4 6 



The following, which has direct bearing on the 

 subject matter of the foregoing pages, must be 

 noted : 



" Many facts have been recorded showing the 

 extraordinary power of ponies for travelling fast 

 and far, but these are so well known as to make it 

 unnecessary to specify them here." 

 Nevertheless on a subsequent page we find recorded 

 a very striking example of endurance, which compares 

 favourably with any of those quoted in the foregoing 

 pages and in my little work on Ponies : * 



" The late Mr. Allen of Sudbury, in Suffolk, 

 often during the course of his life rode from that 

 place to London and back (112 miles) in the course 

 of a day upon a pony. This task was performed 

 by several which Mr. Allen had in succession. 

 When he returned home from these expeditions 

 he was in the habit of turning the little animal he 

 had ridden at once into the lanes without giving it 

 a grain of corn. Mr. Allen, whose weight was 

 very light, rode at a smart canter. He always 

 selected Welsh ponies, saying that no others were 

 so stout." 



The author adds that if any one of our enlarged 

 horses could be found capable of performing this task 

 it would certainly not be on a grass diet ; which is 

 undoubtedly true. 



At the date this book was published, 1836, the 

 deterioration which our race horses had undergone 

 through the abolition of long-distance races was a 

 subject of comment. The author deplores the altered 

 conditions of the Royal Plates and the feebleness of 

 the horses bred only for speed, on the ground that 

 the change was producing ill effects upon all saddle- 

 horses. 



The author puts the whole case for a changed 



* "Ponies: Past and Present." By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart 

 Vinton & Co., Ltd. 



