RIDING A RECENT FAD 143 



ceased long ago. Riding is a mere fashion of very recent 

 origin, though it has acquired such an impetus that it has 

 doubtless come to stay. 



It is curious how short the period is since riding became 

 even a fad, let alone a fashion. I was put on the retired 

 list of the Army, and went to Boston in 1870. As I had 

 always done, I kept up my habit of daily riding, and for 

 years after that time, so unusual was the sight of a man 

 in the saddle, except on procession days, that the urchins 

 on the street used to hoot at me, or even throw a derisive 

 pebble in my wake. Up to 1882 you could count the ha- 

 bitual riders of Boston on your fingers, and it was about 

 the same in New York. For several years I rode in and 

 out of Boston a handsome mare sired by Alexander's 

 " Norman," and the opinion of horseback- work was well 

 voiced by a noted horseman who once said to me, " What 

 are you doing with that mare in the saddle ? Why, she 

 belongs on the track !" as if you ought not to disgrace a 

 fine horse by throwing your leg across him. Shortly af- 

 ter began the fad, and in a dozen years we have made 

 such vast strides forward that riding now appears to be a 

 matter of ancient history. You surprise a young man to- 

 day by telling him that in 1880 practically no one rode ; 

 yet such was the fact all through the Eastern States. 



It is noticeable that we Eastern riders are touchy on 

 the subject of equestrianism, like most people not to the 

 manner born. We are fain to believe, perhaps, not that 

 the Southerner knows nothing about riding, but that what 

 he knows is either all wrong or else not worth our learn- 

 ing. It must be confessed that for the very few years we 

 have been at it we have accomplished wonders, and our 

 riding to hounds, though the poor benighted pack may be 

 all too often wheedled into chasing aniseseed, has, so far 

 as concerns pluck and enthusiasm, grown to be almost be- 



