Ponies for Babies. 221 



along, and does not by its harsli, rough movement put its infant burdens to torture. It is 

 painful to witness the heads of young children rolling as if they were Mandarin toys. 



A pannier pony should be as well trained to walk in hand as a Norfolk trotter. This 

 may easily be done by a system of rewards and mild discipline, scarcely punishment, with 

 touches from a gig-whip held in the left hand of the person who leads the pony, and applied 

 behind his back to the hind-quarters of the animal. When the pony runs up from the whip 

 he should be caressed, and encouraged with a carrot, apple, or lump of sugar. 



A very good way of leading a pony or any horse is with a bamboo stick fitted with a swivel 

 snap-hook ; this keeps his head straight. I first saw this contrivance in Nottinghamshire, where 

 a mounted groom tnus led the blind Squire of Osberton to meet his friends at covert-side. 



A pannier pony may also be driven with light cord reins carried through terrets fixed on 

 to the panniers, where used by a mamma fond of long country walks. 



The harness of a pannier pony should be complete, and consist of a snaffle bridle with 

 large loops, the bit also attached to the flaps of the saddle by flap-reins. The pack-saddle 

 must fit well, and be furnished with a crupper and a breastplate. The girths should be broad, 

 on what is called the Melton pattern. The children should not sit back to back, but with 

 their faces towards the horse's head. They should be well balanced by weights, if one child 

 happens to be heavier than the other, or great mischief may be done. In a word, the whole 

 arrangement needs the watchful eye of a mother or a kind intelligent nurse, who understands 

 the ways of ponies as well as of children. 



Pony panniers became more popular after a very pretty photograph had appeared of H.R.H. 

 the Princess of Wales holding the rein of a long-maned, cream-coloured cob, which carried in 

 panniers two young princes. 



The pannier pony may also be made useful in harness to draw a four-wheeled carriage 

 of suitable weight. Indeed, the very first step in the education of any pony too small to carry 

 a man should be to break him to harness. As to size, the pannier pony should not be so tall 

 that the children cannot be easily placed in and taken out of the seat by their ordinary 

 attendant. 



HARNESS PONIES. 



For hard work in harness, day after day, there is nothing in the equine line so enduring, 

 so safe, and where requin-d within trotting limits, so fast as a pony. Straight thick shoulders 

 are the common defects of ponies, and of horses bred in a state of nature, and withers so low 

 that there is no good place for the saddle. This arises, according to the opinion of an experienced 

 West of England pony-breeder, from the habit of grazing transmitted for generations ; and he 

 considered that the fine, sloping shoulders, which are so essential a part of a well-shaped 

 horse, are partly the result of careful artificial selection, and that the well-carried head may 

 have something to do with food provided in racks and mangers ; but this is a theory rather 

 thrown out for discussion than as a grave assertion. At any rate, there are thousands of ponies 

 that may be made useful and even ornamental in harness which no one would care to ride 

 for pleasure. 



In this country size gives value to every average horse ; therefore, all things being equal, 

 you can purchase ponies for less money than full-sized horses. There are a great variety of 

 carriages, from the lightest pony-trap up to expensive hooded phaetons for a pair or four 

 which may be "horsed" with ponies of 12 hands high and upwards, quite as satisfactorily as 

 by large and more expensive horses, if there is no grown man in tl>e family who desires to ride. 



