Bareback riding

“ But to us, even gigs are but a sort of unsuccessful run at gentility. The driver, to all intents and purposes, had better be on the horse. Horseback is the noblest way of being carried in the world. It is cheaper than any other mode of riding; it is common to all ranks; and it is manly, graceful, and healthy. The handsomest mixture of danger with dignity, in the shape of a carriage, was the tall phaeton with its yellow wings. ”

“ Even to the range men who worked it every round-up, riding the Bad Lands was far from plain sailing. A rider could get twisted, he could travel for hours and then find himself in a cul-de-sac. He could find himself within shouting distance of another horseman and be compelled to make a detour of fifteen miles if he wished to shake hands. ”

“ If the horse, however, is old and very quiet—so that one can throw the reins on his neck and allow him to jog on for himself, then horseback riding may mean very little. Where the care of the animal is entirely taken off the rider's shoulders by a groom who brings him to a particular place and takes him afterwards, then, also, much of the benefit of horseback riding is lost. ”

“ Just as soon as man rides an old favorite animal on whose back he can throw down the reins, allowing it to saunter on as it will, while he occupies himself with other things, then horseback riding loses its efficacy and falls back into the class of bicycle riding or carriage riding or walking in the open air unless there is diversion of mind in the scenes, or the necessity for care at street crossings, to banish preoccupation of mind. ”

“ Driving is not real exercise; it does not renovate the river of blood that flows so sluggishly in the veins of those who from any cause have lost the natural adjustment of brain to brawn. Horseback-riding, which does promise vigorous exercise, is expensive. The bicycle meets all [73] the conditions and will ere long come within the reach of all. ”

“ Whenever a rider finds that his hand has nothing to work against, that the horse has loosened its hold on the bit and refuses to face it, he may be almost certain that he has an old offender to manage and that mischief is meant, and will follow unless he can force the horse up into the bridle. ”

“ Now I do not mind confessing that riding is not one of my strong points. When on horseback there ever prevails in my mind an uncertainty as regards my immediate future. And I have been told that I do not sit elegantly, that I do not appear to be part and parcel of the horse I bestride. ”

“ Try as you may, you don't get down as you would from a horse, you get down as you would from a house afire. You make a spectacle of yourself every time.
II During the eight days I took a daily lesson an hour and a half. At the end of this twelve working-hours' appreticeship I was graduated--in the rough. I was pronounced competent to paddle my own bicycle without outside help. It seems incredible, this celerity of acquirement. It takes considerably longer than that to learn horseback-riding in the rough. ”

“ Sitting in, not leaning against, a shaped cushion, with body erect and knees slightly bent, and yielding to the motion of the cart, the danger mentioned will be materially lessened, and if forewarned of a wheeler's falling, the driver may save himself from being landed beyond the horse's head, even if he fails to retain his seat in the cart. ”

“ Colonel Greenwood says very truly:—“Good riding is worth acquiring by those whose pleasure or business it is to ride, because it is soon and easily acquired, and, when acquired, it becomes habitual; and it is as easy, nay, much more easy, and infinitely more safe, than bad riding.” “Good riding will last through age, sickness, and decrepitude, but bad riding will last only as long as youth, health, and strength supply courage; for good riding is an affair of skill, but bad riding is an affair of courage.”
A bold bad rider must not be merely brave ”

“ Then we were given a peach of a breakfast by the kindliest old lady you ever saw and turned loose. Now what do you think of all that?”
“Night-riders!” exclaimed Alex. “Why do the riders ride, and why do the riders ride at night?” “You’ve come to the right shop for information,” Jule replied with a grin. “Just before we left Chicago I was reading a book about night-riders. They ride because they can’t get over the ground fast enough on foot, and they ride at night because they don’t want any one to see them riding.” ”

“ While you dress, you will meditate upon the sensation which it is your intention to make in the ring, and upon the humiliation which you will heap upon your riding master by showing wonderful ability to rise in the saddle. Although not quite ready to assert ability to ride hour after hour like a mounted policeman, you feel certain that you could ride as gracefully as he, and perhaps you are right, for official position does not confer wisdom in equitation. ”

“ We are permitted to ride, providing we sit in a position ruinous to the horse; providing we wear a riding-habit long enough to hide the obscene human foot, weighed down by ten pounds of gravel to cheat the wind in its free blowing, so running the risk of disabling ourselves completely should accident throw us from the saddle. Think how we swim! We must even wear clothing in the water, and run the gauntlet of derision, if we dare battle in the surf minus stockings! ”

“ Two-thirds of the coachmen on private carriages catch sight of their masters, flap the horses with the reins, swing the whip, and chirrup; and yet they would be surprised to be told that they do not know the rudiments of driving. Nothing smacks more of the farmer than a man who, behind you, or passing you, or standing near you and wishing to start, clicks or clucks to his horse, starting your horse up at the same time. A man who cannot start one, two, or four horses with his hands, and without a hullabaloo of noise, is unworthy to sit behind horses at all. ”

“ The threshing is done chiefly by the boys and women, who ride on the same kind of broad sleigh-runner-shaped boards described in European Turkey.
The sight of my approaching figure is, of course, the signal for a general suspension of operations, and a wondering as to what sort of being I am. If I am riding along some well-worn by-trail, the women and younger people invariably betray their apprehensions of my unusual appearance, and seldom fail to exhibit a disposition to flee at my approach, but the conduct of their dogs causes me not a little annoyance. ”

“ It was this fatigue that caused so many persons to condemn horseback riding for ladies, and it also proved a cause of discouragement to the pupils in the riding-school, frequently giving rise to a decided dislike for horseback exercise. ”

