Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-28
RIDING IN THIS CITY.
Women Easier Than Men to Teach-Cheaper
to Hire Than to Own a Horse.
ssNTOMEN LEARN TO RIDE MORE

ssWoMEN LEARN TO RIDE MORE
w quickly and easily than men," said
Washington's most popular riding master to a
STAR writer. why that should be 20 cannot
exactly tell. but my impre ssion has always been
that they acquire anything more readily than
the opposite sex, possibly because they give
more undivided attention to whatever they are
engaged at. Very often lady will become a
fair rider with only fifteen twenty lessons
whereas man after twenty-five or thirty les
sons will sometimes know less of the art of
equitation a. the end than he did at the begin
ming. Easiest of all to teach are children who fire.
quently get fair seat and pretty good notion of
riding in eight or ten lessons. With riding it
is somewhat as with swimming-in youth it is
learned with much less effort and is never after
ward forgotten. >yhe grown person who has
understood in childhood how to manage a horse
is always at home on the back Of such an ami
NAL. though many years have elapsed since
mounting one.
The most difficult persons to instruct in the
art of riding are hose who have been AT home
in the saddle all their lives, having been accus-
toned to the management of horses i'm rural
PARTS or ON the plains. They think they know
it all. but the only thing they understand is how
to gallop. OF the mode of equation proper
for parks and the avenues of city they have
no notion whatever. They are harder to teach
than il they had never rat in a saddle before.
because they have to begin by unlearning most
of what they know. In this respect riding is
like dancing. for any dancing master will tell
you tina. the hardest part of his work is to make
his pupils relinquish the wrong steps
and style which they are apt to have
previously acquired. 1t is almost impossible in
m3ny cases to induce individuals who have been
used to riding to shorten their stirrups and
adopt the correct method for the English sad
die. OF course the English style of riding is
the only proper one from the point of view of
ia hiOn. Even the French have initiated it
closely.
HORSE AND RIDER.
SIT is always an important matter that rider
and horse should be suited to each other For
example, short and stout man finds big.
rOund-barrcled beast very uncomfortable
mount, because his grip in the saddle is only
from the thigh to the knee, whereas the tall
and thin man has grip from thigh to CALI
Accordingly, the latter should have the big
bodied animal. while the former should bestride
Il slim and well-bred horse. Grace and e!e-
glnce in riding are to great extent dependent
ON the individual; no amount of teaching will
render a clumsy person graceful OH horseback
or on foot. In one way women are harder en-
horses than men, because their weight is not SO
evenly distributed. On the other hand, men
average at least thirty pounds heavier and ride
faster; but they exercise better Judgment as to
gait. woman through sheer ignorance, will
sometimes spoil horse.
'Once in a while it happens that q customer
spOils one of my horses by hard riding In
such case demand payment for the animal.
When hire ont beast worth 900 for So for
an afternoon have a right to expect that il
shall be returned to me in good condition 1t
seems to. me that it is mistake for any person
of moderate means to keep his own horse in
Washington. There can be no doubt tina. hir-
ing an animal by the month is much cheaper
and more satisfactory in every way. A
fair saddle horse, with accouterments,
costs about $3.50. The wages of a
man are about $40 a month; YOU
cannot get good one for less. Feed costs $40
month, shoeing from So to 81 a month. and
there are other expenses which mount up.
Young men here In town sometimes club to-
gether and hire one stable and man for five
or six horses. That method is an economy, but
it is not nearly SO cheap as hiring.
THE RISK OF THE HORSE.
"You see, your horse is apt to get sick or 20
lame at any time, thus throwing it out of use
temporarily. II you hire beast by the month
and such thing happens your contract entities
you to another animal as q substitute. Again,
your stable man may mismanage your horse and
underfeed it. All things considered it is great
saving in expense to pay SS an afternoon when
you want to go riding. The disadvantage Of
the plan il that you do not get the same horse
always, but you can get over that by hiring
by the month. when you will always have
the same beast, unless something goes
wrong with it. You can get a horse by the
month for e75, which includes everything, even
to fetching it to your door whenever you want
it Il you desire to ride twice day you can do
30. You have no anxiety about the ami
NAL to interfere with your enjoyment
no groom to scold, nor trouble Of any sort.
You win zee more elegant turnouts for driving
htred from livery stables in this city
than are had by private owners, except the
very rich people, who can afford TO throw away
money. Thefe are great many excellent women
riders In Warrington, but there are fewer
young usn hsfe who ride than one would ex-
pect to nRd in q town Of this sire, hecauss not