Chapter III: Part 3

They owe their value to the combination of minuteness and strength, which renders them peculiarly suitable for draught work in the coal mines. Many ponies will travel thirty miles a day, to and fro in the seams, drawing a load, tilt and coals included, of from 12 to 14 cwt. The Sheltie’s lot underground is admittedly a hard one, but his tractable disposition usually ensures for him kindly treatment at the hands of the boy who has him in charge.

These ponies, says Mr. Brydon, were first used in the coal pits of the North of England about the year 1850. Horse ponies from 3 to 5 years old could then be purchased for £4 10s. each delivered at the collieries. Since that time prices have risen enormously, though for the smallest animals they fluctuate from time to time in sympathy with the price of coal. As the cause of the influence of the coal market upon the price of Shetland ponies is perhaps not quite obvious, it must be explained that the chief value of these little animals is their ability to work in the low galleries of thin-seamed pits; when the price of coal sinks to a certain point these thin seams cannot be profitably worked, the pits are “laid in,” or temporarily closed, and the ponies withdrawn. In 1891 the average yearling was worth £15 and a two-year-old £18, while full-grown ponies were scarcely procurable. In 1898 a four-year-old could be bought at from £15 to £21, owing to the depression in the price of coals and the suspension of work in thin-seamed pits.

It will be understood that only small animals of the commoner sort suitable for pit work are affected by the coal market. Horse ponies of the right stamp with good pedigree and suitable for the stud still command from £30 to £50, and in some cases even more. Mare ponies of good pedigree also command high prices; at the last Londonderry sale, the mares, Mr. R. Brydon informs me, sold at an average of £19 per head; but the average obtained for second-class mares would little exceed six guineas per head.

The docility and good temper of the Shetland pony make him, above all, the best and most trustworthy mount for a child. Captain H. Hayes has remarked that “a comparatively high degree of mental (_i.e._, reasoning) power is not desirable in a horse, because it is apt to make him impatient of control by man.” The Shetland pony is the rule-proving exception; for he combines with the highest order of equine intelligence a disposition curiously free from vice or trickiness. Mr. Brydon has never known a Sheltie withdrawn from a pit as wicked or unmanageable; withdrawal for such reasons being very frequent with ponies of other breeds.

_Engraved by F. Babbage._

CHILD’S SHETLAND PONY.
The property of Sir WALTER GILBEY, Bart.]

It may be observed that about the middle of the century there were a number of Shelties in Windsor Park, which were used to do various kinds of work.

During recent years a demand for mares for breeding purposes has grown up in America, much to the advantage of the crofter, who finds a market in the colliery districts for horse ponies only.

Many attempts have been made to increase the size of the Sheltie. About the middle of the last century Norwegian pony stallions were introduced into Dunrossness with the result that a distinct variety was established and still continues; this is called the Sumburgh breed; in size these ponies range from 12 hands to 13·2. Another variety known as the Fetlar breed owes its origin to the introduction by Sir Arthur Nicolson of a Mustang stallion named Bolivar over half a century ago; the Fetlar ponies run from 11 to 13 hands, and are described as remarkably handsome, swift and spirited, but less tractable than the pure Shetlander. The Sumburgh and Fetlar varieties deserve mention only as experiments; the result having been to increase the height of the pony, it follows, after what has been said on a former page, that these cross-bred animals are of comparatively small value.

Far more importance attaches to the efforts which have been made to improve the pure breed while preserving its diminutive size. The Marquis of Londonderry, some twenty-five years ago, acquired grazings on Bressay and Moss Islands; and having procured the best stock obtainable from all over the Shetlands, began breeding on judicious and methodical lines. Twelve or fifteen mares with a carefully selected stallion are placed in an enclosure, and the young stock, after weaning, are turned out on the hills; they are hand-fed in winter, but are never given the protection of a roof, whereby their natural hardiness is preserved. The Marquis of Zetland in Unst, and Mr. Bruce in Fair Isle, follow a somewhat similar method of mating and rearing. Messrs. Anderson & Sons have on Northmavine done much to promote the interests of the breed by purchasing good stallions, often at Lord Londonderry’s annual Seaham Harbour Sale, and distributing these over the common pastures. The benefits which have accrued from this policy are very marked; and though the crofters yield to the temptation of high prices, and sell their best animals for export, the endeavours of the gentlemen named above to maintain the quality of the breed in its native habitat cannot fail to largely counteract the evil results of such sales.

