72 Breeds of Horses 



there is no society, anywhere, which has done so much in such a 

 little time as the Polo and Riding Pony Society. 



It is not altogether that there has been greater ability dis- 

 played in the management of the society, or that there has 

 been a greater loyalty to ideals than in any other of the breed 

 societies, that the wonderful progress is due. It is rather to 

 the exceptional circumstances in which the society was situated 

 and the exceptional material which lay convenient to its hand 

 that the great success is due. For, whatever may be the ultimate 

 fate of the Polo-bred pony, the society can claim that up to the 

 present time, at any rate, they have fairly established a breed. 



The establishment of the Polo pony on a firm basis has been 

 nearly as rapid as was the establishment of the racehorse — 

 perhaps more so, for there were greater advantages in the sur- 

 roundings — and for precisely the same reasons. The Polo pony, 

 like the racehorse, was wanted for a specific purpose. So long 

 as he was able to do the work he was called on to do, it mattered 

 but little what he looked like. As the racehorse's primary object 

 in life is to win races, so is the Polo pony's to gallop and pull 

 up quickly and bend well — in short, to play polo. So many points 

 which might have had some bearing on the development of the 

 pony, and which probably would have caused differences of opinion, 

 never came in question at all. Then comes the question of material. 

 Like the racehorse the Polo pony, sire or dam, has done its life's 

 work before it goes to the stud. There is therefore a higher 

 standard of excellence guaranteed than that which is merely the 

 result of showyard competitions. 



Polo is, in Europe, only a comparatively new game, and has not 

 been in existence in England fifty years. Yet it is one of the oldest 

 games in which horses take part — a game of unknown antiquity 

 in the East — the famous Changan of the Arabian Nights' Enter- 

 tainment. 



It is a remarkable thing in its way that Englishmen did not 

 take to polo sooner. They must have seen much of it in India, 

 and the wonder is that they did not realize its possibilities at 

 once. True that India had been kept pretty busy with wars 

 and risings all the early part of the nineteenth century, but one 

 would think that even the brief intervals of quiet which took 

 place were sufficiently long to enable the game to "catch on" 

 with a set of men always eager to take up a sport that has a 

 horse in it. 



However, such are the facts, and the introduction of polo 

 into England is due to the loth Hussars, a dull afternoon, 



