82 THE HORSE. 



was developed by tlie exhibition of ladies riding at the agricul- 

 tural fairs, wliich has grown so rapidly into public favor as to 

 have become an institution of itself, and the most attractive 

 feature of the whole exhibition. 



The result of this practice has been, that gentlemen cavaliers 

 being ashamed to be outdone in boldness and skill in the saddle 

 by the ladies, have taken to horse, as escorts of the fair riders ; 

 and a taste for horsemanship once created and the facilities of 

 equipment at hand, there is a great demand for saddle horses, 

 both in town and country, and many of the best nags of this 

 class are in the hands of girls, who have trained them to an 

 admirable style of performance. The docility and obedience of 

 the highest spirited horses in the hands of a resolute woman is 

 truly wonderful. There is scarcely a courser in the country 

 that will not yield to a petticoat — even old Grey Eagle, that had 

 not felt the saddle for years, and was pronounced by his owner 

 impracticable, bore a woman proudly upon his back at the Ohio 

 State Fair in Cleveland, in 1856. And the fiery Hassan yields 

 kindly to the rein of his mistress, as he bears her over the field, 

 like the wind, with his wide thin nostrils, flashing eyes, and tail 

 like a great banner in the breeze. 



The contagion of this stirring example of petticoat chivalry 

 in Oliio, has extended itself in all directions. Westward to 

 Iowa and AYisconsin, the ladies' riding has become the feature 

 of the agricultural fairs. Soutlnvard to Kentucky, where modish 

 belles first received the idea with prudish horror, the new pas- 

 sion has become fully inaugurated ; and eastward, in New York, 

 and even in old Puritan Massachusetts and Connecticut, in this 

 year of grace, 1856, have the long skirts of the lady equestrians 

 fluttered in the astonished eyes of the sons and daughters of the 

 pilgrims, while they — not knowing what else better to do — have 

 looked on with amazed delight and finally clapped their hands 

 in approbation of the new heresy. The jjetticoats have con- 

 quered, as they always do. So mote it be, for ever ! 



S. D. HAERIS, 



Ohio CuUivatoi-. 



