THE IRISH HORSE-BREEDING INDUSTRY. 329 



Occasionally, very fine heavy-weight hunters are got by these common 

 sires when mated with half-bred mares, but, as is well known, tip-toppers 

 of this type are distinctly the exception. The majority of the animals 

 owning these country stallions as sires are usually found wanting in one or 

 other of the prime essentials of a high-grade hunter, and when they come to 

 be marketed they have to take their places, not with the chosen few likely 

 to run into three figures, but with the less aristocratic, if not less useful, 

 group to be sold as troopers, vanners, and general purposes light horses. 



Though the Hackney has come very much to the front in Great Britain 

 during the past fifteen or twenty years, it cannot be said to have yet made 

 very much progress in the country. That there is a great prejudice agamst 

 it in the principal hunter-breeding districts is indisputable. A five minutes' 

 conversation with any one practically interested in hunter-breeding in 

 Ireland usually suffices to afford convincing evidence of this. So far, the 

 Hackney's sphere of influence has been almost entirely confined to the 

 North. The breed is practically unknown in the South : the writer has 

 been a regular visitor to all the Shows held in Ireland during the past 

 fifteen years, and in that time he does not remember to have even once 

 seen a Hackney at a Show held South of Dublin. Some years ago the 

 Congested Districts Board for Ireland introduced a number of Hackney 

 sires with the object of improving the horses and ponies kept by the small 

 farmers and cottiers living along the western coast, but the results do not 

 appear to have altogether justified the expectations entertained by its 

 admirers regarding the usefulness of the Hackney for that purpose. For 

 the present the influence of the breed may be said to be confined to a few 

 districts in Ulster, and even there the extent to which it is kept is but small 

 in comparison with other breeds. 



In addition to the thoroughbred, the Shire and Clydesdale, the nature 

 cart horse, and the Hackney, there are also to be 

 , . , p . found in Ireland several races of ponies or small cobs. 



Among these special mention deserves to be made of 

 the Connemara and the Cushendall ponies — the first- 

 named, a native of the bare, bleak moors of Western Galway and Mayo, 

 and the other a native of the mountainous districts of North Antrfm. 

 Neither of these has, unfortunately, been bred on systematic lines : both 

 may, indeed, be described as the natural products of evolution and environ- 

 ment Of the two the Connemara is the best known. Animals of this 

 breed are inclined rather to the cob than the true pony in the matter of 

 size. In their native haunts many of them stand up to 14 hands i inch and 

 14 hands 2 inches, and when sold as yearlings and transferred to good land 

 they frequently grow to a height of fully 15 hands. Connemara ponies are 

 to be obtained in all colours : grey seems, however, to be the prevailing 

 shade. On account of the lack of systematic selection in their breeding 

 they cannot be described as of a fixed or definite type. Some are long and 

 loosely made in outline, while others are short, stout, and quite cobby in 

 build. They are all, however, remarkably hardy, and axe possessed of 

 more speed than is usual in animals of their class. They are also noted 

 for their staying powers : in this respect, indeed, they excel. One of them 

 will go through a long and fatiguing day's work, in saddle or harness, and 

 will turn out next morning in as fresh and fit a condition as if it had not 

 been in harness for a week. Though not noted for any brilliancy of action 

 (showy action could not reasonably be looked for in view of the conditions 



