TEACHING THE YOUNG IDEA. 



panionable, not easily frightened, more patient, and indif- 

 ferent to liberties. These desirable qualities are hereditary. 



The Russian or Siberian pony, now so common in this 

 country, is one to be avoided. There is no mistaking this 

 Muscovite visitor. He is invariably a cream, or dirty 

 yellow, verging on chesnut, in colour, long in the body, 

 straight in the back, with upright shoulders, very narrow 

 chest, and a steep, mean quarter, small donkey feet, and a 

 very short, unyielding fetlock. Two of his marked peculi- 

 arities are a short head, with the eyes placed low down 

 from the ears, almost equidistant between muzzle and poll, 

 giving the idea of an exaggerated, disproportionate height 

 of forehead ; the other, that the chest appears to grow and 

 extend itself, like a tap-root, down the inside of the forelegs. 

 Though a very Caliban among ponies, this little commoner, 

 with his rug-like coat, is as clever and tricky as " a cart load 

 of monkeys," and up to all the pranks of a fresh yarded 

 Australian Brumby. 



The pony is a clever, teachable little fellow, and if taken 

 in hand young can be taught as many tricks as a performing 

 dog. But what is required for children is extreme docility ; 

 and until it be trained to be perfectly safe to handle in every 

 part of the body, to carry anything alive or still placed on it, 

 to permit the little ones to crawl under it, and to take no 

 notice of being pulled about in any manner and in any 

 direction, it is not fit for beginners to practise on. No 

 nursery pony should ever taste oats. On grass in the 

 summer, and hay in the winter, with the addition of a few 

 roots, it will keep its condition and do all the work required 

 of it. The distances some of the Australian run or bush- 

 fed horses cover is almost incredible. If our horse-owners 

 would but grow the new forage plant, Lathyriis Silvestris^ 

 they would curtail their corn-chandler's bills to an extent 



