410 



THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC 



[CH. 



times are used as hunters, and we saw that these probably result 

 from blending the large horses of Roscommon or of the east of 

 Ireland with the native ponies. This gradual infiltration of 

 heavier strains shows us how the old Irish Hobby disappeared 

 by degrees from all the eastern, north-eastern and south- 

 eastern parts of Ireland, finally surviving only in the extreme 

 west, and even there hardly quite pure. In other words, in the 



FIG. 127. Connemara Pony used as a hunter. 



parts of Ireland which first passed under English influence the 

 Hobby gave place to or was contaminated by horses of a larger 

 type brought over from Great Britain. This is a fact of great 

 importance, for it offers the true explanation of the origin of the 

 Irish cart-horses (Fig. 128), the crossing of which with thorough- 

 bred stallions since the eighteenth century has produced the 

 Irish hunters. It is not improbable that there were practically 

 no horses save those of the Hobby type in Ireland until after 



