RIDING. 257 



steam at the rate of from fifteen to fifty miles an hour' 

 but there is no pleasure in driving ones' 'own hired' 

 horse at a pace of less than ten miles in the same space 

 of time. Being thus hurried away, Pegasus-like, a just 

 equivalent to sitting in the open air when the wind blows, 

 in sailor's phrase, a ' stiff breeze/ and to do this at sun- 

 set would be thought the very extreme of imprudence. 

 There can be no objection to any man's riding with all 

 the speed his horse can make ; but it were wisdom to 

 shield himself against a breeze of his own raising." 



" Equitation, or riding on horse back, is a different 

 exercise from the preceding ; and fast riding is not only 

 active exercise, but severe labor. This is one of the 

 most noble, and manly, and healthful exercises that can 

 be imagined ; and as it formed a part of the education of 

 the Spanish youth, so ought it to be made a part of the 

 education of the young of both sexes, in our country. 

 Riding on horseback, exercises every muscle, and every 

 organ in the body ; and causes the blood to circulate so 

 freely that in cold weather this is one of the most com- 

 fortable ways in which a person can travel, provided he 

 can bear the exercise without fatigue. This may seem 

 paradoxical to those who never have made the experi- 

 ment ; but the evidence of those who have tested it for 

 several successive years, in all weathers, and at all sea- 

 sons, has established the fact to my own satisfaction, that 

 at the pace of seven or eight miles an hour, no person 

 would feel cold in unusually severe winter weather." 

 Philosophy of Living, by Caleb Ticknor, A. M., M. D. 

 Harper's Family Library, No. 77, p. 202. 



We will add to the foregoing judicious remarks of Dr. 

 Ticknor, that riding on horseback, with agreeable com- 

 pany, and on a spirited, well trained animal, does afford 

 exercise, at once agreeable, exhilarating, and manly. It 

 also has the advantage of bringing all the principal mus- 

 cles into play, and of shaking the viscera in such a man- 

 ner as to give a vigorous action to the pipes, and strain- 

 ers throughout the system, and perhaps to detach any 

 little adhesions that might be taking place among them. 



A journey on horseback, for a nervous invalid, is un- 

 doubtedly one of the best means of restoration, not how- 

 ever, merely on account of the muscular exercise, or 

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