1 82 Our Noblest Friend, The Horse 



where the ever-useful " tip " will find its most 

 appropriate place. 



The grade Exmoors, the larger Scotch ponies, the 

 Virginia and South Carolina " tackies," the mus- 

 tang and Indian ponies, and the dwarf trotting-bred 

 animals, all come under the head of the highly useful 

 and inexpensive, and the stouter, thicker, and 

 heavier they are, the better they will replace the 

 larger animals. Many branded ponies, bronchos so- 

 called, make excellent all-round family slaves, and 

 often may be had for a mere song, while the majority 

 are as well trained as any animal, and the idea to the 

 contrary is a mere bugaboo of tradition and of 

 Buffalo' Bill's show, whose " spoiled horses," as 

 they are and are called, have helped condemn every 

 beast disfigured by the branding-iron. There is 

 nothing about the plains pony per se which tends 

 to render him less amenable to discipline than any 

 other of his race, and competent handling is now 

 much more general in the West than it was at the 

 time when he acquired his fiendish reputation, so 

 that the broncho of to-day is probably as well-trained 



