436 The Book of the Horse. 



J was only saved from fainting, or worse, by the friendly care of a tall farmer, who lifted 

 me off my horse, like an infant, laid me on the grass, and applied his flask to my parched 

 lips. I rode home under the pleasant excitement, without complaining, but could eat nothing, 

 lay awake all night in a burning fever, and did not recover my usual tone for a week, 

 during which time putting on a coat or a pair of boots was a work of painful labour. Young 

 men can survive such rash experiments, but at a certain time of life they become positively 

 dangerous. 



Where horse exercise in the non-hunting months is impossible, the requisite condition 

 may be retained or obtained by any out-door or in-door athletic exercise that produces 

 perspiration, and calls the muscles of the limbs and back into action. Violent exercise in 

 the morning does not suit men engaged in serious mental pursuits ; it is not a good preparation 

 for brain work ; but a great deal may be done by gentle exercise at convenient times after 

 the labours of the day are over, whether it be with dumb-bells, Indian clubs, or rowing, or 

 riding upon a bicycle. Lord Palmerston wrote to his brother, then ambassador at Naples, 

 that when he went to live in Piccadilly, as he found the distance from Cambridge House to 

 Downing Street not sufficient for exercise, he made a point of riding at least once round the 

 Park between his hours of greatest leisure — eleven and one o'clock.* This probably brought 

 one o'clock Rotten Row rides into fashion. In another letter, when his labours against the 

 despots of Europe were unceasing, he says, " I have been hunting a little lately, and although 

 over Hampshire (a very bad country), it always does me good." 



Diet is of as much importance as regular e.xcrcise, and that every one can regulate for 

 himself 



A few Turkish baths after exercise on foot or horseback followed by cold douches will 

 do wonders towards reducing the superfluous fat, and giving tone to the nerves of a frame 

 exhausted by mental and sedentary occupations, if there is- no organic derangement; but 

 e.xercise of any kind — gymnastics, lawn-tennis, rackets- -is good if it brings into action muscles 

 not ordinarily employed, while galloping and leaping put an e.xtra strain on all the muscles. 



Mere muscular fatigue, if not accompanied by want of sleep and fever, is not a serious 

 consequence, but it is pain that may as well be avoided. 



The particular kind of preparation by which a man should train himself so as to derive 

 no harm and as much pleasure as possible from the exercise of the hunting-field must depend 

 on his age, habits, and hours of leisure ; but those who cannot find time to ride may train, 

 by a gradual course of gymnastic exercise, either at home or in the hall of a turnverein ; 

 those whom the river does not suit may find an hour in daylight for the racket-court, or in 

 the dusk for a bicycle ride. Volunteers who keep up their drill are always in fair condition ; 

 but it is no matter how it is done so long as in some way or other the heart and lungs are 

 prepared for extra exertions, and the muscles suppled and strengthened by preparatory 

 practice. Even professional steeplechasers who, being within the weight they had to ride, 

 have indulged too much in the lu.xurics of tlie tabic, have been known to fail for want of 

 condition in the final squeeze of a closely-contested race. 



To sum up, a young man exposes himself to pain and ridicule, a middle-aged man endangers 

 his health, by attempting hard riding after months of absolute repose. 



Fortunately, at no period of the history of this country were there so many forms and 

 degrees of athletic exercise within reach of the urban sedentary population. 



• "Life of Lord r.-ilinLiblon," by Loid D.illiii^, vol. iii. 



