168 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
throws up the pony’s head, instead of bringing it 
down, as the slow and light application of the school 
curb will do, and this tends to develop the ewe neck. 
Ora more sufficient reason may be found in the fact 
that the starvation which the pony annually under- 
goes in the winter months tends to deplete him of 
every superfluous ounce of flesh. The crest in the 
horse is mostly meat, and its annual depletion has 
finally brought down the pony’s neck nearer to the 
outline of the skeleton.” The latter is doubtless the 
true explanation. 
It is astonishing what effect cold and privation 
have in stunting the growth of horses, and, conversely, 
how quickly warm housing and abundant food will in- 
crease the size of a small breed. Some interesting 
experiments of this nature have recently been tried 
with broncos. It was found that colts by a thorough- 
bred sire and out of a bronco dam grew no bigger than 
the ordinary bronco when they were subjected to a 
like degree of exposure and of comparative starvation ; 
whereas colts bred in the same way, but housed and 
fed in the winter season, grew very much larger. It 
is a question, however, whether these more delicately 
nurtured horses will prove as strong and tough as 
the others. 
It is difficult to say what is the relative speed of the 
bronco. Like any pony, he gets into his stride so 
quickly that he might for a short distance, as a quar- 
ter of a mile, beat a larger horse, even a thoroughbred. 
But for a mile or more the thoroughbred would be the 
faster, and when it comes to longer distances, the re- 
sult would probably be the same. Still, there is some 
evidence to show that it would take more than an 