“ My ride since morning had been very long and very lonely. It is a strange sort of life to ride on horseback, week after week and month after month, over a new and sparsely settled country. The most of such journeys are alone. One but rarely meets with company, and then they usually travel together but a short distance before their paths diverge and they separate. In these long, solitary rides, any unusual scene or incident startles one as from a dreamy reverie, and makes a lasting, an almost ineffaceable, impression upon the memory.
A circuit rider in the Brush. ”

“ They care little for the coward on their back; but for their own convenience they won’t fall if they can help it.” To prove this I may relate the following interesting and instructive fact: Some years ago I was giving, at Ward’s Riding School, Brompton Road, London, practical demonstrations of riding over fences without reins, my husband driving on foot a horse which he had taught to jump, with the long reins. ”

“ Pleasure in riding and driving being partly due to 94the control we have over the horses, such enjoyment is a combination of active and passive. Even when we are only steering a boat the illusion is easily supported that we are to some extent responsible for its progress. Riding has other elements of attraction: besides the forward motion and lofty seat there is some peculiar enjoyment of each particular gait, the sensuously agreeable canter and the hard shake of the trot, which, so far as it can be pleasurable, furnishes an instance of more vehement enjoyment. ”

“ Sometimes the rider, deceived by their outlandish cries, thinks they are groaning under his weight. Filled with pity, and unable to endure their imaginary misery, as in the case of our worthy Captain P———, they get out and walk in the sweltering sun, not a little to the astonishment of the bearers, who wonder why in the world the doorey (gentleman) should walk when he might ride. ”

“ The riders were of every age, sex, and condition: pretty girls in jaunty riding habits, young men with polo mallets, old men and children, and grinning negroes lashing their sorry hacks with twigs. Of the carriages, it would be hard to tell which was the more noticeable, the smartness of the vehicles or the jaded depression of the thin beasts that pulled them. ”

“ Then the increased tension upon the reins is relieved, and the legs of the rider withdrawn from the horse, and the slower trot having been obtained, the halt may be made from it; in the latter case the animal should be first put into the walk, and then brought to a stop as before described.
Nearly every horse will shy if "a bit above himself" from want of work, and many horses, otherwise quiet, shy habitually at some favorite object, either flying paper, a high wagon, an automobile, or some such thing. ”

“ But more than any other one thing, inattention is the cause of most accidents. Something goes wrong because the coachman, through inattention, was unprepared for it, and then things happen that cannot be avoided. Nine runaways out of ten begin with carelessness; once started there is no help this side of a smash-up. You may see not once, but ten times, a day the owner of a vehicle put down his reins, get out, and instead of going to the horse's head, until the groom can get to the reins, walk off. ”

“ It warps itself a thousand times about what look to be open and inviting paths, only to lure the rider into blind and impassable spine-defended "bottoms of the bag," leaving him to retreat, if he can, with the points of the compass whirling in his head. ”

“ In many countries where it is difficult to keep riding or draught horses, or where the want of roads precludes the use of wheeled carriages, those who can afford to ride are borne upon the shoulders of men in conveyances more or less simple or elaborate ”

“ But it may be asked what has a touring bicyclist to do with the railroad, and why should he feel less or more like grumbling? It is just here. We had ridden three or four days against a wind so strong that it would not allow riding much of the time even on level ground, and to keep up this discouragingly hard work for the sake simply of riding the whole distance, was not the object of the trip. We could already realize the hardships and privations of the early settlers who crossed these same plains years ago, fighting Indians the whole time. ”

“ There was infinite pathos in the tales of helplessness of these drought-harried men.
* * * *
There are abundant proofs as we steer out of Carrieton towards Cradock that we are already on the outskirts of the kingdom of the bicycle. The horses—bony apparitions mostly—have for the machine none of that contempt which tells of its familiarity to the city horse. So the bell is handy. Not so much to warn the equestrian as to soothe the bicyclist's conscience. You ring your bell and by that simple act throw on to other shoulders the full responsibility for all the frightened horse may do. ”

“ If he try to use the brake in going down hill he will undoubtedly be thrown overboard and roll instead of wheel to the foot. He will ache and groan over long rides, and if easily discouraged, give up his efforts. But are these results any worse, or even so bad as the results of the first experiences on horseback? What is the bicycle or tricycle worth to the one who can handle it? is the question.
We are accustomed to think of it as useful only on a level where the roads are hard and smooth and unobstructed, but he is a poor wheelman indeed, who can ride only on smooth ground. ”

“ The rider's approach was watched for with keen anxiety. By daylight he could generally be seen in a cloud of dust, if in the desert or prairie regions. If in the mountains, the clear air made it possible for the station men to detect his approach a long way off, provided there were no obstructions to hide the view. At night the rider would make his presence known by a few lusty whoops. Dashing up to the station, no time was wasted. The courier would already have loosed his mochila, which he tossed ahead for the keeper to adjust on the fresh horse, before dismounting. ”

“ Hoopdriver of yours, roseate idiot that he is! is in illegal possession of a stolen bicycle, a stolen young lady, and two stolen names, established with them in an hotel that is quite beyond his means, and immensely proud of himself in a somnolent way for these incomparable follies. There are occasions when a moralising novelist can merely wring his hands and leave matters to take their course. For all Hoopdriver knows or cares he may be locked up the very first thing to-morrow morning for the rape of the cycle. ”

“ The trail failed her here. There was no semblance of a ravine to follow, except the mighty gorge between the two peaks, and into the dark throat of this pass she ventured, like some maiden of medieval romance riding through a solemn gate with the guarding towers tall and black on either side.
The moment she was well started in it and the steep shadow of the evening fell across her almost like night from the west, her heart grew cold as the air of that lofty region. A sense of coming danger filled her, like a little child when it passes from a lighted room into one dark and still. ”