THE SHETLAND PONY. 



4.67 



although so small^ yet are they fuU of vigour and hfe, 

 and some, not so high as others, often prove to be the 

 strongest. Yea, there are some whom an able man can 

 lift up in his arms, yet will they carry him, and a woman 

 behind him, eight miles forward and as many back ! 

 Summer or winter they never come into an house, but run 

 upon the mountains in some places in flocks.' 



Photo by] [M. H. H. 



Fig. 484. — Mare by a Hackney sire, out of an Irish hunter dam. 



" The keeping of the breed small enough seems now 

 the chief difficulty which breeders in England and more 

 southern climes have to contend with, and it is only by 

 the most judicious selection and mating that this difficulty 

 is overcome. Breeders in other parts have also frequently 

 to introduce ponies born and bred in their native islands, 

 or else undoubtedly the ponies, surrounded with more 

 genial circumstances, and provided with richer and more 

 plentiful feeding, would grow much larger in time. The 



;o 



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