St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-28
COL. MO WORT.

interest that knew his horse must
have a good time.
Horseback riding?" said he, in
quiringly, and with a genial smile as
he turned from the immense volume
of correspondence on his desk. "You
know my weakness, it appears; al
though it cannot be ascribed as a
weakness, either. I look on it rather
otherwise. Well, ride daily, wealth
er permitting, and have done so
for many years; in fact pretty much
all my life. Take some of these
warm midsummer nights, which are
sleep-destroyers,a after which one gets
up rather more tired than when he
went to bed, and feeling quite dull
and sluggish and stupid; a ride of
a dozen miles in the early morning
air will tone him up wonderfully
and give him an appetite for the
breakfast he couldn't have thought
of an hour before. You come back
from such a ride feeling like a very
different man. Horseback riding is
a fine tonic at almost any time, and
a splendid, health-giving, health
preserving exercise. Then there is
great pleasure in it cultivated as an
art. To be able to ride easily and
gracefully, and without firing or
distressing either yourself or horse;
to watch your horses PAGES and
talk to him through the bride, for
a well-bred horse is wonderfully in
telligent, almost human, and under
stands every delicate touch of the
rein; or to vary his gait at will with
a word or touch; these are great
pleasures for the real horseman AS
to styles of riding? Well, there are
two generally recognized among
good riders; the English style and
the American. The first calls for
a somewhat short stirrup, pad
saddle, rising and falling seat, and
usually a trotting gait. 1t is very
much affected in the East, especially
for park riding, and they use the
English riding costume there a good
deal also, which, however we'll suited
for its original purpose Of riding to
hounds and coursing the fox, is
poorly adapted to park or city rid
ing and looks ungainly and rather
ugly. In the West the American
style Of riding prevails, requiring a
long stirrup and firm seat 1 like it
best and am riding that way now,
as I have always been. There is
always some slight modification die
tated by the gait and movement of
the horse, of course. There are a
number Of very good riders in st.
Paul. I meet Gen. Brooke, ex-Mayor
Wright, Mr.. BeniS and others very
frequently, almost every morning.
Yes, if you are pleased to call it so,
1 made historic ride in SO. 1t was
in the fall Of the year, the roads were
bad, the horses poor and the case
urgent. The route was from ST.
Paul to st. Peter and return-about
eighty miles altogether. I went out
one day and came back the next.
My actual riding time was a little
over fourteen hours, or about eleven
miles an hour. 1t doesn't sound big,
! but if man will take ride at that
gait for, say, twenty-five or thirty
! miles, and then think Of the dis
lance remaining to be done, the task
/ looms UP very fornidably. 1
changed horses four times each way
and, though man and horses were
! jaded and tired, none were much
the worse for the trip after a days
rest. l am glad to see the G 10 e
taking UP the subject of horseback
riding. 1t is noble sport, a splen-
did exercise and should be more gen
orally cultivated
! Mr.. Monfort has always owned