58 Breeds of Horses 



Curiously enough a prevailing colour amongst the island ponies 

 off the coast of Ireland is dun, and this may be perhaps held as 

 a proof that there is a similar origin to that of the West Highland 

 pony hailing from Barra, Uist, and Mull. Thon there was at 

 one time a kinship and connection with the O'Neills, who were, 

 it is said, offshoots of the M'Neills, and it has been suggested that 

 the O'Neills took some Highland ponies with them when they went 

 to Ireland. It may be so; but we are now in the realms of myth, 

 and may leave that to others. What is of more importance is 

 that there are many points of resemblance between the pony of 

 Connemara and the pony of the Western Islands of Scotland. 



Many years ago an attempt was made to breed harness horses 

 from the Connemara ponies, and I believe it met with a certain 

 amount of success. They were crossed with a Hackney, and the 

 result was a very hard, wiry, and untiring harness horse. 



That the Connemara pony is at the foundation of many a good 

 Polo pony is an undoubted fact, and I think it quite likely that 

 more than one good hunter is descended from them, though I 

 cannot say I have ever heard of an instance. Still, if a Highland 

 pony has bred one, it seems only reasonable to suppose that a 

 Connemara pony, which has so many points in common, should 

 also breed one. 



Dartmoor Ponies 



{Plate, facing p. ilj) 



If, as has been suggested, the Dartmoor pony has a common 

 origin with the Exmoor, the two are very different in appearance 

 in these days. The Dartmoor pony has more substance than the 

 Exmoor; he is altogether on a larger scale, and he lacks the 

 excellent quality of his more diminutive kinsman. One feature 

 in the Dartmoor pony is that he is frequently cow-hocked to a 

 remarkable degree, and it has been ingeniously suggested that 

 he owes this peculiarity of his formation to standing behind the 

 walls for many hours together, to shelter himself from the winds 

 that sweep with such force over his wild moorland home. It may 

 be so, but the writer is inclined to think that this is rather the 

 result of weakness caused by insufficient feeding than of standing 

 for shelter behind a wall. 



The Dartmoor pony has scarcely such a fine head as the 

 Exmoor, but it is small and bloodlike for all that; he has capital 

 shoulders, and is a smart little fellow, take him all in all. He is 

 often goose-rumped, but it is said that this defect, like the cow 

 hocks, breeds out in a generation or two with better grazing. His 



