68 Breeds of Horses 



cipal reason for this. The Barra pony, for example, is found as 

 small as ii hands 3 in., and from that height to a hand higher, 

 whilst the Skye ponies run on an average to 13 hands 3 in. 

 The Mainland ponies are standardized at from 14 hands to 14 

 hands 2 in. 



Some time ago there was a breed which showed all the charac- 

 teristics of the Highland pony, but was 15 hands 2 in. high. In 

 all probability Mr. J. H. Munro Mackenzie was correct when he 

 said that this breed, which has quite died out, was most likely 

 the result of a cross from some cast troop horses. 



One great quality of the Highland pony is his surefootedness, 

 and he is also capable of undergoing severe fatigue and of carrying 

 a great weight. A pony of some 1 3 hands i in., almost lost under 

 the carcass of some gigantic " antlered monarch of the waste ", will 

 pick his way down trackless hills without falter or stumble ; and 

 I have heard of a pony of little larger size carrying a man of 13 st. 

 thirty miles a day for three days on three feeds of corn, which were 

 all that were obtainable on the journey, and what he could pick up. 



During the last few years considerable attention has been paid 

 to Highland pony breeding, and there is no doubt that in the 

 Highland pony there is the foundation of an excellent general- 

 purpose saddle horse. Indeed, the writer has known a very good 

 hunter whose dam was a Highland pony and whose sire was 

 Thoroughbred. And it may be just as well to emphasize a 

 danger here. If the best are used as foundation for hunters and 

 cavalry horses, what is to become of breeders in a few years' time? 

 The Highland pony would make a good mounted-infantry horse, 

 especially the Mainland variety of him, and he is emphatically a 

 saddle pony that can take on any work that comes to hand. 



The Polo and Riding Pony Society has done much for him in 

 the past, and great improvement has appeared in the Highland 

 pony since the formation of that society. Enthusiastic breeders 

 like Mr. J. H. Munro Mackenzie of Calgary, Mr. Cheape in Mull, 

 the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle, and others too numerous to 

 mention, have been indefatigable in their exertions to improve the 

 breed, and they have adopted the wise policy of improving it on its 

 own lines and not endeavouring to improve it into another breed 

 altogether. They have met with remarkable success, in no small 

 measure because they avoided giving the Highland pony qualities 

 he never had, and that it was never intended that he should have. 



The Development Commission through the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries has been of great service to the breed. There has 

 been considerable difficulty always in getting smallholders and 



