128 THE HORSE 



ularity. The pony can be made very useful, under 

 proper supervision, in educating children to be coura- 

 geous, self-reliant, kind to and thoughtful of the brute 

 creation. The American farm boy is usually an expert 

 horseman, due, without doubt, to his early familiarity 

 with colts and horses on the farm. The city lad may 

 acquire much of the same expertness by handling 

 ponies. This four-legged associate is often a safer com- 

 panion, for a hot-headed youth, than a two-legged one. 

 The question as to whether there is profit in raising 

 ponies sinks into insignificance beside the larger one 

 Is there profit to the country in rearing self-reliant, 

 strong, humanized citizens ? 



Other things being equal, the smaller ponies sell for 

 higher prices than the larger ones, and the piebald or 

 spotted ones often for more than those of solid colors. 

 In any case, the Shetland is seldom more than thirteen 

 hands high, fifty -two inches; the smaller ones but six 

 to seven hands high. However, a large majority of 

 these ponies range from thirty -five to forty -five inches 

 in height. When placed under conditions similar to 

 those of larger horses in America, the tendency is for 

 them to increase in size and become somewhat phleg- 

 matic and less -enduring. Then, too, they sometimes 

 have a tendency to heaves or asthma. However, this 

 tendency is largely or wholly due to idleness and over- 

 feeding, especially of hay. The very fact that they are 

 small and are pets results in their being fed too fre- 

 quently and too liberally. In this country a hundred 

 ponies are injured by overfeeding where one is injured 

 by underfeeding. To keep ponies trim in form and 



