THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 



77 



by the very characters which Shetland ponies still pre- 

 eminently exhibit diminutiveness and docility. The islands 

 of Shetland, he writes, possess " equi exiles et asinis quasi 

 similer tarn patentia quern magnitudine." One other quota- 

 tion may be made, because, although written more than 

 200 years ago, it exactly describes the ponies of the present 

 day, and shows incidentally how persistently these natives of 

 the stern kingdom of Shetland have retained the characters 

 bequeathed them by their " plateau " and "forest" ancestors. 



Fig. 17. Shetland Pony. ("Sovereign," Champion, Highland Show, 1914.) ^V na t- size. 



In his Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pight land- 

 Firth and Caithness, published in 1701, the Rev. John 

 Brand writes in his breathless style of the people of Shetland : 



They have a sort of little Horses called Shelties, then which no other 

 are to be had, if not brought thither, from other places, they are of a less 

 Size than the Orkney Horses, for some will be but 9 others 10 Nevis or 

 Handbreadths high, and they will be thought big Horses there if eleven, 

 and although so small yet are they full of vigour and life, and some not so 

 high as others often prove to be the strongest, yea there are some, whom 

 an able man can lift up in his arms, yet will they carry him and a Woman 

 behind him 8 miles forward and as many back; Summer or Winter they 