Among the studs on the mainland the best known, perhaps, is that of the Countess of Hopetoun at Linlithgow. Her ladyship’s success has been due in no small measure to that beautiful little sire the Monster. This pony is a perfect example of the Shetland stallion, as may be gathered from his showyard record: he was first in the class for Shetland ponies under 10 hands 2 inches at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Show in 1895, at Darlington, and has been preferred by judges to Lord Londonderry’s Excellent and the Elsenham pony, Good Friday, Excellent having taken many first prizes, and Good Friday five firsts at the London shows.

Mr. James Bruce has a drove of Shetland ponies at Inverquhomery, Longside, Aberdeenshire. These are descended from two mares and a stallion imported in the year

1889. Three years ago Mr. Bruce replenished his breeding stock by the purchase of five more mares. A noteworthy feature of this stud is the colour, which in every case is chestnut, Mr. Bruce’s 1889 importations being of that rare colour among Shelties.

Since the establishment of the _Shetland Pony Stud Book_, several studs have been founded in Scotland and England. The chief difficulty the owners have to contend with is the proneness towards increase of size due to milder climate and richer feed. This tendency can only be checked by the periodical importation of stock from the Shetland Isles.

_Drawn by J. Doyle._ _Engraved on wood by F. Babbage._

H.R.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA IN HER PONY PHAETON.]

USES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PONY.

It would be difficult to name a class of work in which the pony is not employed. He is used by all, from the sovereign to the peasant and costermonger. Pony racing has been recently re-established as a sport after temporary suspension, due to no shortcoming on the pony’s side. It is rare that a meet of hounds is not attended by a sprinkling of ponies carrying future sportsmen and women, and it is safe to assert that every master of hounds and every man who takes his own line across country served his apprenticeship to the saddle on the back of a pony. The reason is that few men who do not learn to ride in early boyhood, when a pony is the only possible mount, completely master the art in later life; hence we meet few good horsemen who do not receive their first riding lessons on a steady pony. There is no stamp of vehicle which is not drawn by ponies. Her Majesty, for many years, drove a pony in her garden-chair; in double or single harness we find the pony driven in victoria, dog-cart, governess cart, and Irish car; in the tradesman’s light van and in the market cart drawing wares of every description; in the itinerant fishmonger’s, coster’s and hawker’s nondescript vehicle.

The country clergyman and doctor would be in sore straits without the thirteen hand pony, which does a horse’s work on one-half a horse’s feed, and requires no more stable attendance than the gardener or handy man can spare time to give him. As shown in the foregoing pages, his labours are not confined to saddle and harness; in some parts of the country he is still used for pack-work, carrying agricultural produce and peats from the hills and moorlands to the farmstead; and in the low seams of the coal-pits which the horse cannot enter he is indispensable. Large though our native stock of ponies is, we do not breed them in numbers nearly sufficient for our needs, and each year brings thousands of small cheap ponies to our ports from Norway, Sweden and Russia. These, like the gangs purchased from breeders on Exmoor and elsewhere, are driven from one fair to another, to be sold by twos and threes all over the country by persons who cannot afford to keep a horse, but are obliged to provide themselves with a cheap and useful beast for draught or carriage.

_Engraved by F. Babbage._

THE FIRST LEAP.

From the picture by Sir EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A.]

