Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 473 



jump and clear it in a businesslike manner. It is because so many- 

 Thoroughbreds have bad dispositions, that horses having a small 

 amount of draft blood are often more desirable as hunters than are 

 those of straight Thoroughbred breeding. 



Production of hunters. — There is no breed of hunters. They are 

 largely of Thoroughbred breeding, about seven parts Thoroughbred 

 and one part cold (draft) blood being a generally accepted formula 

 in breeding hunters. This proportion is secured by mating a three- 

 quarter-blood mare with a Thoroughbred stallion of correct type to 

 get hunters. The infusion of cold blood gives greater size and rugged- 

 ness and a better disposition, but is said to lessen to some extent the 

 staying qualities and gameness of the animal. Some most excellent 

 hunters have come of straight Thoroughbred breeding. Ireland has 

 long enjoyed a wide reputation for the rearing and sale of the best 

 hunting horses, the name "Irish hunter" carrying the idea of super- 

 excellence in this type of horse. 



The Polo Pony 



Modern polo is largely a rich man's game. It is played with four 

 mounted men on a side, the object being to drive a wooden ball be- 

 tween goal posts at the ends of a field 300 yards long and 120 to 150 

 yards wide. Each player carries a long-handled mallet of regulation 

 design. It is a very fast game for both ponies and men, requiring 

 quickness and precision. 



History of polo. — Polo existed in Persia and Turkey before the 

 tenth century. Thence it spread to Central Asia, Thibet, and Central 

 India, being found at Calcutta in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 

 It is said to have also existed in Japan a thousand years ago. English 

 officers returning from India in 1874 started polo at the Hurlingham 

 Club, Fulham, England. Hurlingham has since been recognized as 

 the great center of the sport, and the rules it has laid down have been 

 accepted as authority in every country except America, where a few 

 changes in these rules have been made. 



The game was introduced into this country in 1876. When first 

 introduced, the ponies used were 13-2 hands high, but larger and faster 

 ponies were found more advantageous. The present rules limit the 

 height of ponies to 14-2 hands or under, but this rule is not strictly 

 enforced; the modern game is played at such high speed that only big 

 14-3 to 15-hand Thoroughbred or three-quarter-blood ponies are con- 

 sidered good enough for important matches. The range in weight is 

 from 850 to 1,000 pounds. 



Demand for good ponies. — There was a time when western cow 

 ponies made acceptable mounts for the game, and a small percentage 



