CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 169 



prehend how a burly farmer on a shaggy Exmoor 

 pony could cross ground which at every stride 

 covered the fetlocks of his thoroughbred. It is 

 habit alone that enables the native horse of the 

 forest to do this. An animal bred on the moor 

 steps lightly, quickly, and fearlessly over the treach- 

 erous ground, and like the borderer's pony, 



' From hag to hag 

 Can bound like any Bilhope stag ; ' 



while the horse unused to the country plunges and 

 lashes out when he feels the sod break away 

 beneath his feet, then he loses his nerve, and after 

 a violent, but hopeless struggle, subsides, shoulder 

 deep, into the spongy quagmire. If I may be 

 pardoned for digressing for a moment I shall do so, 

 to observe that the thanks of the community are due 

 to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland for keeping up the 

 breed of that diminutive but truly ' thoroughbred ' 

 animal, the Exmoor pony. I believe that the 

 animal p2tr sang can be obtained from the worthy 

 Baronet alone. Annual sales take place of i-^-f«//t'^ 

 ' Exmoors ' at Bampton and elsewhere, but these 

 ponies are generally cross-bred,*' though they have 



* See an article on Exmoor ponies in the Spoitino- Ma<^asi)te, 

 October i860. 