It is very generally admitted that the intelligence of the pony is of higher degree than that of the horse; and the fact, we cannot doubt, is attributable to the different conditions under which ponies and horses are reared. The former, foaled and brought up on the hills and wastes, develope ability, like other wild animals, to look after themselves, and the intelligence so evolved is transmitted to generations born in domestication. The horse, foaled and reared in captivity, with every precaution taken for his security, has no demands made upon his intelligence, and his mental faculties remain to a great extent undeveloped. The same causes operate to furnish the pony’s stronger constitution and greater soundness; greater soundness not only in limb but also organic; roaring and whistling are unknown in the pony, common as they are in the horse.

This superiority of constitution accounts for the marked superiority of the pony over the horse in endurance. The small and compact horse is always a better stayer than the large, loosely-built animal, and in the pony we find the merits of compactness at their highest. Numberless instances of pony endurance might be quoted, but two or three will suffice. Reference has been made on p. 30 to Sir Charles Turner’s achievement of riding a pony ten miles and over thirty leaps in forty-seven minutes, and to the conveyance of news from Holyhead to London by relays of ponies at the rate of twenty miles an hour. Whyte, in his _History of the British Turf_, states that in April, 1754, a mare, 13 hands 3 inches high, belonging to Mr. Daniel Croker, travelled 300 miles on Newmarket Heath in 64 hours 20 minutes; she had been backed to perform the journey in 72 hours, and therefore completed her task with seven hours and forty minutes to spare. Her best day’s work was done on Tuesday, April 23. Mr. Whyte gives the following details of this extraordinary performance:—“24 miles and baited; 24 miles and baited; 24 miles and baited; 36 miles without baiting; total 108 miles. On the Monday and Wednesday she covered 96 miles each day. She was ridden throughout by a boy who scaled 4 stone 1 lb. without reckoning saddle and bridle. Another performance worth citing as proof of pony endurance was Sir Teddy’s race with the London mail coach to Exeter, a distance of 172 miles. Sir Teddy, a twelve hand pony, was led between two horses all the way, and carried no rider himself. He performed the journey in 23 hours and 20 minutes, beating the coach by fifty-nine minutes.”

We generally find that great feats of endurance, involving capacity to thrive on poor and scanty food, have generally been performed by ponies.[9] In the Nile Campaign of 1885 the 19th Hussars were mounted on Syrian Arabs, averaging 14 hands, which had been purchased in Syria and Lower Egypt at an average price of £18. The weight carried was reduced as much as possible in view of the hard work required of the ponies, but each of the 350 on which the Hussars were mounted carried about 14 stone. Their march from Korti to Metammeh as part of a flying column showed what these little horses could do; between the 8th and 20th of January, both days included, they travelled 336 miles; halting on the 13th. On the return March from Dongola to Wady Halfa, 250 miles, after nearly nine months’ hard work on poor food they averaged 16 miles a day, with one halt of two days. Colonel Burrow, in reviewing the work performed by these ponies, says: “Food was often very limited, and during the desert march, water was very scarce. Under these conditions I venture to think that the performances of the regiment on the Arab ponies will compare with the performance of any horsemen on record.”[10]

[9] See _Small Horses in Warfare_. By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. Vinton & Co., Ltd., 1900.

[10] _The XIXth and Their Times_, Colonel John Biddulph. Murray, 1899.

Captain Fred Burnaby, in his well-known work “A Ride to Khiva,” bears witness to the wonderful endurance of a fourteen-hand Tartar pony which he purchased with misgivings for £5, in default of any better mount. This pony, he tell us, was in such miserable condition, his men complained among themselves that it would not be worth _eating_, they looked upon the little beast as fore-doomed from the moment Captain Burnaby mounted it. Yet this pony, its ordinary diet supplemented by a few pounds of barley daily, carried its rider, who weighed twenty stone in his heavy sheepskin clothes, safely and well over 900 miles of bad roads, often through deep snow, and always in bitterly cold weather, the thermometer being frequently many degrees below zero. On the concluding day of the return journey this pony galloped the last 17 miles in 1 hour and 25 minutes. It would be easy to multiply examples of pony endurance; but we forbear.

