Welsh Ponies and Cobs. 
47 
(1) The steppe pony. — Long faced, Roman nosed, coarse 
and ram headed, which makes him peculiarly adapted to 
cropping short herbage ; ears long ; from eye to nostril a long 
way, as in the case of many cart horses of to-day ; hoofs 
narrow, contracted at the heel ; tail well set on. Represented 
by Prejevalsky’s horse, but any evidence of this type’s presence 
here in prehistoric times uncertain. 
(2) The forest pony. — Face short and broad, and nearly in 
a line with the cranium, which has made him adapted for 
browsing on trees, shrubs and tall grasses ; ears long ; eye half- 
way between the top of his head and nostril ; hoofs broad ; 
neck and chest short ; coarse limbed ; the total length of 
metacarpal bone 5' 5 times the width of shaft. Represented 
to-day by certain Highland and Iceland types. 
(3) The plateau type. — Small, narrow face, ending in a 
fine muzzle ; ears small and near each other ; eyes large, full 
and prominent ; long neck and oblique shoulders ; hoofs 
varying according to its habitat, sometimes wide, sometimes 
narrow ; ergots and hind chestnuts absent or small ; taillock at 
root of tail well set on ; slender limbed, and generally adapted 
to a free life on the plains ; the total length of metacarpal bone 
is 7*5 times the width of middle of shaft. This type is 
represented by the Celtic pony of North Western Europe, 
and the somewhat specialised forms included in Professor 
Ridgeway’s variety (E. caballus libycus). The northern or 
Celtic variety is characterised by the taillock, while in the 
Southern or Libyan variety this characteristic is at the most 
vestigial.* 
Accepting Professor Ewart’s divisions, the Welsh mountain 
pony at least would appear to fall under the description of the 
Libyan variety of the plateau type, which is, perhaps, the 
purest of all. The fine muzzle, the slender limbs, the small 
pricked ears, the long neck, all proclaim him a true descendant 
of this variety. 
The definition of the animal as he should be, in Part I. of 
the Welsh Pony Stud Book, is the definition of the plateau 
pony. The definition of the animal in Part II. is a definition 
of the plateau pony with a few characteristics of the forest 
pony. 
In the Welsh Stud Books the smaller ponies have been 
divided into two parts, Part I. consisting of ponies 12 hands 
and under (which must be neither docked nor hogged), and 
Part II. of ponies 12*2 hands and under, in which section 
there are no restrictions as to docking and hogging. The book 
further differentiates between the pony with the finer quarters 
and the pony a little more massive in those parts ; the one 
being generally described as Arab born and the other as cob 
