What is the origin of the phrase get off your high horse?

Answer 1

In medieval times, knights (nobility) rode horses while peasants (commoners) did not. So the knights could literally look down upon the common folk, considering them to be inferior and therefore beneath their notice.

The sentiment survives today in the expression 'on a high horse', meaning those who think they're better than the people around them: more devout or pious, less likely to be dishonest, always in the right (or at least, in the wrong far less often).

The reality is that very few people are that saintly; and the ones that are usually have a healthy dose of humility to keep them grounded. So, to tell someone to get off their moral high horse is a not-so-polite way of reminding them that they're really no better than the rest of us, no matter how much they might want to believe otherwise.

Answer 2

in the old west,it is thought to have originated..for example a person who was arrogant or had a disagreement with a group of people and no longer associated is said to ride their horsetting high on the saddle... thus the phrase "he must be on his high horse" he aint talkin to nobody.

Answer 3

In early settlements, the earliest citizens had 2 primary ways of transport:

1. on foot
2. by horse

Horses were, by nature, tall, making anyone sitting on one be higher than anyone on the ground.

Being "on your high horse" became associated with being persnickety or 'uppity'.

NOTE: Most early settlers did not routinely use wagons in towns until after the early to mid-1800s, except for the stage coach or in wagon trains. People walked mostly, or men rode horses.

Answer 4

First attest of phrase(es); 1380, 'High horse' = warhorse, charger. Figurative sense of 'affect airs of superiority' dates from 1782'