The greater stamina of the pony is evidenced in another direction, namely, length of life. Instances in which ponies have attained to a great age are more numerous than those recorded of horses, and further the pony lives longer. Mr. Edmund F. Dease, of Gaulstown, Co. Westmeath, lost a pony in December, 1894, which had reached the age of 39 years; in 1896, Mrs. Pratt, of Low Pond House, Bedale, Yorks, lost a pony mare aged 45 years; on Christmas Day, 1863, there died at Silworthy, near Clovelly in North Devon, a pony which had arrived within a few weeks of his sixtieth year. Accounts of ponies which lived, and in some cases worked, until they reached 40, 38, 37, and 35 years also recur to mind.

There is a degree of cold beyond which the horse cannot exist; and as he approaches the latitude where the limit prevails, the effect of climate is apparent in his conformation.

The frozen and ungenial country of Lapland has its small ponies; they are employed in drawing sledges over the snow and transporting forage and merchandise, which in summer are conveyed in boats. In Iceland he is dwarfed to a Liliputian size, and thriving in the comparatively mild climate of the Shetlands we find a pony smaller than any other in the British Islands.

It would seem from the facts it has been possible to collect that the New Forest, Welsh, Exmoor and Dartmoor, Fell and Connemara breeds of ponies are in their natural state of small value to man, though they owe to the natural conditions under which they exist qualities which may be turned to very valuable account by judicious crossing with breeds of a recognised stamp. Improvement must involve partial sacrifice of qualities such as ability to withstand exposure and cold on insufficient food, sure-footedness, and the sagacity which avoids bog and treacherous ground. These qualities, in their highest development, are indispensable to a wild animal; but the improved pony obtained by crossing is not destined for a wild life on the hills and wastes, and is less dependent upon them.

Partial loss of such attributes, therefore, is a price well worth paying for the increased size and better conformation which render the produce suitable for man’s service with the more artificial and luxurious conditions of life inseparable from complete domesticity. The remarkable soundness of limb and constitution, developed by centuries of free life on the hills, are enduring qualities which appear in generation after generation of stock descended on one side from the half-wild breeds; and these are the qualities which above all it is desirable to breed into our horses of all sizes and for all purposes. The advantage to be gained by systematic improvement of these wild breeds of ponies is therefore not by any means advantageous to one side only.

The Polo Pony Society at their meeting of 7th December, 1898, resolved to set apart a section of their Stud Book for the registration of Welsh, Exmoor, New Forest and other breeds of ponies; and with reference to this step Lord Arthur Cecil, in his Introduction to the fifth (1899) volume of the Polo Pony Stud Book, says:—

“It is in the limit of height that the greatest difficulty of
the Society lies. Could we be certain of breeding every animal
between 14 hands and 14 hands 2 inches our course would be
tolerably clear.... There is always, however, the danger that
the best-looking and best-nourished of our young stock will, if
some means be not found to prevent it, exceed this limit. The
remedy is more or less within our reach by utilising the hardy
little stocks of ponies which are to be found almost indigenous
in those districts of the British Isles where there are large
tracts of mountain or moorland ground. I refer to such ponies as
those found in North and South Wales, the New Forest, Exmoor,
Dartmoor, and the hills of the north of England and west coast
of Scotland.... Perhaps it may not be out of place to mention
that the present is not an inappropriate time for upholding the
breeding of ponies on hill lands. The keeping of hill sheep is not
so remunerative as of yore, the price of wool being so low and
the demand for four-year-old mutton not being anything like what
it was a few years ago; whereas, on the other hand, the demand
for ponies, especially good ones, is likely to increase, and if
farmers will only give them a fair chance they will amply repay
them for their keep up to three years old. It is hoped that by
careful consideration of their various characteristics, and by
registering such of them as are likely to breed riding ponies, and
by periodically going back to this fountain head of all ponies, we
may be able to regulate the size of our higher-class riding ponies
to the desired limit, while at the same time we shall infuse into
their blood the hardiness of constitution and endurance, combined
with a fiery yet even temper, so pre-eminently characteristic of
the British native breeds.”

