272 POLO PONY BREEDING. [Chap. XI. 



ponies unless we breed on both sides from riding stock. 

 There must be no admixture of any of the harness 

 breeds, such as the Hackney, or of any of the varieties of 

 the hairy-heeled cob. Although there may have been 

 some good polo ponies owing part of their origin to one 

 or other of these strains, I am sure they were the 

 exceptions, and not the rule. As I have already said, 

 when buying a raw young pony, I always like to get 

 him if possible, at least three parts clean bred, and 

 this of course means that at least three quarters of his 

 origin is derived from horse stock, and that only one 

 quarter can be from pony stock. The main difficulty 

 which breeders have to contend with, is the fact that 

 nearly all the best ponies now playing are by big 

 thorough-bred horses. 



To take two or three instances, Sailor is by Lurgan, 

 out of a polo pony mare which won many races when 

 she was the property of Captain Cecil Fetherstonhaugh, 

 of the Royal Dragoons. Mademoiselle is, as we have 

 seen (p. 177), by Loved One out of a hunter mare, 

 Madame Angot by Munster Blazer, grandam by 

 Woodpecker by Birdcatcher. This pedigree, which 

 has no pony blood in it, is good enough for a winner of 

 the Grand National. Nipcat is by Buckshot out of 

 a pony. Attack is by Munchausen outof a pony. In 

 fact nine out of ten of the ponies I buy are supposed to 

 be by big thorough-bred horses. 



