When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time during the summer at the Newark Athletic Club, where my mother was the comptroller, sort of a senior accountant. There, the friendly staff taught me to box and to swim. Once I learned to swim, I could use the pool as much as I wanted.
When I got tired of swimming, I’d take a ride on the club’s electric horse, which was pretty cool. The one President Coolidge used for exercise in the White House is shown above. Looking at the photo, I think the club had the same model. Instead of reins, there were two hand grips attached loosely to the “head”. The horse had selectable speeds and four horse-like gaits, from walk to trot to canter to gallop, although the club may have had gallop turned off for obvious reasons.
To illustrate how kids are ready to accept any inconvenience as “just the way it works”, the club’s horse was a bit temperamental – it had a short circuit somewhere that would give you a shock if you didn’t mount it just right. As far as I know, no one ever reported this until now.
Other models
