AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
of the shoe will become round, or even be altogether gone, 
when the heel is scarcely touched. 
For pleasant riding, and for safety, also, a Hackney 
should not carry his legs too high. His going a little too 
near to the ground is not always to be considered as an 
insuperable objection. The question is, does he dig his toe 
into the ground? 
Mount him, and put him to the test. Take up his feet 
and examine them. If the shoe, after having been ona 
week or a fortnight, is not unnecessarily worn at the toe, 
and you feel him put his foot flat on the ground, do not 
scruple to buy him; nay, esteem him a ‘choice-gifted 
Hackney,’ although he may not have the lofty action 
which some have erroneously thought so necessary. 
Every Horse, however, is liable to fall, and hence comes 
the golden rule of riding, ‘ Never trust to your Horse,’— 
always feel his mouth lightly. He does wrong who con- 
stantly pulls might and main; he will soon spoil the Horse’s 
mouth, and render his own work always necessary. He 
does worse who carelessly throws the reins on the neck of 
the Horse. Always feel the mouth lightly; you will 
thus be able to give the animal assistance zmmediately, 
before he is too much off his centre, and when a little 
check will savehim. By this constant gentle feeling you 
will likewise induce him to carry his head well, than which 
few things are more conducive to the beautiful, safe, and 
easy going of the Horse. 
The Road Horse should be high in the fore-hand; round 
in the barrel; and deep in the chest; the saddle will not then 
press too forward, but the girths will remain, without 
crupper, firmly fixed in their proper place. 
A Hackney is far more valuable for the pleasantness of 
his paces, and his safety, good temper, and endurance, 
than for his speed. We rarely want to go more than eight 
or ten miles in an hour; and, ona journey, not more than six 
or seven. The fast Horses, and especially the fast trot- 
ters, are not often easy in their paces, and although they 
may peform very extraordinary feats, are disabled and 
worthless, when the slower Horse is in his prime. 
Ponies. 
The Welsh Poney is one of the most beautiful little 
animals that can be imagined. He has a small head, high 
withers, deep yet round barrel, short joints, flat legs, and 
good round feet. He will live on any fare, and can never 
be tired out. 
The New Foresters are generally ill-made, large-headed, 
short-necked, ragged hipped, but hardy, safe, and useful. 
The catching of these Ponies is as great a trial of skill, as 
107 
the hunting of the wild Horses on the Pampas of South 
America, and a greater one of patience. 
The Exmoor Ponies, although generally ugly enough, 
are hardy and useful. A well known Sportsman says, that 
he rode one of them half a dozen miles; and never felt such 
power and action in so small a compass before. To show 
his accomplishments, he was turned over a gate at least 
eight inches higher than his back; and his owner, who rides 
fourteen stone, travelled on him from Bristol to South 
Molton, eighty-six miles, beating the coach which runs 
the same road. 
The Highland Poney is far inferior to the Galloway. 
The head is large; he is low before, long in the back, short 
in the legs, upright in the pasterns, rather slow in his paces, 
and not pleasant to ride, except in the canter. His habits 
make him hardy, for he is rarely housed in the summer or 
the winter. The Rey. Mr. Hall, in his ‘Travels in Scot- 
land, says, that ‘when these animals come to any 
boggy piece of ground, they first put their nose to it, and 
then pat on it in a peculiar way with one of their fore 
feet, and from the sound and feel of the ground, they know 
whether it will bear them. They do the same with ice, and 
determine in a minute whether they will proceed.’ 
The Shetland Poney called in Scotland Shelfie, an 
inhabitant of the extremest northern Scottish isles, is 
a very diminutive animal, sometimes not seven hands 
and a half in height, and rarely exceeding nine and a half. 
He is often exceedingly beautiful, with a small head, good- 
tempered countenance, a short neck, fine towards the 
throttle, shoulders low and thick, (in so little a creature 
far from being a blemish,) back short, quarters extended and 
powerful, legs flat and fine, and pretty round feet. They 
possess immense strength for their size, will fatten upon 
any thing; and are perfectly docile. One of them nine 
hands, or three feet in height, carried a man of twelve 
stone forty miles in one day.”’ 
CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS. 
MAMMALIA. 
ORDER 
1. Brana. Man with two hands. 
2. QuapRUMANA. Animals with four hands—apes, 
baboons, monkeys, and makis. (Lemurs. ) 
3. CHEIROPTERA. Mammiferous animals, in which 
the fore feet form membranes for flying—bats. 
