136 THE HORSE 



There are several valuable breeds of ponies in South 

 America. Those of the pampas are numerous and are 

 from the same foundation stock as are those of North 

 America. All of the native breeds and varieties of 

 ponies, and there are many of both in North and 

 South America, trace back to those found roaming 

 wild over plains and pampas; and these, in turn, go 

 back to a common ancestry the smallish, warm- 

 blooded horses of Spain. Within the last few years, 

 all of the ponies of the plains have become modified, 

 and it is not now easy to find typical specimens of the 

 ponies of half a century ago. 



The ponies of the plains are not inferior brood- 

 mares, considering their diminutive size. They range 

 from twelve to fourteen hands high and in weight from 

 six hundred to nine hundred pounds. If mated with the 

 large breeds, their progeny reaches a fair size. The 

 blood of the ponies, when judiciously mingled with the 

 phlegmatic draft breeds, that is, when the difference in 

 the size of sire and dam is not too great, results in a 

 fair -sized, active, good-tempered, courageous animal, 

 suitable for moderate driving, the plow or light draft. 

 So the Indian and mustang ponies have furnished some 

 good acclimated brood-mares, without which the farmer 

 and the breeder of the western plains would have been 

 greatly inconvenienced in early days, in the production 

 of the commoner's horse. With good roads and the 

 increase of toilsome, productive work and wealth, must 

 come the roadster, the coacher and the draft-horse, the 

 stylish saddler and the children's safe horse. Like the 

 Indians, these ponies become subject to that inexorable 



