152 LIGHT HORSES : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



the best in existence, but even his experienced manager finds 

 it tax his energies to the utmost to keep the size down, as 

 Master Shetland is disposed to grow too big when indulged 

 in respect of good feeding and housing. The head of a 

 Shetland is very delicate and fine, even for an animal of his 

 inches ; his short neck is small at the setting on of the head, 

 but thickens considerably at the shoulders, which are usually 

 short and straight. His back is short, ribs well sprung, and 

 quarters very big compared to his size, whilst his legs are flat 

 and feet rather round. Ten hands or a little under is the 

 average height, but smaller specimens are occasionally met 

 with, and when they are they realise a good deal of money 

 if well made. The prevailing colours are bay, brown and 

 dun, but occasionally a black or skewbald are met with, 

 and very rarely indeed a white. 



Welsh Ponies have earned a most enviable notoriety for all- 

 round excellence, but this is scarcely to be wondered at when 

 it is remembered that their height varies so considerably that 

 a limit of nearly three hands is permissible among them. 

 Doubtless a good deal of new blood has been introduced to 

 these denizens of the Principality, but the value of the old 

 strain is clearly proved by the fact that, cross him as you may, 

 the Welshman will always stamp a heap of the pony about 

 his descendants. Varying as they do so much in height, it is 

 a very difficult matter with most men to be asked to pick out 

 a Welsh pony from a drove of which he knows nothing, but 

 a prominent eye is a peculiar characteristic of the race, and 

 this point is one that is regarded by many as an index to the 

 breeding of its possessor. They are usually very good in 

 legs and feet, but this is scarcely a remarkable feature in a 

 breed which has the advantage of being for the most part 

 raised in a mountainous country, where surefootedness is 

 absolutely indispensable to all animals inhabiting the same. 



