434 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



posts in this country where polo was played. The game is 

 now played the world over. When first introduced into this 

 country, the ponies used were 13-2 hands high; from these, 

 very tall men almost touched the ground with their feet. Larger 

 and faster ponies were found more advantageous, and the stand- 

 ard was fixed at 14 hands. It has since been raised to 14-1, 

 and again to 14-2, the present standard. The rules limit the 

 height of ponies to 14-2 hands or under, but this rule is not 

 strictly enforced; the modern game is played at such high speed 

 that only big 14-3 to 15-hand Thoroughbred or three-quarter- 

 blood ponies are considered good enough for important matches. 

 The range in weight is from 850 to 1,000 pounds. 



Demand for good ponies. It is a thoroughly established 

 fact that a player is no more proficient than his pony. The 

 question of suitable mounts has been troublesome to American 

 players from the very first. There was a time when western 

 cow ponies made acceptable mounts for the game. They were 

 brought to the East by the carload and sold at very moderate 

 prices. A small percentage of these developed into really good 

 polo ponies. As competition became keener, the demand for 

 better and better ponies became more imperative, and today 

 the cow pony has been replaced by what is virtually a Thor- 

 oughbred horse of small size. In almost every case, the best 

 modern ponies were sired by a Thoroughbred stallion. English 

 ponies used for polo have always carried more or less Thor- 

 oughbred inheritance; they are bred in the purple, trained two 

 years, and carefully housed and fed. 



Five years ago a number of American ponies were valued 

 at $1,000, and for some imported English ponies up to $2,000 

 had been paid. At a sale in England, in 1898, a pony named 

 Sailor, brought $3,750. In 1909 the American team which 

 went to Hurlingham to compete for the world's championship 

 was enabled to win largely because of the excellence of their 

 ponies. These ponies were English-bred, and were reported 

 to have cost high prices ranging up to $5,000. The American 

 victory brought as much credit to English pony breeders as it 

 did to the playing ability of the American team. In cham- 

 pionship contests, four to six ponies are used by each player 

 and some players maintain a big string of ponies from which 

 to make selections for games. 



What constitutes a good polo pony? The polo pony must 

 combine speed with weight-carrying ability. He must be 



