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In recent years, as a result of the efforts of the respective Stud 

 Book Societies and of the Polo Pony Society, much greater 

 attention has been paid to the breeding- of ponies. Part of the 

 annual grant now made out of the Development Fund for the 

 improvement of light horses is devoted to the native breeds of 

 ponies (see p. 146). 



WELSH PONIES AND COBS. 



The ponies of Wales are claimed to stand in the first rank, and 

 their success in recent years in the showyards, both at home and 

 abroad, gives good support to the claim. They vary a good deal 

 in size and type, but there is little doubt that all are descended 

 from the same stock, variation being due to different crosses and 

 conditions of environment. The Welsh Pony and Cob Stud Book 

 Society looks after the interests of all, and has given a great 

 impetus to the breeds. Eleven volumes of the Stud Book have 

 now been published, and some 150 pedigrees compiled by Mr. C. 

 Coltman Rogers, set forth in the earlier volumes, enable nearly all 

 the ponies and cobs to be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth 

 century. 



The Welsh Pony, i.e., the true mountain pony from which the 

 other types are in all probability descended, is included in Section A 

 of the Stud Book. Ponies of this type appear to -have existed on 

 the hills of Wales from prehistoric times, and with a few exceptions 

 we have no very exact records of any crosses that may have 

 influenced the breed in the past. At the same time it is known that 

 Arabs and Thoroughbreds have been used from time to time, and 

 in particular the Throughbred Merlin, turned down by a former 

 Sir Wntkin Williams Wynn, effected great improvement in the 

 ponies on the Ruabon Hills. 



The Stud Book recognises the slight divergence between two 

 types of these small ponies of Mountain or Moorland origin ; 

 Part I. of Section A comprises ponies up to 12 hands, which 

 when shown, must be neither hogged nor docked, and, unless 

 they are descended from ponies already entered in Section A, must 

 have unquestioned descent on one side or the other (and not further 

 back than from the grandsire or granddam) from animals that have 

 run wild, or Avere foaled, or usually lived on mountains or moorlands 

 of Wales, or scheduled portions of the border counties. Part II. 

 comprises ponies up to 12 hands, 2 inches, and no restrictions as to 

 showing are imposed. Part I. includes the more Arab-like pony, 

 which is chiefly represented by the progeny of a celebrated and 

 epoch making sire Dyoll Starlight, the property of Mr. Meuric 

 Lloyd This pony is the sire of nearly every showyard winner 

 in the last decade, including Grey light sold last year for 1,000 

 guineas in Australia, Shooting Star, Ballistite, and others. 

 Part II. includes ponies of a stouter type showing a good deal of 

 cob character, perhaps more adapted for harness than for riding 

 purposes. 



Welsh ponies are found of all colours, but bay, brown, and grey 

 are preferred ; dun, chestnut, and broken colours are not so much 



