94 THE HORSE 



do good work in encouraging the breeds ; whilst the Welsh 

 Cob and Pony Stud Book is laying a foundation which 

 should prove of very great value in the near future. 



The Dartmoor ponies are wonderfully improved since I first 

 knew them nearly fifty years ago. Then they were coarse, 

 big-headed, and cow-hocked, larger than the Exmoors, but 

 not held of nearly so much account. Now they are quite 

 altered in character, and I purchased numbers for South 

 Africa, during the war, of as beautiful ponies as could be 

 desired ; too good, indeed, for the work for which they were 

 required. Their tors are very rugged, and covered with 

 granite boulders, but the ponies are very sure-footed, and 

 can carry great weights over long distances. The chief 

 Show for them is the Brenton and Lydford Show, and the 

 great fair for them and the Exmoors is Bampton Fair at the 

 end of October. 



The Exmoor ponies are little aristocrats — though they 

 have not improved as fast as the Dartmoors — for they 

 were taken in hand enthusiastically by Sir Thomas 

 Acland and Mr. Frederick Knight long years previous to 

 any attention being paid to the improvement of the Dart- 

 moors. Katerfelto, the equine hero of Whyte-Melville's 

 thrilling romance, was a famous pony stallion in his day. 

 ** The Druid" tells us in his fascinating work, " Scott and 

 Sebright," how Katerfelto's dam was stolen by gipsies, and 

 recovered in foal with him to an Arab. He relates, too, 

 how Mr. Robert Smith, of Emmett's Grange, took a great 

 hand in improving the breed of ponies, using Old Port — 

 that famous sire of Devonshire hunters — for his pony 

 mares, which he afterwards supplemented with other good 

 blood. Old Port was the firstborn of the great Beeswing, 

 through her alliance with Sir Hercules, and she, it will be 

 remembered, was subsequently the dam of Newminster. 

 Later the renowned Bobby was lord of the harem, " who 

 could trace his descent through two degrees on his dam's 

 side to Borack, who beat all the best horses, under high 

 weights, at Madras"; and then an Arab succeeded Bobby, 

 so there is little wonder Mr. Smith's ponies were full of 

 quality, but they had not to rough it through the winter on 



