872 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



ground, they first put their nose to it, and 

 tlien pat on it in a peculiar way with one of 

 their fore-feet, and from the sound and feel of 

 the ground, they know whether it will bear 

 them. They do the same with ice, and deter- 

 mine in a minute whether they will proceed. 



This precaution in examining the roads, is 

 not confined alone to the Horse ; for we once 

 had an ass in Spain, which we used as a bag- 

 gage animal, who when his suspicions were 

 excited as to the unsoundness of the road, 

 would put his nose down till he traced a place 

 which would seem to satisfy him that there 

 might be a safe landing ; when he would take 

 a spring, and leap over what he considered 

 to be unsafe for him to tread upon. Poor 

 Jack ! the last time we saw him, he vvas car- 

 rying a Portuguese signora home on her way 

 from Spain. We hailed him ; he seemed to 

 recognize our voice, erected his ears, but in a 

 moment lopped them, and trudged on in his 

 usual style, as we passed him on the road. It 

 IS no libel we suspect to say, that we have 

 oftener thought of Jack than he of us. We 

 had disposed of him six or eight weeks before 

 we thus casually met him. 



The Shetland poney vve have spoken of be- 

 fore, and only now mention him, to relate an 

 anecdote. A gentleman some distance from 

 home, had a present made him of one of these 

 elegant little animals, and was puzzled how 

 to convey his newly-acquired property. The 

 Shetlander was scarcely more than seven 

 hands high, and as docile as he was beautiful. 

 " Can we not carry him in your chaise ?" said 

 his friend. The strange experiment was tried. 

 The Sheltie was placed in the bottom of the 

 gig, and covered up as well as could be ma- 

 naged with the apron ; a few bits of bread 

 kept him quiet ; and thus he was safely con- 



veyed away, and exhibited the curious spec- 

 tacle of a Horse ridincf in a e:is. 



We now and then see them in the southern 

 parts of England, harnessed to a light garden- 

 den chair, or carrying sometimes an almost 

 baby rider. There are several Shetlanders 

 now running in Windsor Park. It would be 

 curious to watch the stock of these little ani- 

 mals, and to see what improvement in size a 

 richer pasture would have upon the smallness 

 of their original breed. 



It was, we believe, Buffon's opinion that all 

 Horses have been derived from one common 

 stock, and the difierence has been accom- 

 plished only by food and climate. This, how- 

 ever, we know has been disputed ; and the 

 question may be difficult to answer, whether 

 the pony and large English Horse were, or 

 could be, originally from the same stock ; yet 

 we think it is not impossible but that they 

 might have one common extraction ; and if we 

 reflect on the effect of feeding, it is not so im- 

 probable, as it may at first appear. 



We have before alluded to this subject, that 

 the Horse would represent in size what it fed 

 on ; and Mr. Parkinson relates a circumstance 

 very much to this point that fell under his own 

 observation. His father had a mare that 

 brought him no less than fourteen colts, and 

 all by the same Horse, and not one of which 

 at three years old was under seventeen hands 

 high. She was in the fifteenth foal by the 

 same Horse, when he sold her to a neighbour- 

 ing farmer, reserving the foal which was to be 

 delivered in a twelve month. 



At her new master's she was comparatively 

 starved, and she came back at the expiration 

 of the year, so altered as scarcely to be recog- 

 nized. The foal, four months old, was very 

 small. The little animal was put on the mosi 



