3 io POLO 



Eastern horses are grand, and instances of their suffering from 

 diseases of the respiratory organs are rare and exceptional. 

 They are well turned over the loin, and have not only great 

 length from hip to hock, but above all are thick through the 

 heart. Of course in the mere matter of speed they cannot 

 come up to the standard of English thoroughbreds, and not 

 being built on the same lines they labour under a disadvan- 

 tage in this respect ; but they possess many other and perhaps 

 more desirable qualities, not the least being their docility and 

 the ease with which they are trained. 



The standard of a good hunter as given by a friend to ' The 

 Druid,' and quoted by him in ' Post and Paddock,' has not 

 much to be found fault with, and amongst other points this 

 authority, whose name is not mentioned but who is described 

 by the author as ' one of the finest horsemen and judges of the 

 day,' says : ' Had I to choose a hunter by one point only, it 

 should be his head ; for I never knew one with a small, clean, 

 intelligent face and prominent eyes, to be bad.' 



' The Druid's ' friend was right, and any one who runs over 

 in his mind all the best polo ponies he knows of, will find that 

 they had intelligent heads. 



Syrian ponies are not very well known at present, though 

 there have been a few very good ones, such as Algiers (late 

 Bledah), a grey, the property of Captain Jenner, of the gth 

 Lancers, which was one of five that a brother officer imported 

 from Algiers. With the exception of Algiers, however, none of 

 them turned out of very high class. Among the best Syrians at 

 present in England may be noted Sinbad, a grey, belonging to 

 Mr. J t R. Walker ; and Saladin, a chestnut, now the property of 

 Mr. Percy Hargreaves, both very nice ponies, showing a deal of 

 quality, besides being quick and active to boot. During the 

 winter of 1887-8 Mr. Walker went to Cairo with a view of 

 purchasing some of these ponies. No sooner was his object 

 known than he was beset with Arab dealers anxious to sell 

 their animals, nearly all of which had only just come in after a 

 fifteen days' march across the Arabian desert from Syria, where 



