EXMOOR PONIES. 153 



resemble those of the American prairies. It is taken 

 from Sidney's ' Book of the Horse,' a work which 

 by no means advocates the theory that horses, as a 

 rule, need no shoes : — 



' Horses bred on the moors, if left to themselves, 

 rapidly pick their way through pools and bogs, and 

 canter smoothly over dry flats of natural meadow, 

 creep safely down precipitous descents, and climb 

 with scarcely a puff of distress these steep ascents ; 

 splash without a moment's hesitation through fords 

 in the forest streams swelled by rain, and trot along 

 without a stumble along sheep-paths bestrewed with 

 loose stones. 



' A sight scarcely less interesting than the deer 

 was afforded by a white pony mare with her young 

 stock, consisting of a foal still sucking, a yearling, 

 and a two-year old. The two-year-old had strayed 

 away feeding, until alarmed by the cracking of our 

 whips and the neighing of its dam, when it came 

 galloping down a steep coombe, neighing loudly, at 

 headlong speed. It is thus that these ponies learn 

 their action and sure-footedness. One of these little 

 animals, barely four feet (12 hands) in height, leaped 

 standing over a barrier five feet high, barely touching 

 it with his hind feet.' 



In order to realise the force of this description, 

 the reader must first understand what kind of places 



