nearly vertical for comfort for both me and the horse.  It didn't get in the way of mounting-dismounting there, wasn't going to foul my rope (as bad as I was with a rope I didn't need the additional aggravation), and was easily, though not quickly, available for use.

I haven't been on a horse now for over 35 years so I guess that information is obsolete.

[Forty Rod]

Sorry. Double dribble.

[Thomas O'Hawk]

It's oppression against us South Paws!

Lefties unite!

[rickk]

Ditto what VA Redleg said.... it's a right handed world.  I believe the tradition goes back to Roman times. We get on the horse from the left side for the same reason.

IN fact, if you try to get on most horses from the right side, they will have a hissy-fit about it. Some horses will get tense if you simply stand on their right side.

Then, somehow, tradition has carried the stand on the left side of an animal rule over to almost all species.

For instance, I raise both horsies and llamas.

Now, my llamas are different and they don't care which side I deal with them from, because I make it that way on purpose. However, I have seen people that can touch a llama's left leg but can't get near the same llama's right leg. I blame this on Roman soldiers.

Personally, if I have to deal with a leg injury on one of my animals, I don't usually have the luxury of it always being the left side so I train them to not know the difference.

Do what works for you. The critters will adjust to it just fine with a little work on your part.

Rick

[rbertalotto]

Because you saddle up on the left side............

[Forty Rod]

Because you saddle up on the left side............

Always?  Why?

[rbertalotto]

Because the horse will kick the stuffing out of you if you try it from the right.........

[Ranch 13]

Why do they hang a rifle scabbard on the right side of the saddle?  ;DCuz if you hang it from the wrong side it might fall off.

Now seriously "they" don't always hang it from the right side of the saddle, myself I prefer it much the way forty rod described it. It's out of the way mounting and dismounting, it keeps it where you can keep track of it and not have it fall out lord only knows where on the back trail. Plus it's a lot easier to access it from the ground on when it's hung on the left. You don't have to walk around behind or in front of the horse to put the rifle into or out of the scabbard, some morning's horse's just don't like alot of nonsense and the less messin around you have to do the better both your days will be.

But mostly it falls to personal preferance.

[rbertalotto]

We had two horses......finally sold one of them............can't wait to sell the other..........They love my grand-daughter and my daughter-in-law, but they simply hate me..........My grand-daughter discovered boys and cheer-leading and the horses simply don't get ridden much...........horses are a real pain in the ass! Give me something with a throttle any day!

[Forty Rod]

Because the horse will kick the stuffing out of you if you try it from the right.........

None of mine would.  They'd look at you like you were nuts, but they never so much as stepped aside if I tried to mount from the right...a sometime necessity on narrow mountain trails.

Horses are like kids: if they're trained right they do what they have to without being too put out by it.

[Eloy Santa Cruz]

The only reason I can think of is that you can quickly access your rifle as you dismount in a hasty situation. If your are dismounting on the left side of the horse, grasp your rifle with your right hand, once your right leg swings clear the rifle can be drawn from the scabbard. The rifle is now ready to shoulder and fire as soon as your boots hit the ground. Of course this is only in the case of right handers.

[theshoer]

Because the horse will kick the stuffing out of you if you try it from the right.........

No they will not

[Biscuit Joe]

My horses were trained to have a rider mounting from either side. They could also care less which side you dismounted from. As for rifle mounting I would say. I just watched a Tom Selleck movie called 'Last stand at Saber river'. In this movie he had his rifle on the left side of his horse. As he rode the horse it flapped around a lot. I wondered if the rifle ever fell out of the scabberd.
I suppose that placement would depend upon why you carried the rifle and how you planned upon using it.

[Skeeter Lewis]

I've looked through Packing Iron and Cowboys & The Trappings of the Old West. All the photos but one show the scabbard hung on the left. Go figure.

[will ghormley]

There is no "universal" way to hang a rifle scabbard.  The horse, the rifle, the terrain, the rider, how and when the rifle is used, all dictate where the riffle gets hung.  Depending on the build of the horse, I like to try to hang mine high on the right side with the stock forward.  But, if the horse is built wrong, it interferes with leg signals.

If you're not ropin', a horn loop isn't a bad way to carry a rifle cross country.

Will

[Shotgun Franklin]

Horizontally, with the butt just a bit higher than the muzzle, and under the leg used to what was called 'Texas Style'. It kept the butt stock from breaking if the horse fell or rolled.

[Trailrider]

I've seen 'em carried butt rear on the right side of the horse, under the rider's right leg. (That's how I packed mine.)  As was posted above, with the buttstock just a bit higher than the muzzle you won't get your leg hung up mounting or dismounting. I would release the safety strap, grab the small of the stock, draw the rifle and then dismount.  Sometimes, I might dismount first and reach over the horse's rump to grab it.  In order to keep from having the front of the scabbard from hitting the horse's right foreleg on each step, the scabbard and the rifle had to be reasonably short (~22-inches).

I have also seen folks pack the rifle on the right side, muzzle down or sloping down from the front to the rear.  Some pack the rifle with the sights down, this way, with the rifle almost horizontal. Trouble with that carry, as with the rifle on the left front, is the tendency for brush to get trapped between the stock and the horse's shoulder.

BTW, the Cavalry did not use scabbards prior to the 1880's.  Originally, a socket about four inches high and about the same in diameter (don't quote me...I can't reach my original right now).  This was attached to the right side of the saddle rigging behind the rider's leg.  The trooper wore a wide sling diagonally across his body from the left shoulder.  A large swivel with a snap ring was hooked to the sling ring on the left side of the carbine. The weight of the carbine was borne by the trooper.  Upon mounting, he inserted the muzzle of the carbine into the socket until the forestock rested on the socket.  The idea was that the trooper could retain the carbine if he dropped it, or intentional let it drop after firing a round, in order to draw his pistol. The problem was that if he was unhorsed, the carbine could cause him to be dragged by the horse.  A sergeant came up with the idea of making the socket open at the front, with a formed steel piece between the layers of leather to keep the edges close enough to retain the carbine unless enough pressure was exerted to force the barrel through the gap.

In the 1880's, the Army adopted the "short boot", which hung vertically behind the trooper's right leg. This only covered the forestock and part of the receiver.  Later, the "long boot", which was only slightly longer than the short boot. his one is identified by the brass piece at the top front to help protect the M1884 Buffington rear sight.

Later, in the early 20th Century, the Army did adopt a true scabbard, and some of these were made for packing an M-1 Garand in a jeep.

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

A lot of calf ropers mount and dismount on the right.

[Cliff Fendley]

When I was in Oklahoma at about 7 years old Daddy got tired of my brother and I using the young calves as rodeo stock and bought us a couple wild ponies. We usually dismounted them over the front or back.

All jokes aside I haven't ridden a horse in close to twenty years now but I don't ever remember having one that cared much which side you mounted from. Kinda like the old open cab tractors, just climb on or off either side.