ride herd on

English

Etymology

From the cowboy task of driving cattle while riding along with them.

Verb

ride herd on

  1. (transitive, idiomatic, US) To supervise a group of people, such as workers, and/or their actions, i.e. their work.
    But Rabbit feels as though he owns it all, showing up at the showroom day after day, riding herd on the paperwork and the payroll [...]. - Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
    As the new editor, his job is to ride herd on the staff and check on the tone of the articles.
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