THE PONIES OF CONNEMARA. " 353 



reputation they enjoyed up to about the middle of the nineteenth century, 

 something more is obviously needed than sending high-class sires into the 

 district. 



In France there were last year over 3,000 stallions (including 262 

 thoroughbreds, 265 Arabs and half- Arabs, and 251 half-breds) maintained 

 by the Government in twenty-two separate depots, at a cost to the State of 

 ;^93,ooo.* 



Notwithstanding this large expenditure, only indifferent results, it is said, 

 have been obtained during recent years, owing partly to the common mis- 

 take of supposing that a good sire makes up for all sorts of deficiencies in 

 the dam, and partly to the fact that it is not yet sufficiently realised that, 

 given a good dam, the less the sire counts in the offspring the better. 

 Recognising the necessity of having a good stock of brood mares, as well 

 as good sires, an effort is now being made in New South Wales to have 

 Government stud farms established for breeding pure stock. Something 

 of this kind will be necessary in the West of Ireland if it is considered desir- 

 able to perpetuate the best characteristics of the once famous breed of Con- 

 nemara ponies. 



There is in Arabia a tradition that all the best Desert Arabs have 

 descended from seven mares — sometimes spoken of as the " Mares of the 

 Prophet." A like number of Connemara mares might be selected to start 

 a new and improved strain of Connemara ponies. 



Given a number of mares, the extremely difficult question arises — " What 

 kind of sires should they be mated with ?" An answer to this question can 

 only be obtained by means of experiments, by breeding with native and 

 other sires, then intercrossing in various ways the best of the pure and 

 mixed progeny. t 



An experiment of this kind implies that we have formed some idea as to 

 what should be the chief " points " of the Connemara pony of the future. 



VI. THE POINTS OF AN IDEAL PONY. 



The ideal pony has often been described. One of the latest descriptions 

 is by Sir Richard Green Price (late President of the Polo Pony Society). 

 He assumes that an ideal pony should, amongst other things, be capable of 

 playing the part of a small war-horse. Sir Richard says we can only picture 

 him " as an animal about 14 hands 2 inches, with courage written on his 

 countenance and docility in his eyes, strong of neck, with shoulders well set 

 into a short, powerful back and loins, wide in the hips, and thick-set in the 

 buttocks, a full well-set on tail (undocked), his legs short and straight, with 

 clean bone and sinew throughout, and feet to match — in fact, a diminutive 

 dray-horse with the activity of a high-class hunter." {Live Stock Journal 

 AlmonaCy IQCI, p. 65.) 



In the main this picture agrees with that of a recent Australian writer, 

 who tells us the riding pony should not be under 15 hands, with a good 

 head well-set-on, broad forehead, large brilHant eye, wide-open nostrils, 

 round in the barrel, short in the back, tail set well up, deep in the chest, 



* The total sum (including prizes and premiums to owners of approved stallions) expended 

 in providing suitable sires in France, amounted in the year 1900 to ;^647,ooo. 



t There already exists a considerable amount of material (apart from the native mares) for 

 experiments of this kind in the West of Ireland. 



