GALLOWAYS AND PONIES. 



103 



Many of the galloways now in use are procured either from Wales or the 

 New Forest ; but they have materially diminished in number. 



Old Marsk, before his value was known, contributed to the improvement of 

 the Hampshire breed ; and the Welsh ponies are said to be indebted to the 

 celebrated Merlin for much of their form and qualities. 



The modern New-foresters^ notwithstanding their Marsk blood, are generally 

 ill-made, large-headed, short-necked, and ragged-hipped; but hardy, safe, and 

 useful, with much of their ancient spirit and speed, and all their old paces. The 

 catching of these ponies is as great a trial of skill as the hunting of the wild 

 horse on the Pampas of South America, and a greater one of patience. 



The Welsh pony 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 will never 

 tire *. 



A great many ponies of little value used to be reared on the Wildinoor fens, 

 in the neighbourhood of Boston, in Lincolnshire. They seldom reached thirteen 

 hands ; the head was large and the forehand low, the back straight, the leg 

 flat and good ; but the foot, even for a Lincolnshire pony, unnaturally large. 



* Pony-hunting used to be one of the fa- 

 vourite amusements of the Welsh farmers and 

 peasantry, a century and a half ago, and it has 

 not, even now, fallen altogether into disuse. 

 The following story of one of these expeditions 

 ib founded on fact : — 



"A farmer named Hugo Garonwy, lived in 

 the neighbourhood of Llweyn Georie. Al- 

 though he handled the small tilt plough, and 

 other farming tools in their due season, yet 

 the catching of the merlyn, the fox, and 

 the hare, were more congenial pursuits ; and 

 the tumbles and thumps which he received, 

 and from which no pony-hunter was exempt, 

 served but to attach Mm to the sport. Rugged, 

 however, as the Merioneddshire coast and its 

 environs were, and abounding with, precipices 

 and morasses, he sometimes experienced worse 

 mishaps — and so it happened with Garonwy. 



" He set out one morning with his lasso 

 coiled round his waist, and attended by two 

 hardy dependants and their greyhounds. The 

 lasso was then familiar to the Welshman, and 

 as adroitly managed by him as by any guaco on 

 the plains of South America. As the hunters 

 climbed the mountain's brow, the distant herd 

 of ponies took alarm — sometimes galloping 

 onwards, and then suddenly halting and wheel- 

 ing round, snorting as if in defiance of the in- 

 truders, and furiously pawing the ground. 

 Garonwy, with the assistance of his servants 

 and the greyhounds, contrived to coop them up 

 in a comer of the hills, where perpendicular 

 rocks prevented their escape. 



" Already had he captured three of the most 

 beautiful little fellows in the world, which he 

 expected to sell for 41. or hi. each at the next 

 Bala fair — to him a considerable Bum, and 

 amounting to a fourth of the annual rent 

 which he paid for his sheep-walk. There re- 

 mained, however, one most untameable crea- 

 ture, whose crested mane, and flowing tail, and 

 wild eye, and distended nostril, showed that he 



was a perfect Bucephalus of the hills ; nor, in- 

 deed, was it safe to attack him in the ordinary 

 way. Many of the three- year-olds had been 

 known to break the legs of their pursuers, and 

 some had been dismounted and trampled to 

 death. 



*' Garonwy was determined to give the 

 noble fellow a chase over the hills, and so over- 

 come him by fatigue before the lasso waB 

 flung. The dogs were unslipped, and off they 

 went, swift as the winds, Garonwy following, 

 and the two assistants posted on a neighbour- 

 ing eminence. Vain was the effort to tire the 

 merlyn. Hugo, naturally impatient, and 

 without waiting to ascertain that the coils 

 were all clear, flung the lasso over the head 

 of the wild horse. The extremity of the cord 

 was twisted round his own body, and lighten- 

 ing as the animal struggled, the compression 

 became un supportable, and, at length, in spite 

 of every effort to disengage himself, Garonwy 

 was dragged from hiB horse. 



" The affrighted merlyn finding himBelf 

 manacled by the rope, darted off with all the 

 speed of which he was capable, dragging poor 

 Garonwy over the rocky ground and stunted 

 brushwood. This occurred at some distance 

 from the men. They called in their dogs that 

 the speed of the merlyn might not be in- 

 creased, but ere they could arrive at the spot 

 at which the accident happened, the horse and 

 the man had vanished. Whether the sufferings 

 of the hunter were protracted, or he was dashed 

 against some friendly rock at the commence- 

 ment of this horrible race, was never known ; 

 but the wild animal, frenzied and blinded hy 

 terror, rushed over a beetling cliff, at a consi- 

 derable distance, overhanging the sea-shore, 

 and the hunter and the horse were found at 

 the bottom, a mis-shapen semblance of what 

 they had been when living." — Cambrian 

 Quarterly Magasfinq. 



