174 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



to have been brought to England by the Phoenicians 

 when they visited the shores of Cornwall to trade in tins 

 and metals. 



Stud-book No. 5, of the Polo Pony Society, contains a 

 description of the Exmoor pony. The average height is 

 given as twelve hands. The best of the Exmoor ponies 

 have strong backs and loins and good substance. They 

 are generally bay or brown, with black points, wide fore- 

 heads and nostrils, mealy noses, sharp ears, good shoulders 

 and back, short legs and good bone. They are very 

 tough and hardy, and have been known to cover long 

 distances. Youatt states that in the year 1860, a farmer 

 who weighed 196 pounds rode an Exmoor pony from Bris- 

 tol to South Moulton, a distance of 86 miles, beating a 

 coach that traveled the same road. 



The official description of the Dartmoor ponies and 

 those of North Wales is identical, with certain amend- 

 ments in addition. Those ponies that are over fifteen 

 hands would seem to be cross-bred, as the pure Dartmoor 

 never exceeds thirteen hands. In color, the Dartmoor 

 ponies are brown, black or bay. There are some grays. 

 Other colors are considered objectionable. Efforts are 

 now being made to improve them by the introduction of 

 good stallions of the best pony breeds. 



204. The New Forest pony. Ponies have been bred 

 in a semi-wild state from the earliest times in the county 

 of Hampshire in England, a district covering some 92,395 

 acres, of which 44,978 are still uninclosed waste land. 

 The greater part of this common land is poor and boggy 

 moor. It is estimated that there are about 2500 of these 

 ponies. Like most of the other ponies in the British Isles, 

 they have been much improved in recent years. Lord 

 Arthur Cecil owns a large number, and he turns out with 



