{"product_id":"2940013902190","title":"THE BARB AND THE BRIDLE","description":"THE BARB AND THE BRIDLE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRiding, considered as a means of recreation, as a promoter of health, or\u003cbr\u003eas the best mode in which to display to the greatest advantage beauty\u003cbr\u003eand symmetry of face and form, is perhaps unequalled among the many\u003cbr\u003eaccomplishments necessary to a lady.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOut of doors croquet may be interesting as a game, and fascinating\u003cbr\u003eenough when a lady has an agreeable partner, but as an exercise\u003cbr\u003ephysically its healthfulness is doubtful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is too much standing about, often on damp grass, too little real\u003cbr\u003eexertion to keep the circulation up properly, and too many intervals of\u003cbr\u003equiescence, wherein a lady stands perfectly still (in a very graceful\u003cbr\u003eattitude no doubt) long enough in the chill evening air to create\u003cbr\u003ecatarrh or influenza.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArchery, although a far more graceful exercise than croquet, is open to\u003cbr\u003ethe same objection as regards danger of taking cold.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSkating, though both healthful and elegant, is so seldom available as\u003cbr\u003escarcely to be reckoned among the exercises beneficial to ladies.\u003cbr\u003eMoreover, it is attended with considerable danger in many cases.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_To be well_ is to look well. Healthy physical exertion is indispensable\u003cbr\u003eto the former state, and in no way can it be so well secured as by\u003cbr\u003eriding. Mounted on a well-broken, well-bred horse, and cantering over a\u003cbr\u003ebreezy down, or trotting on the soft sward, on the way to covert, a lady\u003cbr\u003efeels a glow of health and flow of spirits unattainable by any other\u003cbr\u003ekind of out or in door recreation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat the foregoing truths are fully appreciated by the ladies of the\u003cbr\u003eUpper Ten Thousand is abundantly proved by the goodly gathering of fair\u003cbr\u003eand aristocratic equestrians to be seen in Rotten Row during the London\u003cbr\u003eseason, and at every fashionable meet of hounds in the kingdom in the\u003cbr\u003ewinter time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNor is riding confined to those only whose names figure in the pages of\u003cbr\u003e\"Burke\" or \"Debrett.\" Within the last twenty years the wives and\u003cbr\u003edaughters of professional men and wealthy tradesmen, who were content\u003cbr\u003eformerly to take an airing in a carriage, have taken to riding on\u003cbr\u003ehorseback. And they are quite right. It is not (with management) a bit\u003cbr\u003emore expensive, while it is beyond comparison the most agreeable and\u003cbr\u003esalubrious mode of inhaling the breeze.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe daughter of the peer, or other great grandee of the country, may be\u003cbr\u003ealmost said to be a horsewoman to the manner born. Riding comes as\u003cbr\u003enaturally to her as it does to her brothers. Both clamber up on their\u003cbr\u003eponies, or are lifted on, almost as soon as they can walk, and\u003cbr\u003econsequently \"grow\" into their riding, and become at fifteen or sixteen\u003cbr\u003eyears of age as much at home in the saddle as they are on a sofa. In the\u003cbr\u003ehunting field they see the best types of riding extant, male and female,\u003cbr\u003eand learn to copy their style and mode of handling their horses, while\u003cbr\u003eoral instruction of the highest order is always at hand to supplement\u003cbr\u003edaily practice. To the great ladies of England, then, all hints on the\u003cbr\u003esubject would be superfluous. Most of them justly take great pride in\u003cbr\u003etheir riding, spare no pains to excel in it, and are thoroughly\u003cbr\u003esuccessful.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070509760752,"sku":"2940013902190","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013902190_p0.jpg?v=1763596857","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013902190","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}