A knee-ride rhyme that changes gait for ladies, gentlemen, and farmers, from a dainty trot to a bumpy hobbledy-hoy. It's built for bouncing a child on your lap, faster or slower to match each verse.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
This is the way the ladies ride,
Tri, tre, tre, tree,
Tri, tre, tre, tree!
This is the way the ladies ride,
Tri, tre, tre, tre, tri-tre-tre-tree!
This is the way the gentlemen ride,
Gallop-a-trot,
Gallop-a-trot!
This is the way the gentlemen ride,
Gallop-a-gallop-a-trot!
This is the way the farmers ride,
Hobbledy-hoy,
Hobbledy-hoy!
This is the way the farmers ride,
Hobbledy-hobbledy-hoy!
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition