iSE PONY. 



h« will live many years longer'; one pair of reins will last twice 

 Ets long as itader the other system ; and the whip, in its niche 

 in th^ harness-room, wiU need cleaning to save it from mildew. 

 Indeed, as says the author of " Animal Life," " the bridle may 

 be reduced to a mere form, as the touch of a finger or the tone 

 of a voice is sufficient to direct the animal. The infliction of 

 pain is a clumsy and barbarous manner of guiding a horse ; and 

 we shall never reap the full value of the animal until we have 

 learned to respect its feelings, and to shun the infliction of 

 torture as a brutal and cowardly act. To maltreat a child 

 is always held to bd an unmaily act; and it is equally 

 cowardly and unworthy of the human character to maltreat 

 a poor animal, which has no possibility of revenge, no hope 

 of redress, and no words to make its wrongs known. Pain is 

 pain, whether inflicted on man or beast, and we are equally 

 responsible in either case." 



Ponies, as well as horses of larger growth, are at times 

 given to shying. This disagreeable habit arises from various 

 causes, chief among which is too much oats and beans, and 

 too little work. Lean and hard-worked ponies are never 

 guilty of the affectation. Whoever saw a cab-horse evince 

 anything like nervousness at an uncommon spectacle, except, 

 indeed, it be that of a full-laden hay-wagon, and then the 

 emotion displayed by the poor brute is certainly more in the 

 nature of eagerness to get at it than of fright at its appearance. 

 The lazy, heavily-fed animal is, on the contrary, as observes 

 a modem writer, " like the hair-trigger of a rifle, prepared on 

 the shortest touch ta cause a very violent explosion. In fact, 

 without metaphor, on the slightest occurrence he is not oply 

 ready but exceedingly desirous to jump for joy. The casus 

 belli which the aniiaal woilld, perhaps, most enjoy, would be 

 to meet a temperance, runaway, awning-covered wagon in 

 hysterics all screaming ; or to have a house fall down just as 

 he was passing it. However, as a great conqueror, if he cannot 

 discover a large excuse for invading the territories of his 

 neighbours, he is sure to pick out a very little one ; so does 

 the high-mettled horse, who has nothing to start at, proceed 

 under his rider with his eyes searching in all directions for 

 something which he may pretend to be afraid of. Influenced 

 by these explosive propensities, he cocks his ear at a large 

 leaf, which the air had gently roused from its sleep, as if it 

 were a crouching tiger ; and shortly afterwards a fore-leg drops 

 under him as suddenly as if it had been carried away by a 



