464 



BRITISH AND IRISH HORSES. 



One of them, nine hands in height, carried a man of 12 

 stone 40 miles in one day." The colour varies a good deal, 

 and is usually bay, brown or black. Shelties are generally 

 employed either for pit-work, or for children to ride or 

 drive. 



M. A. C. H. (Country Life, 7th March, 1903) says 

 that the country of the Shetland Islands "is distinctly 



rill 1 htj] 



[a. A. KWAllT. 



Fig. 480. — Barra (Hebridean) pony. 



hilly, but none of the hills are of any great height. They 

 are covered with stunted heather and grass, which afford 

 grazing of a scanty description for the ponies and sheep 

 belonging to the inhabitants. 



"There seems to be no exact record as to when the 

 Shetland pony appeared in the islands, so it is not known 

 whether it was introduced by the early inhabitants, or 

 later by the Norse settlers. That the horse existed in 

 the islands before the Norsemen came is probable, as there 



