104 THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF ENGLISH HORSES. 



disposition was gentle and compliant. It moved almost vnth. a wish, and 

 never tired. I rode this little creature for twenty-five years, and twice in 

 that time I rode a hundi'ed and fifty miles at a stretch, "without stopping, 

 except to bait, and that not for above an hour at a time. It came in at 

 the last stage with as much ease and alacrity as it travelled the first. I 

 could have undertaken to have performed on this beast, Avhen it was in 

 its prime, sixty miles a day for a twelvemonth running, without any extra- 

 ordinary exertion.' 



In 1754, Mr. Corker's galloway went one hundred miles a day, for three 

 successive days, over the Newmarket Coui'se, and without the slightest 

 distress. 



A galloway, belonging to Mr. Sinclair, of Kirby-Lonsdale, performed at 

 Carlisle the extraordinary feat of a thousand miles in a thousand hours. 



Many of the galloways now in use are procured either from Wales or 

 the New Forest ; but they have materially diminished in number. 



Old Marsk, before his value was known, contributed to the improvement 

 of the Hampshii^e breed ; and the Welsh ponies are said to be indebted to 

 the celebrated Merlin for much of their form and qualities. 



The modern New-foresters, notwithstanding their Marsk blood, are 

 generally ill-made, large-headed, short-necked, and ragged-hipped ; but 

 hardy, safe, and useful, with much of their ancient spirit and speed, and 

 all their old paces. The catching of these ponies is as gi'eat a trial of skill 

 as the hunting of the wild horse on the Pampas of South America, and a 

 greater one of patience. 



The Welsh pony is one of the most beautiful little animals that can bo 

 imagined. He has a small head, high withers, deep yet round barrel, 

 short joints, flat legs, and good round feet. He wdll live on any fare, and 

 will never tire. 



Pony-hunting used to be one of the favourite amusements of the Welsh 

 farmers and peasantry, a century and a half ago, and it has not, even now, 

 fallen altogether into disuse. The following story of one of these expedi- 

 tions, narrated in the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, is founded on fact : — 



'A farmer, named Hugo Garonwy, lived in the neighbourhood ol 

 Llweyn Georie. Although he handled the small tilt plough, and other 

 farming tools in their due season, yet the catching of the merlyn, the fox, 

 and the hare, were more congenial pu.rsuits ; and the tumbles and thumps 

 which he received, and from which no pony-hunter was exempt, served 

 but to attach him to the sport. Rugged, however, as the Merioneddshire 

 coast and its environs were, and abounding with precipices and morasses, 

 worse mishaps were sometimes experienced — and so it happened with 

 Garonwy. 



' He set out one morning with his lasso coiled round his waist, and 

 attended by two hardy dependents and theu' greyhounds. The lasso was 

 then familiar to the Welshman, and as adroitly managed by him as by 

 any guaco on the plains of South America. As the hunters climbed the 

 mountain's brow, the distant herd of ponies took alarm — sometimes gal- 

 loping onwards, and then suddenly halting and wheeling round, snorting, 

 as if in defiance of the intruders, and furiously pawing the ground. 

 Garonwy, with the assistance of his servants and the greyhounds, con- 

 trived to coop them up in a corner of the hills, where perpendicular rocks 

 prevented their escape. 



' Already had he captui'ed three of the most beautiful Httle fellows in 

 the world, which he expected to sell for 4^1. or 5Z. each at the next Bala 

 fair — to him a considerable sum, and amountmg to a fourth of the annual 

 rent which he paid -for his sheep-walk. There remained, however, one 

 most untameable creature, whose crested mane, and flowing tail, and wild 



