WHAT SORT OF HORSE TO BREED 217 



he never met a man who had tried him and did not 

 like him ; he found him in tractability, constitu- 

 tion, durability, soundness, abstemiousness, temper, 

 courage, and instinct, eclipsing and surpassing all 

 other horses that it had been his chance to meet 

 with, and even half-breeds sprung from him were 

 remarkable on this point. 



I speak with just something more than book- 

 learning — what I may call a semi-practical know- 

 ledge — of the Boer ponies, because my sons have 

 ridden them, and have told me what they can do. 

 They have chased them, and been chased by them, 

 and saw that our horses stood no chance with them. 

 They served as volunteers in the South Australian 

 Fifth Contingent in the Transvaal War, and were 

 nearly fifteen months with Colonel De Lisle, riding 

 about 20,000 miles, in that time fighting or chasing 

 almost day by day, at Grotsvlei, Grasspan (or 

 Reitz), the relief of Benson, etc. ; and they af^rm 

 that the wonderful endurance of these fine little 

 creatures has in no way been exaggerated. Their 

 Arab origin is unmistakable. The first thing my 

 sons noticed when they made their acquaintance, 

 not then knowing of their Arab origin, was 'how 

 like the Quambi Arabs the heads of these ponies 

 are.' The Transvaal War was not the first time 

 that lack of Arab blood led to mischief in South 

 Africa. Major Tweedie writes (p. 168) 'that if 

 one or two of the splendid Arabs which the late 

 Emperor of the French collected had been reserved 



