Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-26
BEAUTY IN SADDLES.
Rosy-Cheeked Maids and Matrons of
Pittsburg Who Take to Horses.
THEY RIDE WITH GRACE SUPERB.
Pretty Pictures Any Fine Evening in
Schenley and Highland.
wELL.ENowN MEN OUT on HORSEBACK
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.l

HI
1t is only within the past season that
riding became anything Ike a popular
psstime with Pittsburg's fashionable men
and women. In the East, particularly in
New York, where Central Park .fords an
excellent place for the display of equestrian
skill, the society man or woman who does
not ride is the exception. The furnishing of
the stable with fine saddle as we'll as driv-
ing horses is quite as important a mat
ter to the wealthy New Yorker
as the decoration of his draw
ing room, and when he retires
for the summer to his country home on
Long Island, up the Hudson, or where not,
his steed is transported as carefully as
though lis owner we're a Htndoo, and each
animal particularly fine specimen of the
white elephant In New York 81. 900, 81, 200
and 81, 500 is readily paid for a fine
trotter.
Pittsburg people have not as yet arrived
at the New York stage of horsiness A
wear or two years ago very few people
owned their own riding horses Those who
rode were content to hire them for the oc-
casion, and occasions were few and tar be-
tween. Now there are several hundred
devotees of the equine tad, and over 100
have their own horses.
Where Pittsburg Mounts Come From.
The average saddle horse here costs be-
tween $3.50 snd S, 600 As rule, they are
Ohio and Indiana bred, with a few fine
Kentucky animals. Many of their owners
have become affected with Anglo-mania and
undertaken to improve on nature by bang
ing or docking the horses tail The trotter
is the coming horse; here and in Eastern
riding schools it is most in demand and is
particularly popular with ladies. The most
important quality in a good saddle horse is
that it shall have good springy walk and
trot beauty should be secondary consider
alton. As Mr.. Paul Hacke says, "Hand-
some is that handsome does; some of the
handsomest horses are poor actors"
The great driving and riding arenas of
Pittsburg are Schenlev and Highland
parks. Forbes street and Perrysville ave-
nue. have had their day; electric cars have
spoiled what were once the pleasantest
drives in the two cities. Scarcely fine
dav passes but one or more fashionable par
ties NAV be seen along the wide, smooth
roads of Schenley Park, which is, if any
thing, more popular than Highland on ac-
count of its nearness to the riding academy.
On Decoration Day the park was filled with
turnouts and fully hundred people on
horseback.
The Schenley Park Riding Academy has
been the great promoter of horsemanship in
This city. 1t was organized by company of
wealthy men who own fine stables, are fond
of riding and anxious to see the recreation
popular. Every Saturday evening during
the winter there was a drive at the school
with music. The academy ring pre-
sented. on those occasions, most pictur-
esque appearance, with its scores of spirited
horses prancing in time to the music
of the band, the graceful riders,
handsome, well-habited women, with
sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks, attended