THE SHETLAND PONY 179 



phaetons, or small surreys, hauling two or four persons over the 

 pavements with comparative ease. Ponies for this heavier work 

 approximate forty-five inches or more in height. No breed equals 

 the Shetland for children. The inherent gentleness of these ponies 

 makes them safe to use with the greatest freedom. Even when 

 but two years old, Shetlands may be used in a moderate way in 

 the saddle by little children. 



The hardy nature of the Shetland is one of its conspicuous 

 characteristics. There are many examples of these little ponies 

 that have lived to a ripe old age. An interesting example of great 

 longevity and breeding power is shown in the case of the Shetland 

 mare Belle, owned on Woodburn Farm, Kentucky, that when 

 thirty years old dropped a living foal. 



The value of the Shetland pony for draft purposes is much 

 greater than most Americans realize. On the Shetland Islands 

 he is used for labor, especially in hauling peat for fuel. Elliott 

 states 1 that the peat is packed in "cassies," each one containing 

 not less than sixty or seventy pounds. Two of these are slung 

 across the pony's back on a kind of packsaddle, a good deal the 

 shape of a sawhorse, being held in position by a breast collar, 

 girth or two, and breeching. The whole load weighs as much as a 

 good-sized man, and this is often carried by the pony for several 

 miles up and down hills, across marshes, over stony and washed 

 paths and gullies, without a halt. He is never used in his native 

 home in harness, but only to ride and pack such things as they 

 may wish to move. In England these ponies have been exten- 

 sively used in coal mines. Relative to this work of the Shetland, 

 Robert Brydon says 2 that it is not overstating the case to say 

 that on an average these mine, or " pit," ponies, as they are called, 

 will travel over three thousand miles in the course of a year 

 and shift as many tons of coal. All this work is done in the dark 

 galleries of the mine, which are scarcely higher than the pony. 



Notable Shetland pony sires are Trinket 101, Trinket Jr. 1187, 

 Prince of Wales 1190, Bunn's Trinket 2598, Chestnut 3572, 

 David Harum 4146, Grandee 4423, and King Larigo 8778. 

 Prince of Wales is probably the greatest sire the breed has known 



1 American Shetland Club Book, Vol. I, 1893. 



2 Ponies and All about Them (1911). 



