i82 BREEDS OF POLO PONIES. [Chap. VIII. 



not been a success. Welsh ponies are undoubtedly 

 very hardy, and they would produce suitable polo 

 ponies if sufficiently crossed with thoroughbred blood. 

 I would advise anyone who intended to purchase 

 young ponies in Wales for polo, to be very careful 

 about pedigree, and to have nothing to say to under- 

 bred blood. 



Spruce (Fig. 79), the property ot Mr. J. R. 

 Walker, is by Saracen, an imported Syrian ; dam, 

 Sprightly, by Awfully Jolly (or The Barb), out of the 

 English polo pony, Lady Golightly. Spruce is inter- 

 esting from a breeder's point of view, as he shows the 

 effect of crossing English pony mares with Barb and 

 Syrian blood. His dam's sire, Awfully Jolly, is a 

 celebrated polo-playing Barb, which was imported 

 by the Earl of Harrington, and lately sold by him 

 to the Irish Congested Districts Board, which has sent 

 him to stand in the West of Ireland. While standing 

 at Elvaston, he got many good ponies ; among others, 

 AH Baba, Aunt Sally, which sold for ^200 ; Ally 

 Sloper, ;^20o; Abbott, ^150; Antelope, Arthur 

 Roberts, Abbess, and many others. 



Spruce is a marvellously speedy pony. He 

 stands about 14 hands; has nice shoulders and plenty 

 of substance. 



Saracen, the sire of Spruce, is a handsome Syrian 

 Arab which Mr. John Walker used for stud purposes 

 at Barton, and which he gave me in 1893. I sent 

 him to stand in County Sligo. Both Sprightly and 

 Lady Golightly were good polo ponies. 



