30 



Mexico early in the i6th century ; the 

 offspring of these Spanish horses in course 

 of time spread over the whole continent. 



Colonel Richard Irving Dodge remarks, 

 in his work Our Wild Indians (1882), that 

 the horses introduced by the Spaniards must 

 have been very inferior in size, or the race 

 has greatly degenerated ; as compared with 

 the American horse, the Indian pony is very 

 small. As the subsequent observations of 

 Colonel Dodge prove, these ponies, if they 

 have lost size have lost absolutely nothing 

 in working qualities ; they have become 

 adapted to their conditions of life and have 

 probably gained in hardiness of constitution 

 and endurance. He writes : 



" Averaging scarcely fourteen hands in height, 

 the Indian pony is rather slight in build, though 

 always having powerful fore-quarters, good legs, short, 

 strong back, and full barrel. He has not the slightest 

 appearance of ' blood,' though his sharp, nervous ears 

 and bright, vicious eye indicate unusual intelligence 

 and temper. But the amount of work he can do and 

 the distance he can make in a specified (long) time 

 put him fairly on a level with the Arabian or any 

 other of the animal creation. . . . Treated properly, 

 the pony will wear out two American horses, but in 

 the hands of the Indian he is so abused and neglected 

 that an energetic cavalry officer will wear him out." 



The North-West American Indian, though 

 a marvellous horseman as a "trick rider," 



