POLO PONIES. 225 



A writer who carries great weight and whose 

 name will always be specially connected with Indian 

 polo, is Colonel de Lisle. Indian polo players owe 

 him a debt of gratitude, for having proved to 

 them the possibility of playing on first-class ponies 

 in first-class company for almost nothing. He has 

 shown them that a team of novices can by practice, 

 care, keenness and discipline, be brought into the very 

 front rank ; and he has also written exhaustively for 

 their benefit on subjects connected with stable 

 management and the training of ponies. 



POLO PONIES. 



The six usual ways of buying a trained pony in 

 India are : 



1. When a regiment is going home. 



2. After a tournament. 



3. When the opportunity of buying a pony which 

 one knows well, is offered. If a trial is given, so much 

 the better. 



4. By advertisement, and by going to see the adver- 

 tised pony. 



5. Sending a competent friend to buy an advertised 

 pony. 



6. Buying an advertised pony by reputation or by 

 the owner's description. 



The first four of these methods are undoubtedly the 

 best. If the intending purchaser knows nothing 

 about horses, he ought to abide by the advice of a 

 competent friend. The sixth method is to be recom- 

 mended only when reliance can be placed on the 

 accuracy of the description, or when there is no 

 doubt that the pony's reputation has not been overrated. 



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