take the air

“One evening the King and the ladies of the Court rode out to take the air in the forest, but the Queen, being a little indisposed did not go; I stayed to wait upon her, and she walked down to the pond-side, and dismissed her gentlemen ushers, that she might be more at liberty.”

The Princess of Cleves

“My aunt, Mary Beton, I must tell you, died by a fall from her horse when she was riding out to take the air in Bombay.”

A room of one's own

“I am glad, however," said Lord Merton, "that you did not take the air this morning, for Coverley has been driving against me as if he was mad: he has got two of the finest spirited horses I ever saw.”

Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World