THE WELSH MOUNTAIN PONY 179 



THE WELSH MOUNTAIN PONY 



This pony has preserved its original characteristics very 

 well, considering several Arab crosses have been infused 

 and the ponies have been allowed to run and breed 

 haphazardly on the mountains. The description given 

 of the mountain pony four hundred years ago applies 

 equally well to-day. 



For some time there has been a gradual reduction 

 in the number of Welsh ponies, but now and again 

 the tendency is towards an increase. The American 

 demand has done a lot to foster this tendency, and 

 consequently more attention is being given to their 

 breeding. 



During the war there was a marked deficiency of 

 ponies. The Russian ponies were not being imported, 

 and the demand soon exhausted the supply. The 

 prices in consequence went up by leaps and bounds, and 

 the ordinary five-year-old Welsh mountain pony was 

 realising £35 to £40, and sometimes fifty guineas. 



The improved mountain pony is a good-looking, 

 useful, marketable pony. To see these ponies in the 

 improved state one cannot do better than pay a visit 

 to Church Stretton, Lampeter and Tregaron during the 

 third week in April, when they are collected and taken 



