THE TRAINING OF PONIES 331 



polo, for he will simply decline to play. Of course, if the animal 

 is raw and untrained he must undergo certain unpleasantnesses 

 in the course of his training ; but no man ought to attempt to 

 play polo until his pony is so bitted and trained as to obey the 

 slightest hint given by hand or leg. Then again, though ponies do 

 sometimes drop in for a few hard knocks, it is no more than their 

 riders do. Their legs, which suffer principally in this respect, 

 are protected by bandages ; and, besides, men who play the game 

 well and properly do not go swiping about recklessly. Witness- 

 ing a game at Hurlingham played by good men on good ponies, 

 both knowing what they are about, will amply demonstrate that 

 there is not much cruelty about polo. Ponies learn to love the 

 game, to take an interest in it, and play as keenly as their 

 riders. Chance, a celebrated old pony belonging to the 

 Messrs. Peat, would follow the ball like a dog, and has even 

 "been known to look up and watch its flight in the air! So 

 keenly, too, would this pony follow the ball, that his owners 

 used often at practice gallop at the ball sitting face to the tail 

 and hit it in that position. Ali Baba, too, another well- 

 known pony, the property of, and bred by, the Earl of Har- 

 rington, will, without the reins being touched, turn of his own 

 accord and follow the ball after it has been hit by a back- 

 hander ! Had there been any element of cruelty either in the 

 training of the ponies or in the game itself, such instances 

 would be unknown. 



Of course, like Mr. Jorrocks's celebrated horse Artaxerxes, 

 there are some * h'enterprizeless brutes' whose equine soul 

 never warms to the delight of the sport ; but a really good polo 

 pony is usually as keen as his master in taking an active part 

 vin the game. 