The Shetland pony stands upon a different footing. In him we have a pony whose characteristics are equally valuable to it as a wild animal and as one in a state of domestication. It is the only one of our half-wild breeds which gains nothing from an infusion of alien blood; its value depends upon the careful preservation of distinctive peculiarities of size and make, which fit it above all others for special purposes.

BREEDING POLO PONIES.

With only the limited experience in breeding ponies for Polo possessed by all who breed stock, remarks hazarded under this heading must necessarily be guided by general principles of breeding, and readers must be left to take them for what they may be worth.

The steadily increasing popularity of the game of Polo has naturally produced an increased demand for suitable ponies; and Polo players being as a rule wealthy men, to whom a really good animal is cheap at almost any price, the value of first-rate ponies has risen to a level which compels attention to their breeding as a probably remunerative branch of industry. It was difficult to find ponies when an elastic 14-hand limit was the rule; and if we may judge from the prices which have been paid since the regulation height was raised to 14 hands 2 inches, the greater latitude thus afforded players in selecting mounts has done little or nothing towards solving the difficulty.

What is this Polo Pony for which a fancy price is so readily forthcoming? In the first place, it is not a pony at all, but a small horse; we may let that pass, however. The modern Polo Pony must be big and powerful, at once speedy, sound, handy and docile, having also courage, power to carry weight, and staying power. And, as the necessary speed and courage are rarely to be found apart from blood, it has become an article of faith with players that the first-class pony must have a preponderance of racehorse blood in his veins.

Hence a serious difficulty faces the breeder at the outset. For generations we have devoted all our care to increasing the height of the racehorse, and with such success that in 200 years we have raised his average stature by nearly 2 hands. The great authority Admiral Rous, writing in the year 1860, said that the English racehorse had increased in height an inch in every twenty-five years since the year 1700. We now regard a thoroughbred as under size if he stand less than 15 hands 3 inches. This is an important point to bear in mind; for if we are to breed blood ponies of 14 hands 2 inches to meet the demand which has recently arisen, it is plain that we must undo most that our fathers and ancestors have done.

A Polo Pony to command a price must be able to carry from 12 to 14 stone, and must be sound. Nine stone seven lb. is nowadays considered a crushing burden for a racehorse of 16 hands to carry a mile and a quarter. Never are the weights for a handicap published but the air grows thick with doubts and forebodings as to whether this horse or that can possibly stand the strain required by the handicapper’s impost, or whether it is worth risking his valuable legs under such a weight at all. And yet, to a certain extent, it is among small blood horses, no better endowed with bone and no sounder than the big ones, that we seek animals capable of carrying 12 or 14 stone in first-class Polo.

The strain of playing a single “period” in a tournament match, in which the pony is required to make incessant twists, turns, sudden starts at speed, is continually being pulled up short, and is sent short bursts of hard galloping, takes far more out of the pony than does a race out of a racehorse, or an average day’s hunting out of the hunter. The marvel is, not that fast and well-bred ponies capable of doing this should command fancy prices, but that such should be obtainable at any figure.

Under existing conditions, a small blood horse that looks like making a Polo Pony is neither more nor less than an accidental deviation from the normal. It is an accident that his height at five years does not exceed the regulation 14 hands 2 inches; it is an accident—unhappily, a rare one—that he has bone to carry weight; and before the trainer can make a Polo Pony of him he must be fast, handy, kind, and docile—another set of accidents; we might, indeed, almost call the first-rate Polo Pony a phenomenal chapter of accidents. For let us bear in mind that when we have found our 14 hands 2 inches endowed with the needful make and shape we have not by any means necessarily got our Polo Pony. Only the smallest percentage of the thousands of racehorses foaled annually prove good enough to pay their trainers’ bills; and when we reflect upon the nature of the work required on the polo ground, the sterling good qualities demanded of a pony for first-class Polo, we should indeed be sanguine did we look for high and uniform merit in the race of animals we hope to found upon a basis of pure blood! The clean thoroughbred, except in very rare instances, has not the power needful to enable him to stop quickly and turn sharply at the gallop. Speed he has, but he lacks the strong hind-quarters essential to carry 12 or 13 stone.

