THE SHOOTING PONY. 157 



this way not only he, but his marker, would be able to get 

 over the ground better than on foot. On the moors, no 

 doubt a bad walker has a poor chance, and as the distance to 

 be got over is very considerable, we can hardly wonder that 

 those gentlemen who only walk should require assistance. 



Wlien a pony is used for this purpose, the shot is some- 

 times taken from his back, but generally speaking, the rider 

 dismounts when his dogs find, and leaves his quadruped to 

 take care of himself while he re-loads. In either case the 

 pony must be carefully broken to stand fire, and he should 

 be also made extremely clever in leaping " in hand," and 

 also in standing without being held wherever he is left. A 

 high-couraged horse will seldom serve the purpose, as he will 

 demand a very long-continued education; nor will the 

 stubborn temper so often displayed among the Welsh gallo- 

 ways be likely to submit to the discipline of the breakers in 

 the implicit manner which is essential to success. But the 

 Highland pony will generally be found to combine the various 

 requisites, and is also instructed by practice in his early life 

 in the treacherous nature of bogs. Nothing is more common 

 on the moors than for a mounted sportsman to get stuck in 

 one of these traps, and if he then is on an animal which is not 

 " up to trap," he will flounder deeper and deeper, and at last 

 perhaps be obliged to call assistance to get himself and his 

 stupid brute out. On the other hand, the Scotch pony may get 

 him into a bog, but then he will stand till his master quietly 

 gets off upon the surface, which will bear the weight of the 

 latter, with the aid of his broader feet, but will allow the 

 more bulky proportions supported upon the smaller pedestals 

 of the pony, to sink through. In selecting ponies for making 

 into shooting cobs, this quality should be taken into conside- 

 ration, if they are wanted for the moors, but very many are 

 required by the less ambitious partridge shot, who is too 

 unwieldy for the active exercise in any case required in 

 grouse shooting. Generally in the north the pony is only re- 

 quired (except for the lazy and infirm) to take the shooter to 

 the moor; once there, he can scarcely avail himself of his pony's 

 assistance without sacrificing his sport. During the time in 

 which a man is dismounting, the grouse are getting on the 

 run, and the interval, short as it is, will very often enable 



