The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-08-05
A FAMOUS RIDE.
Remarkable Feat OF Horsemanship by n
Long Distance Rider.


A very remarkable feat of horseman-
ship has just been accomplished ty a
young Frenchman of good family, III.
Charlie Cottu. He rode ii whole of the
way from Vienna to Paris, 7s5 miles, In
| twelve days, fourteen hours, using only
one horse. and what Is still more note
worthy, brought this mount into Paris In
thoroughly good condition. AS everyone
knows, sixty-two miles is a good deal
more than the average horse can be ex-
rected TO accomplish In day, and to
keep up this average for thirteen days at
stretch, with 1ss pounds weight on the
animals back, implies not only great
stamina In the steed, but altoge Their cx-
ceptional care anu management on the
part of the rider.
NJ. Cottu's main object was to heat
Lieut.. zubowitz's record of fourteen days
i've hours over the same road ami he set
about his preparations with the utmost
thoroughness. lie began to train his
mount, half bred Irish mare, Irish
LASS, years old, standing jest under
fifteen hands-on Raster Monday, begin
ming with gentle ride OF fifteen miles or
go, and gradually increasing the daily
distance MP to forty miles. After fort
night of this preliminary work, NJ. Cottu
started for Vienna, covering the distance
by easy stages. He had previously taken
course of lessons from blacksmith, so
that In the event of Irish Lass casting
shoe at an inconvenient moment he
could put on another before any damage
was done to the foot. The journey TO
Vienna occupied twenty--,four days, the
Austrian capital being reached on May
III Irish Lass and her ow ner kept in
steady training until June /, VIII en- they
started on the long ride to Paris. BY
this time NJ. Cottu and his mars were
"hard as nails" and accomplished the
journey with only one hitch, the mare
being temporarily upset by the change of
food after crossing the German frontier
ON the third day.
In conversation with a Paris corrss-
dondent, Nj. Gottu explained that the
great secret of success en- long distance
rides Is to avoid oyerheating your mount.
81 never" he said. kept Irish LAS at
the trot for more than mile and a quar-
ter. always dismouuted when we ca me
to a hill and led her up 1t. Some days
walked at least twenty miles. When wa
came to our stopping-place, let her stand
few minutes to cool, and then unsad-
died her and gently rubbed her back with
the bare hand, to restore the circulation
in the parts weighed upon by the saddle,
Then groomed her carefully, took her
soon as she had taken IL she used to lie
right down at once, but she was always
reafy for the road again. gave her be
tween twenty and twenty -four Htsrs
of oats and between fifteen
and eightsen liters of milk
every day, with fair amount Of water
whenever she wanted tt, provided tho
water was not too cold. gave her from
four to six hours rest 10 the middle of
the day, so as to escape the heat, and only
about two hours at night. i always slept
In the stable with her and did not ones
take of my clothes from tieaving Vienna
TO arriving at Paris. There was no time
for baths or anything Of that sort. AS
We never did more than six and half
miles an hour, even over level country.
Ne had to spend good many hours
day on the road.
Questioned in regard to his own regi-
iuen. NJ. Cottu said he had taken dark In
preference to white meat whenever he
could. He smoked very little and drank
no alcohol except light wine freely diiut-
ed. En- route he ate bread and sugar In
preference to chocolates. Curing tho last
two days he was obliged to drink large
quantities. of coffee to keep himself awake,
with the result that for some iittlc time
after his arrival In parie, he suffered from
cerebral cloudiness and inability to COLLECT
| his thoughts. Otherwise his long ride
had NOT the least effect on him. ID. Cottu
| Is only 20 Years Of age.