The pony possessing the needful qualifications of make and shape has yet to be “made;” and only a trainer of experience could tell us what proportion of the likely-looking animals that come into his hands turn out worth the trouble of educating. Herein we find the reason for the vast difference in value which exists between a pony that is untrained and one which has gone through the various stages of stick-and-ball practice, the bending courses, practice games, and has finally been proven in matches. In the raw state the best-looking 14-hands 2-inch pony is worth £25 to £50; when trained—when he has proved to his exacting trainer’s satisfaction that he is a Polo Pony, and does not merely look like one—he is worth, as we know, any sum up to 750 guineas, and there is no reason to suppose that this figure marks the limit which enthusiastic players are prepared to pay; on the contrary, the tendency is to go further.

Such ponies as Mr. George Miller’s Jack-in-the-Box, Lord Kensington’s Sailor, Captain Renton’s Matchbox, Mr. Buckmaster’s Bendigo, the late Mr. Dryborough’s Mademoiselle, Mr. Walter Jones’s Little Fairy, have acquired their fancy value through their amenability to the training which has fitted them for the game. As to the breeding of these ponies, it is doubtful if their respective owners know as a certainty whether they were got by a thoroughbred pony sire or by an Eastern sire; in the case of many high-class ponies nothing is known of their breeding. All probably have a strong strain of pure blood in them, but in the absence of certain knowledge concerning their pedigrees they are of comparatively little use to us as object lessons in Polo Pony breeding. Whether, in view of the extremely “accidental” character of the Polo Pony already referred to, that knowledge would be helpful if available is another matter.

And while we make the English Turf pony which can carry weight our ideal, we acknowledge the difficulty of procuring it by seeking ready-made ponies in every corner of the horse-breeding world. Arabs and their near allies—Egyptian, Syrian and Barb ponies; Australian, Argentine, Canadian and Cossack ponies; ponies from the Tarbes district of France; ponies from Texas, Wyoming and Montana—all these have been imported and are played on English Polo grounds, and though not considered equal in speed, bottom, and courage to the English pony, the best of them when “made” are good enough to command high, if not extravagant, prices.

The great object, it is granted once for all, is to get a pony as nearly thoroughbred as possible, for none other is good enough to play in the best class of game. At the same time, a large and representative proportion of players, while heartily granting the superiority of the well-bred pony when it can be obtained, consider it wiser to look the situation squarely in the face and admit that the supply of such ponies cannot be depended on to meet the demand.

If it be a choice between an utterly inadequate supply of English-bred ponies with blood, speed, stamina and weight-carrying power, to be bought only at prices which reserve them to the wealthiest, and a sufficiency of ponies with a strain of alien blood, somewhat less speedy, courageous and enduring, the latter must be chosen; and as already said the Polo Pony Stud Book Society has recognised this by opening sections of their Stud Book for suitable individuals among our Forest and Moorland breeds, with a view of obtaining foundation stock.

We may take it as an axiom in our endeavour to produce a breed of 14-hands 2-inch Polo Ponies that the sire must be a small thoroughbred, or, if not a thoroughbred, an Arab. The reader may be reminded that adoption of this alternative involves no departure from the principle of a pure blood basis. It was the Arab that laid the foundation of our thoroughbreds in England, and the best horses on the Turf of to-day may be traced to one of the three famous sires—the Byerly Turk, imported in 1689, the Darley Arabian in 1706, and the Godolphin Arabian in 1730; all of them, it may be remarked, horses under 14 hands 1 inch.

