308 POLO 



observer that the brain power lies with the Eastern. It is these 

 brains that enable an Eastern horse to traverse in safety such 

 ground as he is often called on to gallop over in pigsticking 

 (ground, be it remembered, far different from that on which he 

 has been reared and to which he has been accustomed), and 

 turn and follow a boar of his own accord ; and likewise it is this 

 same reasoning power that fits the two breeds so eminently for 

 polo ; in fact, they take to the game and understand it sooner 

 than an English pony will. 



In this necessity for brain power I am aware some will 

 differ from me and as an illustration of the nature of the 

 objection I will quote the Earl of Airlie, one of the best men in 

 his day, either in the polo or pigsticking field. He says, ' I 

 do not think you want too much brains or too good a memory. 

 Too much brains tends to a recollection of nasty blows and 

 cuts. I have had Waler pigstickers as good as any Arab, and 

 as good country-bred polo ponies with a little Arab blood in them 

 as any Arab ponies.' Personally, however, I should prefer for 

 any purpose a horse with brains to one without them. 



It has been urged against Arabs and Barbs that their 

 shoulders are faulty. No doubt many of them do possess this 

 defect, but does not the objection apply equally to English 

 animals ? and I suppose no man who wanted a good polo pony 

 would buy or breed from a bad-shouldered Arab or Barb, any 

 more than he would buy or breed from an English animal 

 possessed of similar malformations. The shoulders of Eastern 

 horses do not, as a rule, please the eye of men who are accus- 

 tomed only to English horses, as their withers are almost in- 

 variably low and thick. But such formation, if not indicative 

 of speed, points to staying powers, and, to compensate for this 

 possible want of speed, Arabs and Barbs have shoulders reced- 

 ing at an angle, and with a shaping of the scapula that assures 

 them liberty of action. This formation of the shoulder, which 

 is thicker than that usually seen in English horses, but of a good 

 slope, is a true formation, and one that denotes weight-carrying 

 capabilities. Such a good authority as Youatt in describing 



