> as lemmas

1578 H. Wotton tr. J. Yver Courtlie Controuersie iv. 222 Syth there is question of marriage..wee muste not throwe oure selues blinde-fielde therevnto, as the Andabates doe to fighte, for feare wedlocke leape into the saddle, and repentaunce on the crouper.

a1627 T. Middleton et al. Widdow (1652) i. ii. 9 I perceive you must begin like a young Vaulter, and get up at horse-tail, before you get into the saddle.

1660 S. Pepys Diary 3 Mar. (1970) I. 75 He told me he feared there was new design hatching, as if Monke had a mind to get into the saddle.

1675 H. Neville tr. N. Machiavelli Prince vii, in tr. N. Machiavelli Wks. 209 Such as by the favour of fortune..have got into the saddle.

1768 W. Graham Attempt to prove Patronage Foreign to Nature of Church 139 If the other party, who now hold the reins in the assembly, would be so complaisant as permit them to get into the saddle.

1859 J. S. Rarey Art of taming Horses (new ed.) viii. 120 Young men should learn to leap into the saddle by placing both hands on the cantle, as the horse moves.

1869 J. E. Cooke Mohun ii. xxi. 158 Well, Surry, old fellow, we are going to get into the saddle. Look out for your head!

1975 S. Heaney in Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Nov. 175/3 It is impossible to miss the note both of exhilaration and consolidation in this work as English poetry vaults into the saddle of the Mediterranean Pegasus.