There is, indeed, much to be said in favour of the policy of returning to the original Eastern stock to find suitable sires for our proposed breed of 14-hands 2-inch ponies. While we have been breeding the thoroughbred for speed, and speed only, Arab breeders have continued to breed for stoutness, endurance, and good looks. By going to Arab stock for our sires we might at the beginning, sacrifice some measure of speed; but what was lost in that respect would be more than compensated by the soundness of constitution and limb which are such conspicuous traits in the Eastern horse. Furthermore, the difficulty of size, which first of all confronts us in the thoroughbred sire, is much diminished if we adopt the Arab as our foundation sire.

The property of Mr. WILFRED SCAWEN BLUNT.]

We need not consider the game as played by Orientals. The Manipuris, whose national game it is, and from whom Europeans first learned it, use ponies which do not often exceed 12 hands in height. The game was introduced into India proper in 1864,[11] and was first played in England by the officers of the 10th Hussars in the year 1872, on their return from service in India.

[11] “_Recollections of my Life._” By Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart. 1900.

In India, where the game of Polo was first played by Englishmen, the Arab is thought the perfect pony, the more so because the height of ponies played under the Indian Polo Association’s code of rules must not exceed 13 hands 3 inches. The extensive operations of the Civil Veterinary Department have proved again the truth that no sire impresses more certainly and more markedly his likeness upon his stock than the Arab, a fact which is due to the high antiquity, and therefore “fixed” character of the breed.

If, therefore, we find the stock got by the thoroughbred sire too prone to outgrow the limit of height, we may, without self-reproach, turn for assistance to the Eastern stock, from which we have evolved the modern racehorse, as in doing so we shall simply be going a step farther back, and thereby avoid in great measure the difficulty of stature which our fathers and ancestors have created for us in our endeavour to breed a small compact horse from the pure strain.

The next point that presents itself is, On what sort of animal would it be most advisable to cross our thoroughbred or Arab? In the absence of any long-continued series of experiments, which alone could have led to definite results in the production of a fixed type of pony, or a stamp of pony worth trying to perpetuate as a fixed type, the answer must be conjectural; we can only deal in probabilities.

We may not be able to establish a breed of which a specimen exceeding 14 hands 2 inches shall be something quite abnormal; on the contrary, the whole course of experience in breeding horses of whatever class goes to prove the impossibility of ensuring that the progeny of any given sire and dam shall attain to a specified height, neither less nor more. Nevertheless, there seems no reason why skill and care in breeding should not in course of time produce an animal whose _average_ height at maturity shall be the desired 14 hands 2 inches.

There are, it must be repeated, several essential points to be kept clearly in view in our endeavour to develop a Polo Pony on the foundation of Thoroughbred or Arab blood. We have primarily to guard against the tendency to exceed the regulation height, and we must seek means to obtain the bone and stamina which are so necessary. Our Forest and Moorland mares suggest themselves as the material at once suitable for the purpose and easily obtainable. In these ponies we have the small size which will furnish the needful corrective to overgrowth, and we have also that hardiness of constitution and soundness of limb which are invaluable in laying the foundation of our proposed breed of 14-hands 2-inch ponies.

Many attempts have been made from time to time to improve these breeds; indeed, some have been so frequently crossed with outside blood that the purity of the strain has nearly disappeared; this is believed to be the case with the Dartmoor pony. At the same time these infusions of blood have done nothing to impair the value of the ponies in respect of their intrinsic qualities of hardiness and soundness.

That small thoroughbred and Arab blood blends well with the Forest and Moorland strains has been abundantly proved; Marske, the sire of Eclipse, who was under 14 hands 2 inches, as is well known, stood at service in the New Forest district for three or four seasons from about the year 1765, and produced upon the New Forest breed a beneficial effect which remained in evidence for many years. The late Prince Consort sent a grey Arab stallion to stand at New Park, which did much good in improving the stamp of pony; and in 1889 as before mentioned Her Majesty lent two Arab sires, which remained respectively for two and three seasons and produced a marked effect on the Forest breed. One of the Dongola Arabs or Barbs which Mr. Knight used gave the best results on the Exmoor ponies, and the use of the thoroughbred horses, Pandarus by Whalebone, and Canopus, grandson of Velocipede, also improved the breed in point of size.

