| 142LIFE IN THE SADDLE.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY PEOPLE RIDE.
Horseback Exercise Almost a Thing of the Past in the East and North, While It is Still Very Common in the South and West.
If you are an eastern man you will be surprised, should you make a trip west or south, by the number of men and women you will see on horseback. If you reside south or west, and you travel north or east, you will be struck by the fact that few people are to be seen in the saddle.
And when you have taken note of the facts you will ask "Why?"
The answer to your short question is a complex one.
QUITE ENGLISH, YOU KNOW.
In the east the country roads are everywhere fitted for the light buggy. One can drive to town or to church and run less chance of spoiling his Sunday clothes than if he rode. The young lover can sit close beside his sweetheart in a buggy, and he can't if they go horseback. There is much more enthusiasm over trotting matches than running races in the east, and horses are, therefore, bred for their driving and not their running qualities. Those who want the exercise of riding say that the bicycle is a better steed than the horse-that he is safer, doesn't cost so much and doesn't eat anything.
In the west and south there are many bridle paths where one could not drive in a buggy. Running is the favorite method of speeding horses. The bicycle is still something of a novelty.
WESTERN STYLE.
But there is some horseback riding east, and there are plenty of buggies south and west. And while riding is perhaps slowly but none the less certainly decreasing west and south, it is as surely coming into favor again in the east.
But it is only the well to do-in the cities, the wealthy-who can afford horseback exercise east. | 142LIFE IN THE SADDLE.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY PEOPLE RIDE.
Horseback Exercise Almost a Thing of the Past in the East and North, While It is Still Very Common in the South and West.
If you are an eastern man you will be surprised, should you make a trip west or south, by the number of men and women you will see on horseback. If you reside south or west, and you travel north or east, you will be struck by the fact that few people are to be seen in the saddle.
And when you have taken note of the facts you will ask "Why?"
The answer to your short question is a complex one.
QUITE ENGLISH, YOU KNOW.
In the east the country roads are everywhere fitted for the light buggy. One can drive to town or to church and run less chance of spoiling his Sunday clothes than if he rode. The young lover can sit close beside his sweetheart in a buggy, and he can't if they go horseback. There is much more enthusiasm over trotting matches than running races in the east, and horses are, therefore, bred for their driving and not their running qualities. Those who want the exercise of riding say that the bicycle is a better steed than the horse-that he is safer, doesn't cost so much and doesn't eat anything.
In the west and south there are many bridle paths where one could not drive in a buggy. Running is the favorite method of speeding horses. The bicycle is still something of a novelty. |
