PONIES. 151 



that not invariably veracious personage, " the oldest in- 

 habitant," the breed was vastly improved by the fact that 

 a foreign stallion, said to be the illustrious Katerfelto, was 

 running on Exmoor ; but since those far-off days, until 

 recently, there has not been much new blood introduced into 

 the district, and, unfortunately, but very few of the residents 

 have attempted to keep up the breed in any definite shape. 



Irish Ponies can scarcely be dealt with seriously as a distinct 

 breed, for, although the writer would be the last to deny that 

 plenty of good-looking and most serviceable little ones cross 

 St. George's Channel every year, he is not aware of the exist- 

 ence of any particular characteristics of the Irish ponies, nor 

 has he gathered any authentic information relating to the 

 existence of a single particular strain amongst them. 



New Forest Ponies have of late years received a great deal of 

 attention from admirers of this class of animal, and a couple 

 of years ago a society was formed for their special protection 

 and improvement. There is very little doubt but that the 

 original excellence of the race was largely due to the benefits 

 received from the services of the Arab stallion who was intro- 

 duced into the district over a hundred years ago, and who 

 worked wonders when crossed with the original stock, which 

 are stated to have flourished in the New Forest since the days 

 of King Canute. 



Shetland Ponies have become fashionable again, but the 

 scarcity of good specimens and the extremely high prices 

 which are set upon them, have placed these natty little horses 

 beyond the reach of many who would like to own them. 

 Possibly the Shetland is absolutely the purest-bred variety of 

 horse in existence, that is to say, when he is pure bred, which 

 is not invariably the case with animals passed off as such. 

 His diminutive size, however, is so soon increased by the in- 

 troduction of a cross that the detection of foreign blood is not 

 often a matter of much difficulty, and certainly the majority 

 that can be picked up in the island are uncontaminated by such 

 a taint. The Marquis of Londonderry's strain is admittedly 



