G. Russell Leonard, 



Director 

 Chairman, South Side 

 Ridrs Committee 



Many other forms of physical exercise have general 

 recognition as being beneficial, but horseback riding is 

 much more than merely beneficial. It is, for example, 

 convenient. There are many forms of physical exercise 

 available to any one; golf, tennis, the gymnasium, moun- 

 tain climbing, hunting, swimming, and so on, in an end- 

 less and various enumeration. But compared with horse- 

 back riding, any of these present certain disadvantages 

 and inconveniences. 



Golf numbers hundreds of thousands of addicts, but to 

 play golf means a protracted period of leisure; a journey 

 to the links; the uncertainties of caddies, and many other 

 things that makes playing golf require a definite and pre- 

 arranged program. And so with practically all of the other 

 forms of outdoor physical recreation. 



Hunting means a journey; a lodge in some vast wilder- 

 ness, and an absence from one's usual avocation. Every- 

 one knows that the gymnasium quickly becomes monoton- 

 ous, and though its benefits are unquestionable, it palls in 

 its deadly routine. 



Horseback exercise, in contra-distinction to all of the 

 other things we have mentioned, need not interfere with 

 one's regular business or social duties. It requires no spe- 

 cial pre-arrangement; nor does it involve the assistance of 

 any accessory. It is an ideal way to begin the day's work, 

 and a brisk hour in the saddle in the morning is an ideal 

 preface to even the most arduous daily task. It clears the 

 cobwebs from the brain, and it puts a joy and vim into 

 living that nothing else can take the place of, and that 

 nothing else supplies. 



One of the greatest advantages of horseback riding is 

 the fact that the physical benefits are not ordinarily the 

 prime purpose and motive for engaging in it. These phys- 

 ical benefits are really incidental; one might even say 

 almost unconscious. They are a sort of bi-product. Usu- 



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