People very shortly getting astride horse (7)
I believe the answer is:
inhabit
'people' is the definition.
(people can mean to populate or inhabit)
'shortly getting astride horse' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'horse' could be 'h' (abbreviation as in horse power) and 'h' is found within the answer.
'shortly' could be 'inabit' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'inabit' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'very' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for inhabit that I've seen before include "Live in (a place)" , "Occupy - settle" , "Tenant" , "Live in, occupy" , "people" .)