236' THE WILD PONIES OF EX^[OOR. 



the feat was cleverly performed, pony and pony-catchers 

 were to be seen all rolling on the ground together; the 

 pony yelling, snorting, and fighting with his fore feet, 

 the men clinging on like the Lapith^e and the Centaurs, 

 and how escaping crushed ribs or broken legs it is im- 

 possible to imagine. On one occasion a fine brown 

 stallion dashed away, with two plucky fellows hanging 

 on to his mane: rearing, plunging, fighting with his 

 fore feet, away he bounded down a declivity among the 

 huge rocks, amid the encouraging cheers of the specta- 

 tors : for a moment the contest was doubtful, so tough 

 were the sinews, and so determined the grip of Davy, 

 the champion; but the steep bank of the brook, down 

 which the brown stallion recklessly plunged, was too 

 much for human efforts (in a moment they all went 

 together into the brook), but the pony, up first, leaped 

 the opposite bank and galloped away, Avhinnying in 

 short-lived triumph. 



After a series of such contests, well worth the study of 

 artists not content with pale copies from marbles or 

 casts, the difficulty of haltering these snorting'steeds — 

 equal in spirit and probably in size to those which drew 

 the car of Boadicea — was diminished by all those un- 

 caught being driven back to the pound ; and there, not 

 without furious battles, one by one enslaved. 



Yet even when haltered, the conquest was by no 

 means concluded. Some refused to stir, others started 

 off at such a pace as speedily brought the holder of the 

 halter on his nose. One respectable old gentleman, in 

 gray stockings and knee-bi'eeches, lost his animal in 

 much less time than it took him to extract the sixpence 

 from his knotted purse. 



Yet in all these fights there was little display of vice ; 

 it was pure fright on the part of the ponies that made 



