170 VARIETIES OF THE HORSE 



they are considerably taller animals than the ordinary run of English 

 pony. As a rule, their shoulders are good, and their feet and legs are 

 the perfection of soundness. On the other hand, although rather narrow 

 in their build, their heads incline to coarseness. Lord Arthur Cecil 

 claims for them that the main characteristics of the breed are extreme 

 docility when broken in, immense strength, and great intelligence, all 

 of which merits, combined with iron constitutions, have been preserved 

 by the specimens of the Rum pony which have come beneath the notice 

 of the writer. 



The Hackney Pony. — The Hackney pony, now unquestionably an 

 established breed, is a most valuable little animal, not only on account 

 of his intrinsic merits, but because of the great success which usually 

 attends the crossing of him with the mares of other pony breeds. As 

 a variety but little need be said of him here, since in character and 

 make-up he is simply a pocket edition of the ordinary Hackney, which 

 by judicious selection has been bred down to the desired height by pony 

 lovers, who have wanted to possess an animal of about 14 hands which 

 will excel in action and possess all the good looks of the larger members 

 of the breed. With the possible exception of the Wilson ponies — which 

 have had more judicious care expended upon them for a longer period, and 

 which owe by far the largest proportion of their excellence to the strong 

 dash of Hackney blood which is inbred in their veins through Sir George 

 — the Hackney ponies are the most valuable and generally high-priced 

 of all the varieties of equine bantams, and for harness purposes, in cases 

 where high action is desired, there are no animals of their inches which 

 can approach them in style, symmetry, and action. Consequently it is 

 not surprising to find their numbers increasing on all sides. 



No doubt Sir George, the stallion from which the Wilson pony sprang, 

 is likely to be accepted as the most successful member of the breed which 

 has appeared, his long sequence of victories at the Royal Agricultural 

 Society's shows providing the strongest testimony to his good looks and 

 action and quality. Sir Horace, by Little Wonder, for which Sir Gilbert 

 Greenall was content to pay 500 guineas, is another Hackney pony 

 whose name will long be a household word amongst breeders, as will 

 that of Mr. J. Jones's Cassius; whilst included in the category of famous 

 little horses of the variety is Pick Up, by Model, a winner of the early 

 shows of the Hackney Horse Society, which was purchased to run in the 

 New Forest. All these animals will be remembered as being first-rate 

 Hackney pony stallions. 



The Wilson Pony. — This variety, which only exists in small num- 

 bers, owing to the fact that its origin is comparatively a matter of recent 



