PONIES AND PONY-BREEDING 155 



but it is the propensity to add inches to his stature that makes a pony 

 a difficult animal to produce. All horses which are reared in luxury 

 are prone to grow and spread, as has been observed before, and conse- 

 quently pony-breeders have discovered that it is necessary for them to 

 adopt rigorous measures with their studs. To commence with, it is not 

 a judicious act to attempt raising ponies on good land where the 

 keep is plentiful and very nourishing in quality. A pony from his 

 earliest youth should be compelled to live on poor land, and in fact to 

 go short of commons, if the size is to be kept down to the required 

 standard. Of course, this rule cannot be made to apply to ponies which 

 are in work, but even in the case of these overfeeding is most unde- 

 sirable. It may be pointed out that ponies are naturally small feeders, 

 though an artificially large appetite can always be produced by treating 

 them to a too liberal diet. The fact that ponies can be more satisfactorily 

 reared on sterile than on rich land is in itself a direct encouragement 

 to persons who own, or who can acquire a lease of, mountainous or moor- 

 land ground, to try their fortunes as breeders, and certainly to the man 

 who possesses patience, and can afford to wait, an enterprise of this de- 

 scription should turn out a complete pecuniary success. Not only is 

 such land comparatively speaking worthless at the present time, but 

 the cost of attending upon the stock and feeding them is very small. 

 The value of their winter keep cannot possibly amount to more than 

 a trifle, and the quarters required for the brood stock during the more 

 inclement seasons of the year may be of the most primitive kind. The 

 chief aim, in fact, of pony-breeders should be to bring their stock up 

 hardy and to encourage the survival of the fittest, so that these little horses 

 may continue to possess what they now enjoy, the most robust constitu- 

 tions of any variety of the equine race. In fact, in their case health 

 and soundness appear to exist in direct ratio to their diminution of size; 

 hence an infirm pony is comparatively seldom met with. 



In addition to short commons and outdoor life on the mountain-side 

 there is another important requirement, viz. to arrange the breeding opera- 

 tions so that the foals shall be dropped late in the season. This of 

 course is reversing the ordinary practice of horse-raisers, but it will be 

 readily seen that the very motives which require that breeders of large 

 animals shall procure early foals, are those which induce pony men 

 to breed late ones. When the young animal finds a quantity of rich 

 keep at hand he naturally feeds himself well, and proceeds to spread 

 out and extend his lines in all directions; whereas, if his growth is not 

 forced on at first, and there is not an over-abundant supply of food for 

 him, as his age advances he will naturally become stunted, and this is 



