The New York herald., 1922-06-11
All Sorts of Old Horses
Are Suitable for Saddle
Get One With an "Out," and Book on Equitation,
and Go To It-You Will Teach Each Other,
Amateur Expert Says.
BY MARGUERITE F. BAYLIss.

than do more ordinary animals. but any
horse fit to ride at all and In proper
condition will radiate this feeling of
aliveness to certain extent. Then. too.
very fiery mounts are altogether too
highly charged for an average rider to
control.
Getting this vitalizing effect In an
ordinary riding horse has very much
to do with the health building value of
riding. You can get just as fresh air
and better exercise by using your own
feet as by riding a jaded horse who
does not enjoy its work or is always. In
horseman's phrase, behind the Bit"
Most horses can be kept up to- a suffi-
cient degree of energy and vigor by
keeping them in fit condition.
Without going into thes question of
the care of horses 1t should be men
toned that there is no substitute for
solid oats as maker of vigor in saddle
horses. Corn is common article OF
diet for American horses. 1t is valu-
able feed. and in many circumstances
Is, with roughage, an adequate ration.
but for horses to be used under the sad
die 1t cannot be compared with oats.
A corn fed horse in fine flesh rides
very differently from horse who is
fat on hard oats.
Diet Develops Dynamite.
temporary disuse my saddle mares
allowance of oats was cut in half. Then
my cousin. a young fellow who is very
fond of my good gray-the same mare
who once gave the small visitor the
ride on her silver tail. now finished
country hack"-came to visit and took
her to ride. They left in the middle of
fine Sunday forenoon, covered some
eighteen miles of countryside. and came
in at luncheon time hot but radiantly
satisfied. The mare was, like a horse
of Schreyer her silver hide flashed
through heavy sweat and foam, her
nostrils were like crimson trimmed bells.
her eyes were beaming with spirit and
pleasure. She was so excited with ac-
ton that she refused to stand a mo-
ment. Thinking about the reduced oats
of the previous week, asked:
How did she go? Was she good?"
"Good!" he exclaimed, II should say
so. If you fed her any more oats she'd
be dynamite
If-you like that kind of riding, re-
member that oats make dynamite"
1t is the diet to develop whatever merits
any horse may have.
1t seems to me, however, that some
writer's on the relationship of health
and horse exercise are hardly clear
enough on one point that beginners
should by all means have called to their
attention. In all the talk of distances
and jumps and records it must be re-
| membered that these exploits are not
the deeds OF average horsemen or aver
age athletes. Riding in any of its more
highly developed forms Is decidedly a
strenuous exercise; condition is no less
important in the rider than in the
| mount, and is equal in Importance to
skill. Beginners. unless not only in
good health but also unusually "con-
| ditioned" and strong. are apt to injure
| themselves. perhaps seriously. by too
severe horse exercise.
Risks of Riding Not Great.
The danger of falls, the risk ordina-
rily the first to be considered by the
novice and interested relatives, is really
less than the dangers that ignorance
may incur while securely mounted. Dis
| locations, strains and muscular dis
/ turbances are no more frequent In this
than in any other sport in mild form
and are not often dangerous when they
do occur. Anybody of good physique
and normal courage soon RECEIVERS from
| common ailments of this class.
But horseback riding is of ell sports
one that especially acts upon the inter-
nal organs. In this is the secret at once
of it's benefits and its possible perils.
Athletics that strengthen the whole sys-
tenn until unusually strong structure re-
suits will still leave certain of the inter-
nal organs but partially prepared for the
particular exercise of riding. In the
case of one who begins to ride after
childhood Is past these organs should
be gradually brought to their best en-
durance by the same methods that de-
velop hardness for any other sport
Now and then some one is so rugged
that no ordinary amount of riding will
harm him, even IL INDUCED in without
due physical preparation. But be sure
you belong in this class before you att
tempt much on horseback without rea-
sonable training. 1t Is easy to cause
real internal injury or strain by random
riding.
The feats of strenuous horsemanship
which so excite the admiration of low
ers of sporting deeds are not the acts
Of beginners they are the star achieve
ments of the great masters of the sad
die and they stand for years of intelli-
gently directed preparation. They are
eloquent testimonials of the riders su-
preme borsemanship. of a physical con-
dition that approaches the very summit
Of athletic perfection and of self-con-
troll and cool headed courage of a
kind to make mankind proud of man.