JO Breeds of Horses 



precincts. So that we may fairly assume that during the last years 

 of the Tudor dynasty, and probably also in the early days of the 

 Stuarts, the New Forest pony was on a larger scale than he is at 

 present. 



We know that during the eighteenth century, and probably 

 later, the New Forest pony was bigger than he is now. During 

 the time William, Duke of Cumberland, ruled over the destinies of 

 the New Forest the famous horse Marske was mated with New 

 Forest ponies, and other Thoroughbred blood was, I believe, intro- 

 duced much about the same time. This, of course, would tend 

 to increase the size of the ponies, but Lord Arthur Cecil points 

 out that there were not so many Crown enclosures in those days, 

 and that in consequence the ponies had a much richer pasturage. 

 There is nothing which has such an effect on the size of horses 

 as the grass they eat in their earlier days, and I should be inclined 

 to think that the larger size was due just as much to the bettei 

 grazing as to the introduction of Thoroughbred blood. It should be 

 borne in mind that the Thoroughbred was not so tall in the early 

 part of the eighteenth century as he is wellnigh two hundred years 

 later. 



Lord Arthur Cecil gives it as his experience that no pony 

 — neither stallion nor mare — that is much over 13 hands can 

 live in the Forest as it now is in winter; and he deprecates the 

 attempts made to increase the size of the ponies by the intro- 

 duction of new blood, for he justly points out that these bigger 

 ponies cannot support themselves in winter and that their owners 

 are unable to buy corn and hay for them. 



It was not until late in the nineteenth century that any system 

 seems to have been adopted in breeding ponies in the New Forest. 

 Colts were left running with their nearest relatives, with the result 

 that, to use the expressive words of an old huntsman, they were 

 all brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts and cousins, and 

 promiscuous inbreeding of course told seriously on the breed. But 

 in the 'eighties a better state of things began to prevail. The 

 verderers, who are elected by the commoners, became aware of 

 their powers, and found that they could reject animals which were 

 in their opinion unsuitable. They were also alive to the impor- 

 tance of the duty that devolved upon them, and set to work to 

 do it thoroughly. An annual inspection was appointed in the 

 month of April, and then they began to purchase a few stallions. 

 Her Majesty Queen Victoria also lent or gave a couple of Arabs. 

 A society was also formed which gives premiums to stallions, and 

 altogether considerable improvement had been effected between 



