224 



The Book of the Horse. 



true still. At any rate, it is not from tiie need of physical energy that the decline and fall 

 of England, prophesied any time this fifty years by envious foreigners, will take place. We 

 ride, young and old, and both sexes, harder than ever, and as wealth grows so grows the 

 number of the equestrian race. 



A pony to carry a little girl should have room for the side-saddle, and carry its head 

 and neck in the proper place, not like a donkey or a pig. A crupper will generally be required. 

 Cruppers are out of fashion for riding-horses, e.xcept those of the military and the police ; 

 but those ponies which can carry a saddle safely without them are the exception. In choosing 

 a pony on which your boys are to learn to ride, take one as much like a good hack in shape, 

 and as little like a donkey as possible. 



In a woodcut by John Leech, "The First Meet of the Season," which appeared many 

 years ago in the Illustrated London News, there is a serious drawing, not a caricature, of a 



A MOUNTAIN PONY. 



blood-pony arching his neck proudly, and champing his bit, which gives a good idea of what 

 the fore-hand of a' riding-pony should be. A donkey is a very useful animal, but the worst 

 possible tutor for future horsemen, because he has no shoulders, a straight neck, and a 

 mouth of leather which never objects to the deadest pull. A boy's pony should be narrow, 

 so that his little legs may have some real grasp. The fat round barrel of a family cob may 

 do for panniers or a side-saddle pad, but a boy as soon as he begins to ride — say nine years 

 old — should sit in as good form as when in later years he bestrides a full-sized hunter. The 

 numbers who can afford to purchase perfection are limited in every mart, but it is well to 

 have the eyes accustomed to correct forms. 



GALLOW.WS AND COBS. 



The moment we turn our back.s on ponies we reach a mob of animals, including everj-- 



thing up to the full-sized horse (the proper height of which, in England, may be taken at 



15 hands 2 inches), amongst which are the most useful, the cheapest, and the most expensive, 



as well as all sorts of inferior nags. The word " Galloway " has gone out of use, yet it was 



