Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-26

> ahu cards may while away the eyer
ing hours. the light fantastic toe
trip II over polished floor while me,
ry music makes glad the soul q
minds alert with the zeal of contes
strive for victory amid the spades
and hearts Those who love
healthful out door game enjoy TENN
or golf; baseball and football hay,
become Indispensable to the athleti,
youth of our country; and boating
hunting fishing. bicycle riding ant
skating all have their particular de
lights and warm advocates.
But far above all other exercises
Is horseback riding. The boy and
girl who are taught from their ear.
liest days to ride as they are in the
Southern states. cannot realize what
an advantage they have ever their
more northern brothers and sisters
to whom, alas! the saddle Is too often
unknown. Horseback riding is rec.
commended by doctors for both sexes
but the side saddle has been criticised
in harshest terms. Since woman is
the weaker vessel why should all the
burdens and hardships of life fall
upon her? argues one physician She
rides the side saddle, looking grace.
iui, but feeling cramped and uncom-
lortable, losing all the glorious exer-
clse that man gets, by being forced to
sit unnaturally and twist her body in
to sbapelessness. The women of bar
barous and semi-civilized nations.
primitive, natural women. have al
ways rode astride like their brothers
and husbands. The same doctor saws
OF horseback riding. 1T provokes
digestion. improves the circulation
and expands and develops the respira.
tory organs" Therefore it stands to
reason that persons who are i'll with
stomach or lung troubles can find
one of the surest helps in nature by
getting a horse and dashing ever The
mountains and fields. breathing in
the fresh. pure air, and feasting upon
The pleasant scenery. They should
take their dose of horse every day.
and when taken to be well shaken"
1t is said that there is much less con
sumption in the English cavalry than
in the infantry, and this is due to the
TACT of the soldiers being so constant
ly on horseback.
The doctor above quoted further
states, In riding a horse. the animal
does the work and the rider takes
the exercise. and not only does the
stomach, liver and other internal or
gans get wholesomely jostled but
every muscle of the arms and legs
partakes OF the invigorating shaking
Then, too, the horse is a regular bat
terry for the generation of animal cleo
tricity. The vapors from his nos
trils and the steam from his body are
loaded with magnetic life. The busy
brain worker, seated upon the saddle.
Is enveloped in an atmosphere of vital
magnetism, which his attenuated
body drinks in as the parched earth
takes in the evening shower"
There is a wild delight in dashing
over the plains at gallop, in toiling
up the rugged hill side. in wading
through the meadow grass where the
scent of wild flowers fills the air, or
riding with slow and solemn pace
through the majestic woods. Gods
earliest temples. English men and
women who spend the hunting season
on horseback, enjoy life as few Ameri.
cans know how to do. The joyous
chase. with horn and hound. has been
celebrated in verse by poets of every
age since the horse and hunt were
known. Scott in his Lady of the
Lake" describes most graphically the
delights of the chase. in which man
and horse and dog alike participate
The beautiful story Of the start''when
the sun his beacon red had kindled
ON Ben Voirlichs head ." and the morn.
ing air of bonnie Scotland reverberated
the sound of Changing hoof and horn"
makes one long for the wild free
chase over hill and dale and woodland
hollow, following the stag and deer to
his covert in some tangled deli some
wild, uncultivated glade like "Uam
Var" whittier the poets noble stag led
his gallant pursuers. The whole tale
is inspiring. The sweet air OF Scot
land seems to breathe out from the
lines and get into ones veins. And
when at last the weary horsemen. one
by one, had drawn the rein at Cam.
bus Moor" Ben Ledis ridge. "Bo-
castles Heath" and the high. broad
floods of the "Teith." where swan
the stag from shore to shore single
horseman rode alone, kingly man.
fired with the zeal of the chase.
Then the lines change. spirit OF
sadness enters Into them, as we see
in fancy the noble steed who has
borne his rider SO well. stretched in
the throes OF death amid the wilder
ness of the dale; and the hunters sor-
row finds an echo in the readers
heart, as he says, while bending over
his dying horse,
II little thought, when first thy rein
I slack'd upon the banks of Seine.
That Highland eagle ere should feed
On thy fleet limbs. my matchless
steed.
Woe worth the chase. woe worth the
day.
That cost thy life, my gallant gray.
A new life enters the rider, which
men who walk or drive or engage in
other kinds Of exercise, cannot feel
THE rider has. for time. "a kind oi
ideal and not actual being. and rides
his horse as a poet rides his Pegasus
He feels as If in riding him, he was