Polo Ponies 75 



Maquay, by Florentine; Merry Moment, by Count Schomberg 

 out of Merry Gal, by Galopin ; and Sammy the Verger, by 

 Avington, out of Gold Flake, by Esterling — all of them good 

 ponies with exceptionally fine pedigrees. One would have 

 thought that Eastern ponies would, on account of their un- 

 doubtedly fine pedigree and comparatively small size, have been 

 largely used in grading up the Polo pony; and such indeed 

 was the case at first. But recently the Eastern sire has not 

 been so much in evidence. There is, of course, a considerable 

 amount of Eastern blood to be found in the Stud Book, but 

 it is mostly found in the older volumes, and the class for 

 Eastern sires has only obtained few entries at the last few shows. 



Before leaving the subject of Polo pony stallions it may be 

 well to refer to Sandiway, a little big one that has made his 

 mark, and that no small one, on the Polo pony breed. He was by 

 Rosewater, out of Cuddington, by Cucumber, her dam a Welsh 

 pony mare. Not only was Sandiway a good pony himself but 

 he transmitted his good points to his descendants, and there 

 are many fine ponies by him, amongst which may be named 

 Sandileto, Sandipix, and Lady Buckingham, all of them good 

 winners. 



The playing ground, rather than the Stud Book, is, however, 

 the final court of appeal for the most successful breeders, and 

 " Breed from the ponies that have been accomplished players 

 themselves " is the principle they stand by. It was the policy 

 adopted by the late Sir John Barker, and it is not necessary to 

 point out that he was not only the most successful breeder but 

 that the blood of his animals is to be found in all the leading 

 Polo pony studs in the kingdom. 



In considering the question of breeding Polo ponies a very 

 important matter is whether the would-be breeder is capable 

 of training them to stick and ball and to bending. A pony 

 that js broken to stick and ball, and that bends well, is not a 

 perfect Polo pony it is true, but he is on the highroad to 

 becoming so. It is not necessary for a man to be a good polo 

 player, or even a polo player at all, to enable him to do this, 

 but it is necessary that he should be a good horseman and 

 have good hands. And it requires also considerable patience 

 and perseverance to train a pony even only as far as this. If 

 a man has these qualifications he may enter upon the breeding 

 of Polo ponies with the greatest of confidence, for a pony with 

 good looks, pace,* and manners that " is likely to make a Polo 

 pony", as the prize schedules say, is always good to sell. 



