" Bravo ! Ladies " 



with a short astride coat is a matter for the wearer. 

 All of them do not talk " horse " all day. There are 

 women who could ride behind the fastest pack of hounds 

 in Ireland and jocularly chide their grown-up sons or 

 daughters for missing the run. There are women and 

 young girls riding over the Champion Stone Wall who 

 could make a French chef wonder if he had really learnt 

 cooking ! Most of them can capably manage a house- 

 hold, and not a few of them are excellent business- 

 women. All of them do not earn that much miscon- 

 strued and frequently ill-applied term " the idle rich." 

 When it is remembered that very few riding horses 

 return home from Ballsbridge it will prove that most 

 of these ladies are competent not only to ride and show 

 their own horses, but to sell them. If there are a few 

 who talk " horse " all day, well ! have you ever met 

 a friend who plays golf ? 



Then the critic, still determined to keep his heel on 

 women generally, attacks what he considers to be the 

 most vulnerable point : ' They'd be better-looking if 

 they followed their own pursuits and did not adopt those 

 of men, especially riding." 



This type of remark is usually made in a confidential 

 whisper. People don't yell such opinions from the 

 housetops. Nevertheless, one cannot allow this to go 

 unchallenged and, perhaps, be taken for granted. Riding 

 is one of the healthiest exercises, but the critic argues 

 that the wind and the rain makes weather-beaten faces. 

 Probably some of the women he has in mind carry their 

 years better than those who have never experienced a 

 shower of rain. 



149 



