The Stable Handbook 



horseflesh. Two ponies of that size cost no more 

 than a single horse to buy and if anything less to 

 keep, even allowing for the fact that you have eight 

 feet to shoe instead of four. Horses running in 

 company go further and tire less than in single 

 harness, and why people who have work to do in 

 the country do not make use of our admirable 

 breeds of ponies in pairs or tandems is a puzzle to 

 me. They will do a great deal more work than 

 one horse, and even if (for them) highly fed 

 scarcely cost as much to keep. Moreover, a 

 well-kept, well-mannered, pair of ponies is more 

 saleable than the average useful horse. 



The Welsh cob pony or the Dartmoor are suit- 

 able for this kind of work. They have rather more 

 substance than the Exmoor or New Forest. But 

 I think one loses very little in hardihood or en- 

 durance in the first crosses with the thoroughbred 

 or hackney pony. For harness purposes the latter 

 cross is useful. The hackney pony has very 

 few hackney faults and many of the virtues of his 

 Welsh or Fell ancestry. Indeed, he has very 

 little hackney in him at all. If you want cheap 

 and useful animals to drive there is nothing like 

 a pair of good ponies from 12.2 to 14 hands. 

 If you want a hack to ride and to put in a quiet 

 day now and then with foxhounds or in harness 

 you will find 14 hands a convenient height. This, 

 however, I think, is a useful rule. Always drive 

 animals that are wanted for use in the saddle in a 



36 



