CHAPTER IV 



SOME FOREIGN BREEDS 



One of the most ancient and therefore one of the 

 most interesting breeds on the Continent is the 

 Schlettstadt horse, or pony, which has been 

 described by Dr. Max Hilzheimer in an article 

 entitled " Das Vosgesenrind und das Schlettstadter 

 Pferd," published in the Mitteilungen der Philomat- 

 ischen GeseUschaft in Elsass-Lothringen for 1906, 

 vol. iii. pp. 368-380. This horse is to be met with 

 in the neighbourhood of Schlettstadt, in upper 

 Alsace, where it is locally known as Riedpferd 

 (reed-horse) or Pickerle. Small in stature, and 

 of all colours except grey, it frequently shows a 

 dark dorsal stripe, while in one foal the last remnant 

 of a transverse shoulder-stripe was observed, such 

 a vestige being sometimes noticeable in the wild 

 Mongolian tarpan. In its large and clumsy head, 

 with a broad forehead, and a tendency to a con- 

 cavity in the profile near the base of the nasal bones, 

 the Schlettstadt horse likewise approaches the wild 

 race, as it also does in its short ears and low 

 withers. On the other hand, in its profuse mane 



and tail it makes an equally wide departure from 



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