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CHAPTER IV. 



CHOOSING A POLO PONY. 



The questions here are : what to buy, and how to 

 buy. This problem is greatly simplified if money be 

 no object. The best advice for an intending purchaser 

 is for him to be always ready to buy a really first-class, 

 trained pony. A small number of such animals come 

 into the market every year ; but to get the real article, 

 a man must be just as ready to buy in November or 

 January, as in May or July. A first-class pony is of "^ 

 more importance to an ambitious polo player than is a 

 first-class hunter to a man who means riding in the 

 first flight in the Shires; for many faults of mouth 

 and manners may be overlooked in a brilliant cross- 

 country horse, but not in a polo pony, which must be 

 perfection itself in a game. For instance, a fine 

 horseman on a puller which is able to gallop and jump, 

 can get across Leicestershire with a fair amount of com- 

 fort to himself and safety to others ; but a pony which 

 pulls at polo, although it may do well enough in a slow 

 game, is perfectly useless, even to the best of horse- 

 men, in a first-class match. A single fault, such as 

 being a slow starter, shying off the ball, refusing to 

 try when alongside another pony, or a little want of 

 pluck when facing a back-hander, or when jostling 



