Riding for Ladies

Riding for Ladies, by W. A. KerrRiding for Ladies, by W. A. Kerr, was published in 1891.

It is now available as an ebook on Project Gutenberg and is a lot of fun to read. There is much to agree with, right from the beginning where Kerr writes:

“The woman who has been early accustomed to horse-exercise gains a courage and nerve which it would be difficult to acquire in a more pleasant and healthful manner. She also gains morally in learning to feel a sympathy with the noble animal to whom she is indebted for so much enjoyment, and whose strength and endurance are too often cruelly abused by man.”

Another part of the book which will ring true to many years is his description of learning how to trot:

“Till the rider can hit off the secret of rising, she will be severely shaken up—”churned” as a well-known horsewoman describes the jiggiddy-joggoddy motion,—the teeth feel as if they would be shaken out of their sockets, and stitch-in-the-side puts in its unwelcome appearance.”

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