THE HORSE. 721 



found near at hand on the shore where the houses stand, but on the hill behind them, 

 there is always a hill in the rear in Shetland, every island consisting mainly of hill, with a 

 patch or two of smooth land in a few snug nooks by the shore, and as it often is at a 

 distance of several steep and stony miles, each house requires several ponies, the number 

 depending on the distance, and the character of the road. A family living convenient to the 

 peat may require only two peat-carriers, and another family may require half a dozen. 



The material, after it has been dug and dried in the usual manner, is carried home on 

 the backs of the ponies in baskets called cassies. It is obvious that the back which has to 

 perform this kind of service should be broad and strong. A pony belonging to a breed 

 which has had to pick its zigzag way down a steep declivity during many generations must 

 be sure-footed. By the same rule, a pony whose grooms and playmates include a dozen 

 juveniles the children of the neighborhood, who roll about underneath him or upon his 

 back must be gentle ; and the same pony, living on air sometimes, rather than on herbage, 

 must be hardy. 



The pony of the Shetland Isle is, in fact, the offspring of circumstances. He is the pet 

 of the family, gentle as the Arab s steed under similar training. He will follow his friends 

 indoors like a dog, and lick the platters, or the children s faces. He has no more kick in him 

 than a cat, and no more bite than a puppy. There is no precedent for his running away, nor 

 for his becoming frightened or tired, even when he has carried some stout laird from Ler- 

 wick to his house, many Scotch miles across the hills. In crossing boggy spots, where the 

 water is retained and a green carpet of aquatic grass might deceive some steeds and bring 

 them headlong to grief in the spongy trap, he carefully smells the surface, and is thus 

 enabled to circumvent the danger. 



In the winter, the Shetland pony wears a coat made of felted hair, and specially suited 

 for the season. His thick winter garment is well adapted for protecting him against the 

 fogs and damps of the climate. It is exceedingly warm and comfortable, fits close to the 

 wearer s dapper form, and is not bad-looking when new. But, when the coat grows old 

 towards spring, at the season when the new one should appear, it becomes the shabbiest gar 

 ment of the kind that you often see. Its very amplitude, and the abundance of the material, 

 render it the more conspicuous, when it peels and hangs for a while ragged and worn out, 

 and then falls, bit by bit, till the whole of it disappears. No horse looks at his best when 

 losing his old coat; and the more coat there may be to lose, the worse he looks.&quot; 



Mustang, or Prairie Horses. These are doubtless of Spanish origin; their promi 

 nent and general characteristics all bearing unmistakable evidence of this. The Spanish 

 wars with Mexico and also voyages of discovery and exploration are matters of history, and 

 the supposition is that Cortez lost many horses in his conquest of Mexico, also that the death 

 of DeSoto, who discovered the Mississippi River, must have resulted in the abandonment of 

 many horses, since his followers quickly made their escape to Mexico, from the unfriendly 

 savages. It is also quite probable that many of these animals were abandoned by other 

 adventurers in prospecting for gold and silver, all of which suppositions on the origin of this 

 race of animals are well sustained by probable facts. This animal has also been called the 

 wild horse of North America. There were no wild horses found on the American continent 

 when it was discovered, and those that are now found in a wild or undomesticated state are 

 such as have escaped from domesticity, or have been abandoned, and from them have 

 descended the vast herds that may be found on the plains of South America, Central 

 America, Mexico, Texas, California, and some of the territories. 



Those found in Mexico and Texas are under-sized, while those of the more northerly 

 section are considerably larger. The former have small limbs, long neck and back, a long, 

 lean head, although well-shaped and well-set, and wide, open nostrils. Their hoofs are some 

 what flat, and their tails and manes are generally very fine. These liberty-loving animals 