Some of the best hunters in the West of England trace their descent on the dam’s side to the Welsh Mountain pony, the sire of some of the best horses, however, being a horse with a stain in his pedigree, viz., Mr. John Hill’s Ellesmere by New Oswestry. In this connection it may be remarked that Bright Pearl, winner in the class for unmade Polo Ponies at the Crystal Palace Pony Show, held in July, 1899, was got by the thoroughbred Pearl Diver out of a Welsh Hill Pony mare whose wonderful jumping powers had gained her many prizes.

The fact that the Forest and Moorland breeds owe their small size to the rigorous conditions of a natural free life and the spare diet accessible must not be lost sight of, for their tendency to increase in size when taken up, sheltered and well fed is very marked. The fact is of importance, because we could not expect that foals got by a thoroughbred or Arab sire would possess the stamina that enables the Forest or Moorland pony to withstand exposure. It is true that the stock got by Marske throve under the comparatively mild rigours of New Forest life; but the thoroughbred of 135 years ago was a stouter and hardier animal than is his descendant of to-day. It would therefore be necessary to choose between losing the young half-bred stock altogether, and of rearing it under more or less artificial conditions with the certainty of rearing an animal which would respond to those conditions by increased stature.

The same remarks apply equally to stock got from Forest or Moorland mares by an Arab sire which flourishes in a high temperature, but is not adapted to endure continuous cold and damp.

Judgment and care might do something to obviate the tendency to overgrowth; the happy medium to adopt would be to allow the dams with their half-bred youngsters as much liberty as varying climatic conditions indicated the well-being of the latter could withstand.

It has been suggested that the mares which have finished their active career of four or five seasons on the Polo ground might with advantage be used for breeding purposes, being mated with a small Forest or Moorland stallion. This suggestion does not commend itself to the practical breeder, who is well aware that a big mare throws a big foal even to a small horse. Were increase of size the object in view the worn-out Polo Pony mares might be used thus with every prospect of success; the reverse being our aim, it is to be feared that experiments conducted on these lines would lead to failure.

_From a sketch by H. F. Lucas Lucas._

POLO PONY SAILOR.]

It is reasonable to think that a breed of small horses can be established by the judicious intermingling of our Forest or Moorland mares with small Thoroughbred or Arab sires, but past experience in stock-raising has taught breeders that the creation of a new and improved strain, whether of horses, cattle, or other domestic animals, is a slow process. Failures must be corrected and errors retrieved by gradual and cautious steps before we can hope to succeed in creating a breed of ponies true to the required type. That it can be done with patience and skilled judgment there need be no doubt; but the evolution of the animal required, whether on the thoroughbred foundation or on the original progenitor of the thoroughbred, the Arab, will be a matter of time. It may be that the present generation will lay the foundation of a breed of 14-hands 2-inch Polo Ponies, and that posterity will build the edifice and enjoy the benefits.

To summarise briefly what has been said in this chapter, the position is this:—

(1) Ponies with blood, speed, courage, and the many qualities essential to make a first-class Polo Pony are rare.

(2) (_a_) They command fancy prices when trained, but (_b_) it is only when trained and _proven_ that they command high prices.

(3) The difficulty of producing a breed of blood ponies is due (_a_) to the long-maintained and successful endeavour to increase the size of the thoroughbred, and (_b_) to the fact that racehorses are bred for speed only, whereas speed is but one of the many qualities essential to the Polo Pony.

(4) To avoid this difficulty—

(_a_) The sire chosen for the foundation stock should be a small
and compact Thoroughbred or an Arab.

(_b_) The dam used for foundation stock should be chosen from the
best of our Forest or Moorland ponies.

(5) The tendency to undue increase in height should be counteracted—

(_a_) In the individual, by a free and natural life as far as
climate permits.

(_b_) In the breed, by recourse to further infusion of Forest or
Moorland blood when necessary.

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