104 HORSEMANSHIP. 



that would agreeably startle them; for this pea has been 

 analyzed, and is found to contain all the feeding qualities 

 of the best New Zealand oats, and as green fodder, hay, or 

 in the shape of either sour or sweet silage, is eaten with 

 great gusto. 



When a good child's pony is not to be procured — though 

 an advertisement in the Quee?i, or some respectable society 

 journal, will generally supply the want — the best plan is to 

 purchase some attractive, quiet little fellow, almost if not 

 quite unbroken, and educate him at home. It is not 

 advisable to make the purchase from a mob of those bred 

 in a state of nature, and fresh from the Shetland Isles, the 

 Welsh hills, or the Forest, wild as hawks. Preference had 

 better be given to those that have been some little time in 

 captivity, and have become reconciled to and familiarized 

 with the various sights and sounds of civilized life. To 

 railway trains especially they must be accustomed, and the 

 best way to create indifference to their rush and screaming 

 whistles is to turn the pony out in a held adjoining the 

 railroad, attaching his feeding-trough, fihed with some tempt- 

 ing carrots, to the fence next the line, and placing a crib 

 with some sweet hay alongside it. Frequently lead him 

 over and under railway bridges and let him stand there, as 

 well as at level crossings. 



All his exercise — and he must invariably be well exercised 

 before young children are put on him — should be on the 

 high road, a crowded one for choice, so that he may not 

 shy at carts, carriages, bands, and other strange objects and 

 sounds. He should be trained to stand fire without flinch- 

 ing. The sense of hearing, very acute in the equine tribe, 

 requires education as much as any other. In a perfectly 

 trained animal the whole five senses — seeing, hearing, smell- 

 ing, feehng, and tasting, must be thoroughly educated ; he 



