Old English ridan "sit or be carried on" (as on horseback), "move forward; rock; float, sail" (class I strong verb; past tense rad, past participle riden), from Proto-Germanic *ridanan (cf. Old Norse riða, Old Saxon ridan, Old Frisian rida "to ride," Middle Dutch riden, Dutch rijden, Old High Germn ritan, German reiten), from PIE *reidh- "to ride" (cf. Old Irish riadaim "I travel," Old Gaulish reda "chariot").
Meaning "heckle" is from 1912; that of "have sex with (a woman)" is from mid-13c.; that of "dominate cruelly" is from 1580s. To ride out ...