Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) annoying, irritating, teasing.

1927		‘Amer. Sl. in London’ AS III:2 167/2: Riding, being sarcastic.
1930		D. Hammett Maltese Falcon (1965) 415: The boy said: ‘You bastard, get up and shoot it out if you’ve got the guts. I’ve taken all the riding from you I’m going to take.’.
1937		(con. WW1) E.C. Parsons Great Adventure 10: The slightest indication of swank or taking ourselves seriously was more than sufficient cause for a riding that would leave egos raw and bleeding.
1964		(con. 1917) S. Woodward Paper Tiger 79: We played in a series of tough mill towns and usually had to put up with a great deal of unfavorable comment from the crowd. [...] I was seldom bothered by the riding but a fan in Rochdale finally got my combination.