Welsh Ponies and Cobs 83 



the hills generally bring their ponies down to the lower slopes 

 during the winter. The stallions always accompany the mares, and 

 there are seldom any precautions taken to keep the other farm 

 horses from mixing with them, so it is a plausible theory of how 

 these crossbreds, which ultimately were called Cobs, were obtained. 



Authentic information concerning the Welsh Cob does not date 

 further back than the memory of men still living. We cannot, 

 with any degree of certainty, go further back than the year 1840, 

 when a foal was dropped which was destined to become the pro- 

 genitor of numerous Cobs, both male and female, which have had 

 a marked influence on the race. That was Old Trotting Comet. 

 His descendants include the Welsh Flyers, Comets, Expresses, 

 Caradogs, Railways, Jacks, and Beaconsfields. Ninety per cent of 

 the cobs of recognized breeding in Wales to-day are descendants 

 of one of the first three sires named above. 



There is no doubt that a certain amount of Arab blood has 

 been infused; the famous sire Cymro Llwyd was the son 

 of Mr. Richard Crawshay's Arabian. Eiddwen Flyer therefore 

 had two strains of Arab blood in his pedigree. Whether any 

 Hackney blood was introduced must remain a debatable point. 

 Definite proof is wanting. 



There is no doubt that the most typical specimens are to be 

 found in the i4-hands-2-in. class, but the demand at present is 

 for the larger cob, not because of his better type, but owing to the 

 fact that by mating mares of this class with large Hackneys some 

 of the finest carriage horses in the country have been produced. 

 Although specimens of Welsh Cobs of the old stamp are few in 

 number, an effort is being made at the present time to revive the 

 breed, and the effort is already beginning to bear fruit. The Board 

 of Agriculture and Fisheries, by offering premiums to approved 

 stallions to travel the cob-breeding counties of Wales and award- 

 ing free nominations in respect of suitable mares, have already 

 arrested the decline, and if this is continued for some years, and 

 every care taken in the selection of mares, we may look forward 

 to a rapid increase in the number of these most serviceable animals. 



