Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-30

! get a weaker one. II may be an honest
admission Of your own weakness; but
that is not a crime. II is crime, how
ever, to try TO lie TO horse; il Is not
only a crime, but as shown before, 1t is
great risk.
For take care to not change horses too
often. or course we OLD express riders,
when covering from 100 to 200 miles u
dsy, were compelled TO change horses
every hour or two, or rs fas. rs we could
come to the stations. But am now ad-
vising with those who hope TO learn 10
ride.
SO advise that. having a horse you
are not afraid OF. you use that one horse,
and that one horse only, until you have
learned TO ride.
The best teacher7 The best and only
true tsnc5er Oh this earth is the horse
himself, Sit erect, your feet well down
loose and ieisurely, All so submit your
self TO his motions. Ride alone till you
have learned to ride; and then after sou
have learned 10 rifle ain sure you will
never make one of party OF g!EEling
AID garruious idiots who make up "the
riding school. -
Take quiet country lane, either III
Canada or Texas. take one companion II
you prefer it, and u horse that you can
trust aud respect because he trusts and
respects you; cover one mile. two miles,
ten, rs YOU have the strength and the
time and my word of honor for II before
half a wear you Will be mentally, physi-
calIy, ave, morally, another being. But
l cnn I say that if with Il crowd headed
by one of those "riding masters
And don't fear to ride your horse. !
mean to say you will not harm him. The
fuster you go, the better he will like il.
Only, as III every other scr: of laudable
exercises, you should ''make hssts
slowly Ride uphill and dowu-hii
fast Us you like, so fur as the strength OF
your horse is concerned. For horse
will 20 much farther AMI much faster up
ana down billy road than on contIn-
uOusly level one. The reason is he rests
his level-roai muscles while on an up
hill road and he re-ts his up-hill-road
muscles while on down hill road. So
don't fear for the hills; your horse cnn
stand all the uphill and down. hill you
can.
OF course, after you have learned TO
ride your one first hlrse we'll, you can
perhaps III in with stronger one. For
after you have really learned 10 ride one
horse, 10 become part OF him, to sit in
the air as IL boy sits b:cy Gle, why you
can ride almost any other that walks.
Fremont was always partial to his one
horse, aud would go Oh foot for time
rather than exchange him. He role one
horse for years here in California. III
fact. he never gave him up TIL shot I'M
der him III battle. He was surely one OF
the tnest horSemen ever seen. Aud yet
he must have learned it all on the plains
and without a 'master.' For you may
know ne began life in the navy.
As for saddles, it is hard TO say. Al
most any saddle is good, after you learn
10 ride; excepting, ALWAYS, the Arab
saddle. The 'Arab steei' is foun
only In books. The Arab saddle is a set
of rked sticks tied together with dirty
strings end hung with BRASS trinkets. 1t
smells bad always, and often covers
very gore back on pile of weary bones.
Anthony TToliope. who literally rode
entirely around the wOrli, so far as ne
could find lHnd. ALWAYS used the lightest
sort of English 'pig skim SO did
Lord Houshton and all his hunting elan.
But they did not always ride securely.
rema 10 Der when on visit TO Frey ton
Hall, finding the present Lord Houghton
in bed with IL broken leg, aud his uncle,
Lbiu IES"e VI SIc"cy NJ ih0
same time and place, both from
"cropper, or tumble out of the pig
skin, so vaunted and blowed By the
English horsemen.
But, az said before, there never was
and there never will be au English horse
man. These people are islanders.
sailors; the greatest suilors in the world
are these gallant Englishmen; but horse
men, never: and 1t is only sort of
"buli- medicines that makes them
stick to the horse.
So pray, my shoddy American friend,
with your first horse, don't try TO imi-
tate the English merely because at is
English. you KNOW
For example, England is q breezy and |
cool land, with much mud and no flies
or mosquitoes. But this vast land of
ours Is hot. dry, dusty, ana filled with |
flies and mosquitoes that torment horses |
almost to madness. The horse needs his |
tail here Us much as ha needs his teeth. |
Go gave it him; and if you have the |
ghost of a heart, you will let him keep 1t.
Lord, Lord! If this low class of Ameri- |
cans could ouly see how the honest |
English laugh ut them for this cruel bit |
of snobbery as pract:spd on their helpless |
horses! But enough of this.
JOAQUIN MILLER.