168 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



throws up the pony's head, instead of bringing it 

 down, as the slow and light application of the school 

 curb will do, and this tends to develop the ewe neck. 

 Or a more sufficient reason may be found in the fact 

 that the starvation which the pony annually under- 

 goes in the winter months tends to deplete him of 

 eveiy superfluous ounce of flesh. The crest in the 

 horse is mostly meat, and its annual depletion has 

 finally brought down the pony's neck nearer to the 

 outline of the skeleton." The latter is doubtless the 

 true explanation. 



It is astonishing what effect cold and privation 

 have in stunting the growth of horses, and, conversely, 

 how quickly warm housing and abundant food will in- 

 crease the size of a small breed. Some interesting 

 experiments of this nature have recently been tried 

 with broncos. It was found that colts by a thorough- 

 bred sire and out of a bronco dam grew no bigger than 

 the ordinary bronco when they were subjected to a 

 like degree of exposure and of comparative starvation ; 

 whereas colts bred in the same way, but housed and 

 fed in the winter season, grew very much larger. It 

 is a question, however, whether these more delicately 

 nurtured horses will prove as strong and tough as 

 the others. 



It is difficult to say what is the relative speed of the 

 bronco. Like any pony, he gets into his stride so 

 quickly that he might for a short distance, as a quar- 

 ter of a mile, beat a larger horse, even a thoroughbred. 

 But for a mile or more the thoroughbred would be the 

 faster, and when it comes to longer distances, the re- 

 sult would probably be the same. Still, there is some 

 evidence to show that it would take more than an 



