OF FARRIERY. 



307 



improving upon those modul:^, so we originally 

 imported the art of farriery and veterinary 

 science from the schools of Italy and France, 

 improving upon them likewise. In the early 

 periods above quoted, the farriers of note, and 

 the riding-masters in England, were generally 

 Italian and French. Those, indeed, were 

 sufficiently barbarous and unenlightened ; our 

 native artists inconceivably so, when the 

 length of time is considered, through which 

 their art had been in universal practice in all 

 its branches. 



There is we should think still one breed of 

 Horses, which may be considered aboriginal 

 in Great Britain, and if the attempt should be 

 ever made to improve their size, must soon 

 again degenerate, from the nature of the soil 

 which they inhabit. We allude to the Shet- 

 land ponies. The description of these asto- 

 nishing little animals almost exceed belief; 

 they are less in size than the Orkney Horses, 

 for some will be but nine, others ten hands 

 high, and they will be thought big Horses if 

 eleven ; and although so small, yet they are 

 full of vio'our and life. Some not so hio^h as 

 others often prove the strongest. There are 

 some which an able man could lift up in his 

 arms ; yet it is said they will carry him and a 

 woman behind him eight miles forward, and as 

 many back. Summer or winter they never 

 come into a house, but run upon the mountains, 

 in some places like flocks ; and if at any time 

 in winter they are straitened for food, they 

 will come from the hills when the ebb is in 

 the .*ea, and eat the sea weed (as likewise do 

 the sheep). Winter storms and scarcity of 

 food brings them so low that they do not re- 

 cover their strength till about the 24th of 

 June, when they are at their best. They will 

 live to a considerable age, as twenty-six, 



twenty-eight, or thirty years. They will be 

 good for riding at twenty-four ; especially they 

 will be vigorous and live longer, if they are not 

 put to work until they are four years old. 

 Those of a black colour are judged the most 

 durable. The pied often prove not so good. 

 They have been more numerous than they are 

 now. The best of them are to be had in 

 Sanston and Easton ; also, they are good in 

 Waes and Yell. Those of the least size are 

 in the northern isles of Yell and Unst. The 

 coldness of the air, and the barrenness of the 

 mountains on which they feed, and their hard 

 usuge, may keep them little ; for if bigger 

 Horses are brought into the country, their 

 kind will in a little time degenerate. 



After viewino; these little shelties, which 

 are almost of as much importance to the cot- 

 ter of that district, as the fleet Arabian of the 

 Desert is to his master, we feel lost in admi- 

 ration at the wisdom of that Power who has 

 adapted animals just to suit the situation in 

 which they can render the most serviceable 

 assistance to man. 



As the Arabian breed of Horses has been 

 the principal source of improvement to our 

 stock, any account of him in his native dis- 

 tricts, will prove interesting. 



THE BEDOUIN ARABS OF THE DESERT AND 

 THEIR HORSES. 



So many contradictory and romantic tales 

 have been propagated about these Arabs, that 

 we consider the following faithful narrative of 

 an eye-witness, M. de Portes, Equerry to his 

 Majesty the King of the French, must be ac- 

 ceptable to our readers. 



The arrival of an Arabian horde in the 

 Desert is a very extraordinary sight. First 

 appear a few horsemen on their mares, sweep- 



