230 THE HOUSE BOOK. 



too, cow ponies of the ordinary variety make 

 excellent polo mounts. The illustration shows a 

 team mounted on such ponies bred in Colorado. 

 The training and general aptitude for the game 

 are more essential to the receipt of large prices 

 than good looks, though all things being equal 

 the best looking sell for the most money. A 

 small but lucrative business is done by a few 

 dealers in picking up suitable ponies on the 

 range, breaking and mannering them, and then 

 offering them as 'the finished article. The polo 

 pony, however, is a negligible quantity so far 

 as the farmer is concerned. 



SHETLAND, WELSH AND OTHER 

 PONIES. 



Almost every country has its types of ponies. 

 Their name is legion. Some of these may be 

 dignified by the names of breeds and indeed a 

 few of them possess distinguishing character- 

 istics which some authorities claim entitle them 

 to distinction as separate species of the horse. 

 Prof. Cossar Ewart has of late years made some 

 extended investigations which lead him to dig- 

 nify certain of the Scotch types as distinct 

 varieties if not species. The Celtic pony is one 

 of them. These facts are mentioned as bearing 

 on whether all ponies are degenerate horses or 

 whether some of them at least have always been 

 as small as they are now. It would serve no 

 good purpose to enter into the arguments which 

 have been advanced on this subject. It will 

 suffice to say that Prof. Ewart's investigations 

 point quite conclusively to diminutive size be- 



