Also 6 equitacion. [ad. L. equitātiōn-em, n. of action f. equitāre: see EQUITANT. Cf. Fr. équitation.] The action, art or habit of riding on, or as on, horseback; horsemanship.
1562. Bulleyn, Sicke Men, 67 b. Equitacion…. And that must be vsed vpon a soft easie goyng horse.
1771. Gibbon, Lett., Misc. Wks. 1796, I. 443. I have got a droll little poney, and intend to renew the long forgotten practice of equitation.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 39. Military Equitation may be divided into three parts.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 32. ‘Witching the world with noble’ equitation.
1870. Lowell, Among my Bks, Ser. I. (1873), 116. Broomsticks … the canonical instruments of their nocturnal equitation.
b. An excursion, a ride on horseback.
1728. Lett., in Nichols, Illustr. Lit. Hist., IV. 497 (L.). I have lately made a few rural Equitations to visit some seats, gardens, &c.
1851. Carlyle, Sterling, III. ii. (1872), 179. Sterling was at his poetisings and equitations again.
