Well maybe TMI to the blushing little romeos and juliets, your bio says we're exactly the same age so I'll assume we can sidestep the giggling and such

Yes, by and large, according to the less-than-reliable research, the various 'excuses' essentially come down to whether or not the young woman in question was excited on the 'special occassion' When you boil it down, it's just a piece of membrane, they've actually found hookers with intact hymens after decades of plying their 'trade'. Being nervous and tense tends to equal blood, if you're a teen-something year old girl in a culture that takes blood on the sheets very seriously and who essentially got exchanged as a piece of meat with a dowry, odds are 'nervous' and 'tense' were probably understatements, ironically adding reality to the myth. And of course, very few guys in that culture are likely to tell their friends the next day of anything else but a 'Penthouse Forum' encounter. Typical young male ego and female confusion filled in the blanks.

Nope, most girls don't bleed, no real reason too if all is well, and it has no more to do with riding or dancing than one might objectively think. Many guys ride horses, self included, never had my scrotum ruptured in the process, sometimes wished I could bathe to the hip in epsom salts though.