OF FARRIERY. 



419 



Jieck, big head, and ragged mane and tail. 

 To look at him in this stage of his career, you 

 would suppose that a full-grown donkey was 

 more than an equivalent as an exchange for 

 the animal calling itself a horse, which pre- 

 sents itself to your view. If his owner cannot 

 sell him immediately, he puts him into his 

 cart, and is supported by a lock of hay at 

 iiight. The poor animal becomes crippled by 

 hard work put upon him in his fourth year, 

 and is therefore consigned to the cart of the 

 costermonger or travelling tinker, there to 

 draff on in hunffer and toil the existence 

 which commenced in hardships and priva- 

 tions. 



" But let us turn from this scene of woe, 

 and suppose our pony born under a more aus- 

 picious star. A gentleman sees him when he 

 is first caught, and as he Hatters himself he is 

 a bit of a judge, observes a good Qoint or 



wmr. 



two; he has plenty of good feed tMlpare, 

 and takes compassion upon the poor starve- 

 ling's hard lot. After a summer and autumn 

 of good living, with an improved appearance 

 and a spice of the devil in his eye, the pony is 

 in the winter driven into the straw-yard, and 

 shares with the cows all the little comforts of 

 a warm and sheltered shed by night, and a 

 crib well filled with hay by day. During this 

 time his master sees what an improvement 

 has taken place in his nag, and in the spring 

 gives orders for him to have a little taste of 

 the saddle and bridle in the way of breaking 

 in. Physicked, stabled, and clothed, the dust 

 of four years is with no little difficulty ex- 

 tracted from his jacket, and his natural colour 

 is at length opened to the view. He is at 

 last mounted by his master, who discovers 

 that the ragged rascal bought by him out of 

 charity is by no means unworthy of his pur- 



chase money : he congratulates himself upon 

 his bargain ; and always supposing our gentle - 

 man to be a light weight (about ten, but cer- 

 tainly under eleven stone), he discovers, when 

 his nag is five years old, and in good con- 

 dition, that he is without any exception the 

 best hack that he ever obtained at any price ; 

 and moreover, that by means of good and 

 generous keep, his personal appearance is so 

 wonderfully altered and improved, that no one 

 could have recognized in him the least degree 

 of likeness to the puny Forester, that was pur- 

 chased at the edge of the common for the 

 very sporting price of eight pounds ! ! ! 



" Such reader has been the case with me ; 

 and I shall ever bless the hour when I rescued 

 from the cart of the costermonger, my gallant 

 little grey. Of course for hunting nothing but 

 a full-sized Horse will do whatever be a 

 man's weight ; but for coursing and hacking 

 about, give me a good pony. Then again, 

 their prime cost is not only infinitely less, but 

 they can be kept in condition at a much less 

 expence than a Horse : their constitutions are 

 twenty times as hardy ; and if your stud con- 

 sisted only of ponies, you would never be 

 called upon to pay a farriers little account. 

 But the pony not only shines as a hack for the 

 saddle ; in harness he is both useful and or- 

 namental. According to my notions of good 

 taste, there is no turn-out of any nature or 

 kind so pretty as a pair of handsome ponies 

 and a single-bodied wicker carriage. Perhaps 

 I shall be told, in these economic days, that it 

 will not do on account of the expence, as two 

 Horses are dearer than one. That position is 

 an erroneous one; for it is by no means an 

 easy task to meet with a good machiner fit 

 for a four-wheel carriage, well-broke, sound, 

 fresh, and handsome, for fifty pounds, i 



