DUESSIA'G THE Aa/AZONE. 32 1 



" Cracovienne " boot, is that, while it protects the leg and affords a sensible support to the 

 ankle, it is put on and taken off by unlacing, without an ungraceful struggle. 



Cold feet are one of the acute miseries of long winter rides. The first condition for 

 securing warm feet is to have them warm from exercise or friction before starting ; the next, 

 to wear warm hose. Canadian experience has proved that one pair of silk socks, supple- 

 mented by a pair of woollen stockings, preserve more warmth than any one pair of stockings, 

 however thick. Tight gartering will produce cold, as well as tight boots. If socks could be 

 worn with tight silk or woollen drawers, according to the season, garters could be dispensed 

 with ; but this suggestion pries almost too closely into the mysteries of female attire. 



The feminine chemise (old as old Egypt), flowing to the ground, with short sleeves, must 

 be dismissed in favour of a garment fashioned on the principles of the masculine shirt — that 

 is, with a collar round the neck, long sleeves with cuffs descending over the wrists, a front 

 that may be displayed when the jacket is unbuttoned, and skirts or tails so short as not to 

 make unsightly lumps or inconvenient wrinkles on the drawers. 



Drawers should be elastic and tight ; in fact, very like those men wear. 



Trousers are, as a rule, fastened by a belt to the waist, and strapped under the boots, if 

 Wellingtons are worn ; but if long-laced boots are worn a sort of full-flowing knickerbockers or 

 breeches going into the boot would be more sensible. If the habit is of a dark colour, the 

 trousers may be of black chamois leather, strapped with cloth below the knee ; but if the habit 

 is made of light tweed, or any shade of linen or other summer material, then the trousers 

 should be as nearly as possible of the same material and shade of colour. White trousers or 

 petticoats are altogether inadmissible under a riding-habit of any colour, except one of white 

 linen, which, braided with coloured worsted, is sometimes worn in summers of tropical heat. 



To argue with those infatuated females who superstitiously believe that men's eyes are 

 charmed and that men's hearts are won by a waist resembling as nearly as possible the form 

 of a wasp or an hour-glass, would be a waste of time. No number of surgical cases would 

 convince them that to compress the stomach, the bowels, the heart, the lungs, the liver, within 

 the limits of a corset several sizes too small is, sooner or later, equally fatal to health and to 

 beauty. But of one fact in regard to equestrianism they may easily convince themselves — namely, 

 that as the elegance of a woman on horseback depends entirely on the flexibility of her figure, 

 no woman can ever ride well enough to be worth looking at off a walk, unless she is contented 

 with a corset that will support the body without compressing the vital internal organs. If she 

 cannot lace her own boots and put up her back hair, she may give up the idea of becoming 

 a horsewoman, or anything better than a stuffed doll on horseback. A woman who means to 

 ride well can neither afford to cramp her muscles nor to impede the circulation of her blood. 



Modern staymakers thoroughly understand the proper proportions of riding-corsets, which, 

 like many other articles of dress, have been immensely improved in the direction of elasticity 

 and comfort since the days of our grandmothers. The one golden rule to be adhered to is, 

 that the wearer — mounting, mounted, or dismounted — must feel thoroughly comfortable, that is, 

 with the full use of every limb and of every muscle. The French proverb, " // fant soiiffrir 

 pour etre beaux," a favourite excuse with bootmakers and staymakers, must be reversed. The 

 amazonc cannot be elegant if she "suffers." In consequence of the peculiar position of the 

 body on a side-saddle, tight-lacing invariably produces pain on the right sides, and pain and stiff- 

 ness just where there ought to be "willow-like flexibility." "In dressing for a ride," said that 

 accomplished horsewoman, Mrs. Stirling Clarke, " everything should be avoided that may cause 

 uneasiness. Pins should not be used ; every article should fit neither too tightly nor too loosely ; 

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