76 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



horses of his class generally are It was Whyte- 

 Melville who said that a man never knows how 

 much work a horse can do till he moves him 

 into the Hack stable, and the general purpose 

 horse can get through more work than the 

 hack. 



The same general remarks about action and 

 manners as apply to the Hunter, the Hack and 

 the Harness horse, of course apply to the General 

 purpose horse. One thing however with respect 

 to the management of the latter must be strongly 

 insisted upon. That is, whenever it is possible 

 he should be ridden, not driven. In most estab- 

 lishments where there is a ride and drive horse 

 he gets quite plenty of harness work under 

 ordinary conditions to keep his shoulders warm, 

 and therefore when only one of the household 

 wants him he should be ridden if possible. 



If it were permissible to make a bull I should 

 be inclined to say that the best general purpose 

 horse is a pony. I have known some capital 

 ponies, and had some too, that were from 14 

 hands 2 inches to 14 hands 3 inches and that 

 never seemed to know the meaning of being 

 tired. It is difficult to say how these ponies 

 are bred. Occasionally one may find one whose 

 sire is a thoroughbred and whose dam is a Fell 

 or Mountain pony. They are generally as hard 

 as oak but they are not easily come across. 

 My advice to the reader who comes across one 

 of the sort that he fancies is to get a good trial 

 and use his own judgment about his stoutness ; 



